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Completing the Circle: Teaching Our First Teachers - Literacy and Learning for Aboriginal Families (CD
Completing the Circle: Teaching Our First Teachers is resource that consists of eight modules or sessions, each on a
different topic of interest to parents, plus one pre-session that can
be used to help set the stage for the training course. Each session is designed to be completely self-sufficient enabling
facilitators to use each one as a stand-alone training unit. Sessions
can also be combined in any order to meet the needs and interests of
participants up to and including using the full eight part sequential
training course. Each session begins with an opening in which a
traditional Opening
Prayer is encouraged followed by a Medicine Wheel teaching and
Aboriginal storytelling component related to the session topic. The
literacy element is then established with the presentation of key word
families which are designed to be used by both low and higher level
learners. The actual activities and exercises are designed to be very
interactive and to encourage sharing and open communication among the
participants, honouring their knowledge and experience. Each session
outline concludes with ideas for things the participants can do at home
with their children. This is an excellent way to encourage them to
begin to practice the new skills they have learned and share the
knowledge they have gained with other members of their immediate and
extended families. The eight session topics are: Speaking & Listening Skills Passing on Our Values & Traditions Schools and Our Children Building Self-Esteem in Our Children Talking with Our Children Discipline Let’s Talk About Food & Families as Teams Each session is made up of three distinct components.
The first component of each unit is the Facilitators’ Notes which
contains the actual session which includes an agenda, objectives,
materials list, and the complete set of instructions, activities and
exercises. This section also provides the facilitator with the Medicine
Wheel teaching for the session, the Essential Skills Flash, background
on the activities and exercises in the session, optional activities
designed to strengthen the learners’ essential skills development, and
special documents such as the Certificates of Completion. The second component is a series of handouts highlighted by original
artwork created by a young Native artist. In some instances there are
two levels of handouts for the same activity allowing the facilitator
to match the work sheet with the literacy level of individual
participants. The third and final component of each session is a full resource
list which provides the author, title, publisher and a brief
description to help participants and facilitators determine which
resources best suit their needs. This list is divided into resources
for parents, resources for parents to read to children, children’s
resources and, in some cases, websites of interest. Many elements of traditional knowledge, culture and values have been deliberately woven into this package of materials and, although ONLC strongly recommends that a local Elder be present during sessions, every attempt has been made to provide facilitators with the background and information they need to engage their learners in learning more about their culture while increasing their literacy and parenting skills. After all they are the first teachers and they can only teach what they have first learned themselves. For more information on how to order this resource package contact the ONLC office at 1-800-971-2255 (within Ontario) or 519-371-5594. You can also email us at onlcadm@bellnet.ca.
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