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Tianyi Zhao

Indigenous Peoples Essay

EDUC 5300

Dr. Gayle

Indigenous Peoples Essay

In order to learn more about Arthur School, I interviewed art teacher Frank. By

combining the interviews with teacher Frank and the observations of Ms Rocco's classroom, I

was able to gain more information about the community and their experiences in their daily

work, as well as how I see my own role at the school.

Arthur School's mission is to create a student-centered, inclusive, diverse, and safe

learning environment where children can explore and innovate academically. Frank's art class

is a manifestation of the school's mission. Frank never assesses children's performance using

parameters that denote “good” or “poor”, as he considers every piece of work to be valuable,

such as the children's self-portraits, favorite fruits or other creative ideas. He would usually

post them in the classroom and hallways. This approach allows the children to feel that they

are valued and that they are cared for. This can go a long way in providing children with an

inclusive space that values diversity and fosters a sense of security and belonging in them.

This environment gives full play to children’s abilities to explore and innovate academically.

The school's vision is to work with students, families and the community to create an

environment where students can positively impact their world through research, collaboration,

presentation and reflection. In the classroom, children are seated in five groups and usually

act in those small groups. For example, during Ms Rocco's writing session, the children may

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encounter words they do not know how to spell, and they may turn to the teacher for help as

well as help each other in small groups. Students are also required to present their work, such

as reading it aloud or posting it on the wall. As a member of the community, I am also

involved in this process, working with the children and teachers to build a learning

environment that is consistent with the school's vision.

The school's goal is to be inclusive and equitable while respecting diversity, ensuring

that all students can learn, are respected, and have the space to explore their imaginations and

reach their potential. Frank's classroom well illustrates this. For example, he would have the

children compose a poem and then draw a picture to illustrate it. Each child has the

opportunity to present their work. This approach not only exercises the children's writing and

drawing skills, but also helps them to articulate their ideas freely. It also helps the teacher to

better understand the children's ideas and needs, and to understand the culture and

experiences they bring into the classroom. This learning environment allows children to feel

respected and cared for, and to feel that their ideas can be expressed and understood. To a

great extent, it gives children the space to leverage their imagination and tap into their

potential.

My own role, in my perspective, also fits with the mission, vision, and goals of the

school. First of all, I see my role as a member of the community, rather than an outsider who

just goes to grade two for a few weeks as an intern. I tried to learn as much as I could about

the site by browsing the school's website, interviewing the teachers who worked there, and

observing the classrooms. I also tried to learn more about the students in my class by

communicating and observing their writing and drawing – the students were always very

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enthusiastic about sharing everything about themselves. Only by gaining a deeper

understanding of this community can I work towards the goals of the school. My work

revolves around the students, and I devote myself to supporting them in refining academically

in a respectful, inclusive and caring way as I work. Secondly, I come into the classroom as a

member of the community, which is a reflection of the school’s collaboration with the

community and the students. I shared some of the work with the teachers in the classroom.

There were 20 children in the class, but because of the limited duration of each class, the

teacher often did not have the opportunity to support every child. In this case, I was able to

collaborate with the teacher to help more students. In addition, the process of making

connections with my students aligns with the goals of the school. For example, a girl in Ms

Rocco's classroom did not know how to write letters, so I was able to practice writing letters

with her alone while the others were learning the words. This kind of differentiation can help

better achieve inclusiveness and equity for children with different learning readiness and

needs.

I also bring some additional resources to this community. In addition to having

increased capacity to manage students, I inevitably bring a different cultural background to

the community as an international student. It helps foster a sense of inclusion and diversity in

students. In addition, having people like me who have more real life experience coming into

the community and sharing their work allows the students to understand what opportunities

are out there and what people do in real-world scenarios. In my conversation with Frank

about this, he told me that I could offer a fresh possibility for teachers. For example, we

noticed that some of our students had difficulty concentrating in the classroom. This is the

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time to discuss what strategies we can employ in order to get students who are inattentive or

distracted back on track and concentrate on the lesson. This process of communication may

lead to new inspirations. It has also been a very valuable learning process for me, which I

think is one of my greatest accomplishments at Arthur School. Another achievement is that I

feel that I have successfully integrated myself into the community and that I have been

accepted by the children. In addition, Ms Rocco assigns me tasks such as helping the children

with their writing, which is a testament to my ability.

Through the interview with Frank, I learned that the biggest challenge facing Arthur

School is teacher capacity. Because of school expansion and teacher shortage, he has to teach

several grades by himself. This has resulted in his work schedule not being guaranteed due to

fatigue. He becomes overwhelmed especially when there are other teachers who take time off.

With more staff, he could have more time to teach and communicate with and support each

student, and devise a better teaching plan. How to solve this problem may require not only

the efforts of the school and teachers, but also policies as well as government support.

There will also be some hindrances to my work due to “pandemic” of COVID-19 and

the flu. When a child comes to class sick, all the kids will be asked to wear masks. And this is

the time of the year when the flu is at its peak. It is more challenging to get young children to

wear masks for a long period of time as they might feel uncomfortable or distracted.

Therefore, it has definitely forced me to become more flexible and think about how to make

learning literacy a more engaging learning activity for the students. It's difficult, but we just

have to adapt.

The time that people like me spend in this community can alleviate teacher shortages

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to the school and bring in more diverse cultural backgrounds, experiences and fresh

possibilities to this school. This also fits the school's mission, vision, and goal. My time with

students and teachers is also a process of mutual learning. Therefore, I am grateful that I can

have this experience.

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