National Indigenous Peoples Day Planner

1. Role Models

1.1. Visual Wall Display Walk of Indigenous Role Models from Posters created prior to this day, akin to the one's we created ie part of the School Competition

2. Languages

2.1. Include morning addresses in local Indigenous languages ie Anishinaabe language group ie Mohawk, see also Land Acknowledgement and Elder Protocol

3. Land Acknowledgement

3.1. 8:55 AM - GEDSB Land Acknowledgement spoken during announcements as per usual BUT this time the invited Elder and/or an Indigenous language speaker provides it or a morning greeting

4. Elder Protocol

4.1. Invite an Elder(s) and/or other Indigenous community members to share this day at the high school. Activities can include morning address, to tell a traditional story or give a personal account for classrooms ie for English or History or Social Studies, etc and/or to conduct a ceremony for the whole school.

5. Symbols

5.1. Classroom level and whole school level acknowledgement of four major aspects of self: Spiritual, Mental, Physical, and Emotional. These can be tied into School Competition ie poster, and Mental Health Awareness excercises

6. June 21, 2022 - Cayuga Secondary School

7. School Competition and/or equivalent idea: all students are expected/encouraged to produce a poster that reflects their learning/understanding and connections made to an Indigenous theme or traditional piece of knowledge, such as Seven Grandfather Teachings, Symbols, Role Models, Celebrations, Traditional Beliefs and Knowledge, and so forth. This could include prior lessons before this day and could culminate in Wall Displays for class walks and social media campaigns promoting this day as well as Truth and Reconciliation

8. Indigenous Pedagogy

8.1. Teachers make a point to include Indigenous Pedagogy in their lesson plans for at least 1 period that day ie land-based knowledge, Indigenous ways of being and knowing, Indigenous themed content

8.2. Periods 1, 2, 3, 4

9. Culture in the Classroom

9.1. Can be linked with School Competition via Indigenous Traditional Beliefs and Knowledge and Teacher lesson planning expectations for the day ie 1 period should reflect Indigenous content

10. Celebrations

10.1. Sunrise Ceremony with Indigenous Elder and/or community members. Optional attendance from anyone in the school

10.2. At sunrise eg in GEDSB on June 21, 2022 the sun will rise at around 5:30 am

11. The Seven Grandfather Teachings

11.1. This can be connected with the School Competition and/or part of a teacher's Indigenous Pedagogy for the day (for some teachers this may be the first time they've considered including Indigenous content so it's important to provide support and not assume competency

12. Resources

12.1. see Indigenous Pedagogy Presentation file by Mr Urie for annotated list of Indigenous resources

12.2. See resources from the Indigenous Education Team at GEDSB

12.3. See Canadian Encyclopedia https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/aboriginal-people