Aboriginal Perspectives

As a (mostly) mathematics and science teacher, I have struggled a bit with authentic integration of Aboriginal perspectives into my classroom.  Today as I was driving home, I had a great brainwave while talking to a coworker.

7 Sacred Teachings in health class!

Since Spring Break, we have been looking at peer pressure and how to respond to it.  A big player in this which we haven't looked at is personal beliefs and morals.  What better way to do this than to consider all the aspects that can affect a person's decisions than through the 7 Sacred Teachings?

Step 1 (will be doing this tomorrow): 
Have students (in small groups) research the 7 teachings to find out what they are.  To keep track of what they find out, students will design a circle with the information - pictorially and/or verbally.

Step 2:
Option A - Students will relate the 7 Sacred Teachings to themselves.  They can articulate their thoughts in any form (media/written/pictorally) but must explain how each piece relates to them and which are more evident in a given scenario.
Option B - Students will choose 5 - 8 principle words which define their actions and beliefs.  Again, how this is articulated is up to the students, but they must explain why they have chosen that word and provide an example.

Suggested modes to demonstrate step 2:

• movie maker (include personal pictures with voice over)
• prezi
• song
• drawing (with blurbs)

Step 3:
Students will be asked to reflect on what they have completed in step 2.
Option A - write a reflection which looks at how these core principles would come into play when faced with a peer-pressure scenario
Option B -   for each of a number of scenarios, which of the core principles (personal or 7 Sacred Teachings) are coming into play (whether they are ignored or a key player in resisting peer pressure).

I'll keep you posted as I go!