Monsieur Autio

Early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, just after Spring Break 2020, British Columbia was in lockdown and teachers everywhere were floundering to figure out how to move teaching and learning online. We were encouraged to come up with asynchronous learning experiences that students could do while they were at home and we were reminded by our administration to ensure we incorporate First People’s Principles of Learning (FPPL) in our offerings. Though FPPL were not something new in the BC education landscape, having been introduced around the same time as the curriculum implementation circa 2015 and increasingly public discourse about Truth and Reconciliation, something about the space and time the pandemic and my own inner journey towards presence awakened me to their truth and beauty. 

That reminder from administration inspired me to frame each week’s learning activities through one of the FPPL. The deeper I went into each week’s theme, the more I realized that each principle could not fully be grasped in such a brief period. I had a hunch that through deeper exploration and focus on one principle for a prolonged period of time that I could help students see that these are principles of learning that permeate through life. Henceforth, I knew that once I was able to get back in-person that I would then frame the year’s activities based in a specific theme derived from the FPPL. I wanted students to see that these are not ideas that are an appendix to what we learn but truly a way of being as a learner, citizen, and human. Therefore, since September 2020 the FPPL have guided how I plan and deliver my instruction for the year and have been a lens through which the students in my class explore every subject. 

The First People’s Principles of Learning are as follows: 

• Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors.
• Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place).
• Learning involves recognizing the consequences of one‘s actions.
• Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities.
• Learning recognizes the role of Indigenous knowledge.
• Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.
• Learning involves patience and time.
• Learning requires exploration of one‘s identity.
• Learning involves recognizing that some knowledge is sacred and only shared with permission and/or in certain situations.

As a French Immersion teacher we have also been given translations of the FPPL. As with any translation, there are more direct translations as well as more interpretative translations. One more interpretive translation from the BC Teachers Federation’s is list of Aboriginal Ways of Knowing and Being:

• L’apprentissage est lié à la terre, à la culture et à l’esprit
• Nous- les être à deux pattes, à quatre pattes, à nageoires et à plumes, les plantes et les roches- sommes tous de la même familles. Nous devrions toujours pratiquer la réciprocité – savoir donner et recevoir. 
• L’apprentissage honore nos ancêtres, nos aînés, nos sages et nos descendants. 
• Il respecte et inclut les cérémonies, les protocoles et les enseignements lités aux remèdes sacrés, incluant le tabac, le cèdre, la sauge et le foin d’odeur (sweetgrass). À travers les histoire émergent d’importants enseignements 
• L’apprentissage implique le développement de relations entre individus, le respect des cultures distinctes, ainsi que l’ouverture à la perspective des autres dans nos communautés. 
• L’apprentissage le plus profond a lieu à travers l’expérience. Cela nécessite d’explorer nos identités, d’apprendre de nos erreurs et d’honorer avec gratitude nos propres talents. 
• L’apprentissage est un parcours qui nécessite du courage, de la patience et de l’humilité
• Il s’agit de s’efforcer de devenir un meilleur être humain et de vivre en équilibre avec le corps, la pensée, le cœur et l’esprit. 

The spirit of the French list is the same as the English yet it offers expanded vocabulary that, in tandem with the English FPPL, offer deeper explanation of the principles and open further possibilities and considerations for choosing themes. 

Over the past five years, here are the themes that have been explored: 

1. Comment sommes-nous connectés?/How are we connected?  (2020-2021)
2. Récoprocité/Reciprocity (2021-2022)
3. Qui suis-je? Who am I? (2022-2023)
4. Possible (2023-2024)
5. Courage (2024-2025)

Other blog posts will share how we explored these themes and principles and how these were chosen and how I choose and learn about them myself in order to share with intention and integrity. Knowing my positionality as a white, cis-gender, queer man, I know that my actions and words hold a lot of power and privilege. I hope that as I and my teaching continue to be guided the First People’s Principles of Learning that I do my part in the work of reconciliation, decolonization, and social justice.

Do you see yourself in this story? Leave a comment! 

Looking at the five themes that have already explored so far, where can you see connections with the First People’s Principles of Learning and the Aboriginal Ways of Knowing and Being?

Which principle speaks to you the most? Is there a specific word or phrase within that principle that has personal meaning to you?

What content or learning experiences do you think we explored through these themes? How do you think they permeated all subjects?

Autios! À la prochaine!