Be Curious: Indigenous Ways of Learning

Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Learning

The new Teaching Quality Standard took effect in Alberta this year that includes a new expectation for all teachers to apply foundational knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit in the classrooms. 

Credit to Sam Sirianni, a Rundle College alumna now teaching at Rundle Academy, for sharing this article that introduces Indigenous concepts (from the Lil’wat Nation along the coastal and plateau regions of southern British Columbia) that our teachers and students are starting to experience:

• Celhcelh—the development of a sense of responsibility for personal learning within the context of a learning community
• Kat’il’a—the act of becoming still—slowing down, despite an ingrained and urgent need to know and desire for busy‐ness
• Cwelelep—the discomfort and value of being in a place of dissonance, uncertainty and anticipation
• Kamucwkalha—the energy current that indicates the emergence of a communal sense of purpose.