good workshops

I had a terrific time yesterday and today with grades 5-7 students.
While one 'clan' enjoyed learning from the variety of centres: turtle calendar puzzles, word play/language tools with stamps for Oneida words, Travel Turtle Island game and others, my group made corn husk dolls or wampum strings over the two days. Students were respectful and I trust we made good friendships. [shout out to Kaswentha]. I'll be curious to know what their responses will be to the short questionaire I left. Thanks so much to the teachers who invited me and the students who were also so gracious ;).

When we brought the tree in, the weather was freezing, so I also wanted to bring in the ceramic turtle I'd had in the garden. It seemed natural to place it under the tree ... just need the eagle atop now eh? I usually bring in a cedar for xmas season but this year we came upon this 'pine' at the right price, so now we have the symbol that is so familiar to Hotenoshone: the white pine, the symbol of peace, our medicine atop 'turtle island'/N. America. Now I'd like to make the clans and other symbols to hang on the tree ... elements of our opening address: K^tsyokhwa/the people, Yukhinu:lha/Mother Earth, Onu'kwat/medicines etc.

Wasu:tehs

What a great weekend ;) ... met more neighbours and enjoyed family and friends who dropped by during open house ...and yummy Indian cookies!
After making more cookies this morning, it was time to get back to making more iris folded and layered cards for family & friends this Wasu:tehs /Long Nights, a season for storytelling and giving.

These are some of the cool bone beads and turquoise I purchased in T.O. I've turned the beads into these beautiful bracelets and necklaces shown here ... look forward to the "studio sale" this Sat. & Sun. Dec. 3 & 4 10 - 2 [-ish as the kids say] ... hope to have fresh Indian cookies too!

Met fine folks at the 3 day Circle of Light Aboriginal Education Conference in T.O. I think the most inspirational parts were hearing the student panels. Those kids are so courageous and dedicated ... some had such difficulties trying to stay in school, having to leave their families to stay with strangers while attending schools that were much larger, more populated and far from familiar things. Most adults wouldn't want to endure such challenges even for a good job! I attended some workshops about various things some of the northern communities are doing infusing local culturally-based knowledge into the curriculum, learned more about PLC's [professional learning committees] as well as reaquainted and made new friendships. Now I have more clarity about what is being done [or not as usual with fed. funding] for and with our First Nations students to help them receive meaningful and relevant education that will result in them having good employment prospects. My perceptions of what the Ont. Ministry of Ed. needs to do was made even more clear with regard to delivering programming to new teachers and especially the boards' duties to provide all students with a wider knowledge of our shared history and current practises in native communities. ... all in all, a good conference where more sharing than usual was expressed.

summertime fun

Was your vacation as great as mine? For three weeks in July I sat in a public school desk chair being attentive [mostly] and when not in 'the chair' was reading/writing, reading/writing and reading/writing. It's a 2 yr. Master of Education program that will continue through full time work or otherwise. If I get the job I've applied for this time, I'll be driving an hour to and from work daily, but hopefully it will be rewarding and the winter weather will be kind to me [we'll be doing 6 Saturdays/Sunday for 2nd term of M. Ed. also :-!]

The family reunion weekend at Wildwood Camp was a hit, even thru the rain ;)... lots of kids biking and playing around. The Hallowe'en theme was a great hit and tho' we weren't aware of it til we got there, we dug around the RV and found bristol board for crown-making and used bingo dabbers for painted "dot/jewels" ... one smart little girl made Mickey Mouse ears from black cardboard which her friend had to then make too! Wow, it sure paid off in candy! ;D
[note to self: keep glitter 'n' glue on board]

As we can see, been busy with the "Last Wedding West of Here" ... was a beautiful day, beautiful site and beautiful people. The neat thing shown here besides the couple is the two logs tucked up in between the rocks behind the newlyweds. They're at a height of over 20' in the surge channel where the Japanese tsunami waves set them during the high tide. Yes, that means that when the water was at its height, this whole area where we're standing would have been under water! Lots of other big logs were brought in at that same time and were very useful for seating and building a stairway up the hill which both sides of the families helped construct. ... all in all, a great time tho' much too short ;)