I chose to include my weekly reflection about my relationship to land as I feel it houses aspects of art-integration and connection to land which I feel will be a core focus when developing my own personal approach to how I teach social studies. This social studies course alongside the Indigenous Education course have made me realize the importance of community-based learning and land-based learning. My students will be able to engage in authentic learning experiences that increases their knowledge of land within their local communities and I can show them how to showcase their learning in a variety of ways including arts-integration.
Shelley Moore in her video Napoleon Shmoleon talks about how in ‘backwards design’ or ‘planning with the end in mind’ students work towards a specific goal and partake in many different activities to help them achieve that goal. Rather than relying on one way, for example, a test, essay or art project, students can choose their best example of how they met that goal.
This is something I am trying to remind myself about because learners come in all shapes and sizes and just because are-integrated learning excites me, doesn’t mean that will be the case for all of my students.
