Jean Moir:
Education to Reconciliation in Elementary Schools
Storytelling strengthens learning in schools
VALERIE LEUNG
Jean Moir and her students showcasing their artwork and messages to the community. (Photo Taken: Valerie Leung)
There is a lot of news around Indigenous culture and content in school curriculum these days, but what does it really mean to understand and know it all?
How we learn and understand it, starts with education.
Jean Moir was a full-time teacher who taught a grade-three split class in the Langley School District of British Columbia for 25 years. She specialized in teaching struggling learners. About 12 years ago her journey in Indigenous education began.
Some of Moir’s students were Indigenous. They were struggling in her class. To better understand and help them, she began her own journey of discovery to learn about the past of Indigenous cultures.
“It was hard at first because a lot of us didn’t know what had happened; it was a painful journey, but I never looked back,” says Moir. “I think it’s so important for us as educators to do the work.”
“Those kids are going home and educating their parents”
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-Jean Moir
Jean Moir introducing the importance of a story. (Photo Taken: Valerie Leung)
Moir retired when the school she taught at cancelled her class. She is now working with the Langley School District in a job-share and as a teacher teaching on call (TTOC) in addition to working alongside with the B.C. Teacher’s Federation (BCTF). Moir collaborates with Gail Stromquist from the BCTF in creating packages for teachers and providing workshops about Indigenous education. Moir supports teachers in difficult times through the BCTF’s peer support program as well as participating in a teacher enquiry program.
Imaginate Canada is one of many activities that Moir and her students engaged in. This competition took on the lens of reconciliation and questioned the community and students what Canada would look like if reconciliation had taken place. One of Moir’s grade three student took home the win. Gail Stromquist initially contacted Moir through the recommendation of her sister, Janet Stromquist, who had heard of Moir’s work with her students. Gail and Moir collaborated on a new elementary school pilot project called Gladys We Never Knew. The project focuses on reconciliation by following the life of a little girl named Gladys Chapman. The project started about three years ago and is in use today as a resource on Indigenous history for elementary school teachers.
Moir says that because of the nature of her class consisting of struggling learners, the program will likely work in any other classes if it works in her own.
“It was an amazing experience for me and my children,” says Moir. “I was able to say what is going to work and what wouldn’t work.”
“It’s our responsibilities to help move [Indigenous culture] forward”
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-Jean Moir
A student’s artwork for a class project. (Photo Taken: Valerie Leung)
Throughout her career, Moir turned her challenges in teaching sensitive topics into learning experiences for herself. Course materials should be and are taught age-appropriately and sensitively like any other subjects in school. Indigenous course materials in class are important particularly teaching the land that the students are residing on and what it means and how it affects the Indigenous communities.
“In the new B.C. curriculum, it’s all about land and place-based learning,” says Moir. “It is as local as you can make it.”
Moir says she fought for not telling her students that the little girl, Gladys Chapman, had died in residential school. She placed her trust in her students to be detectives and to search for the information themselves on what had happened and why it was important to find out what had happened to her. Their engagement became more meaningful inside and outside the classroom.
“Those kids are going home and educating their parents.”
The biggest inspirational moment that Moir received were from her own kids during the project. Her class was shown The Eyes of Children, a propaganda film aired by CBC in the ‘60’s, that made residential schools look appealing. Moir was worried that her students would believe that residential schools were a good thing, but they proved her wrong.
“They literally were standing up out of their chairs going ‘That’s crazy! That’s not how it was! Why are the children smiling, they wouldn’t have been smiling!’,” says Moir. “They absolutely got it.”
Jean Moir with her class talking about the importance of fairness and equality. (Photo Taken: Valerie Leung)
The B.C. curriculum at the elementary level require Indigenous course materials to be integrated into the syllabus. Upon looking at the B.C. Ministry of Education website, limited number of links are provided to guide teachers and parents to materials that can be used to educate students on Aboriginal education. The main resources point users to material for students at the secondary level with none available to elementary level material.
According to Moir, there are many resources available online. The downside for educators is that they need to search them up online instead of them being listed on a website. Moir heavily emphasizes the importance of stories because of the vital role of storytelling in Indigenous culture. Stories are the best resources that teachers, children and the community can use to start learning about Aboriginal background. Teachers are advised to find books that are written by Indigenous authors because it is the most authentic way to relay stories.
Attentive listening is an attribute she teachers her students (Photo Taken: Valerie Leung)
Jean Moir believes that storytelling is one of the most effective way to learn stories. (Photo Taken: Valerie Leung)
Moir believes B.C. government is on the right track with its approach to implementing Indigenous studies in the school curriculums. However, the bottleneck and slow process of the integration of materials is due to the lack of training that teachers have. Older teachers are at a disadvantage as they have not received the education nor the training.
“It’s our responsibilities to help move that forward,” says Moir. “I think as Canadians, we all need to try to make amends.”
Education and knowledge are the first steps to reconciliation. It is important to acknowledge and honor the land we reside on. If children can understand the consequences of our history, perhaps it is time to pick up a book and learn the true story of our land.
BCTF provides many resources to teachers and the public.
Below are links to the resources and projects that were mentioned in the article.