Maskihkiy Kistikan
I noticed your title is in Cree. Does that mean this website is just for First Nations students?
Definitely not. This resource was built for all students of any culture. Plants are an excellent first step for teachers to introduce students to Indigenous Knowledge as a valid and beautiful worldview. My goal is for students to experience Aboriginal culture in an authentic and less-contrived manner than what they might have experienced before.
The easiest translation of the Cree words Maskikiy Kistikan to English is "Medicine Garden". This website was created to support teachers in allowing their students the adventure of creating their own medicinal garden on or around school grounds, as well as to document my own students' learning journeys!
While I support the use of this website for whatever you need, I encourage you to adhere to the following educational principles:
- Go Beyond the Classroom: I have created a list of resources that can help you in connecting with people in your community that might be of help to the creation of your garden, including Elders.
- Follow the Students: Assist the students by following and building on the connections they make. While I have created a section for the students meant to pique their interests and stimulate questions, it is just a start! Let the garden be a place where they can share their own personal stories and those of their families.
- Create Visuals: The garden is a perfect place to go beyond traditional literacy. Allow for students to keep notebooks where they can sketch their observations. Encourage story-telling in the area. Take pictures to document growth rather than writing down descriptions. This will allow for a more authentic experience in the garden.
Philosophy
We have no room for a School Garden! What will we do?
First step: Bring the problem to your students. Encourage them to think of solutions. If you are still stuck, consider the following:
- Do you have a grassy area in the school yard that is underutilized? Grass may look pretty, but it often isn't the best use of schoolyard space.
- Is there a community garden space nearby? Community gardens will require field trip forms, but the people who use them will be great resources for your students as they begin their garden.
- Can you use planters? Many plants grow very well in planters, and I would encourage you to invest in a few large planters to begin your garden!
I have a very diverse class. Why should I devote this amount of time to a unit that has an Indigenous focus?
Aboriginal people of Canada have inhabited this country for longer than anyone can remember. Their worldview stemmed from nature, and they used their environment as the landscape on which to build their lives. As such, they have a deeper understanding of the plants native to Canada, and in many ways, of what it means to be Canadian. No matter what ancestry your students have, they can benefit from this knowledge. Working in their own places in Canada, even a place as small as a schoolyard garden, gives them a tangible and very real connection to this country.
I don't know much about Indigenous Culture in my region. What if the project turns into a wreck?
All projects have the potential to not work out, but even the projects that fail are something we can learn from. Avoiding teaching science from an Indigenous perspective because you are scared of messing up is much worse than sincerely and genuinely trying to share the importance of this knowledge with your students.
Check out the resource page on how to connect with people in your community that may be able to help.
Why do you discourage the use of writing as a way to record the experiences in the garden?
The reason I encourage the use of visuals rather than traditional forms of writing is twofold.
One of the reasons is that the garden is meant to be a multi-sensory experience. Students will quickly begin to reduce the impact of what they sense when they are forced to translate into words, especially those students who struggle with writing already.
The other reason is to expose students to other forms of literacy, such as visual literacy. One of my favourite graphic representations of Aboriginal learning actually comes out of Australia. It explains that students do well when they explicitly picture their learning pathways, and that they should be encouraged to share their learning through art and artifacts. Feel free to check out the graphic here.
How can I convince my administration that a School Garden is a good idea?
There is a substantial amount of research supporting the importance of getting students outdoors, and an additional amount focusing on the benefits of schoolyard gardening. While the following PowerPoint doesn't apply to Indigenous gardening or Alberta, I still feel it is a great presentation on why gardening is valuable for out students.
