Don’t forget your mask as it looks like we’re not out of this pandemic yet!
Check out this creative music video project that fellow teacher, a gifted musician and close friend of mine, Scott Richmond produced while teaching a group of middle years students in his hometown of Gravelbourg, SK in the spring of 2021.
The students played an active and engaging role in creating these videos, which were covers of the original song written by Quebec band, Bleu Jeans Bleu.
The students were engaged and involved in singing together, videoing and acting out the lyrics. Together, these two music videos provide a great french lesson along with the importance of wearing your mask and keeping ourselves COVID-free while continuing to endure this global pandemic.
https://i0.wp.com/www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/vera-davidova-cuzH5S-8ZOQ-unsplash-1.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=116002400Scott Fultonhttps://www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LOGO-hor-green-2.pngScott Fulton2021-10-14 21:27:352025-01-29 04:04:13Oublie pas ton masque
It has been a busy summer for me to say the least. It’s hard to believe I return to a full-time teaching position tomorrow. I wrapped up my latest contract as a Learning Support Teacher with Prairie Valley School Division‘s Remote Learning School at the end of June. I then launched into an M.Ed. program through Vancouver Island University in early July that kept me busy and largely preoccupied with course readings, research and assignments all of July as well as the first week of August. I have created blog posts for a few of the assignments that were completed as part of my two courses this summers, which you’re welcome to read as well, if so interested.
On August 10th, I quietly deactivated my Facebook account as it was beginning to feel like kryptonite for me whenever I went on it. I felt like I didn’t have the mental capacity to be able to keep up with it all and I became a very passive consumer and felt like I was unable to show up to support and engage with friends on it the way I’d like to. All too often, I resorted to passive scrolling, sending out some likes and loves here and there, but also was left feeling apathetic and distracted from what I’m in the process of working towards at this time.
Since then, I have redesigned Creative Classroom Connections by changing my former Services page into a Research page to reflect the types of research and design that I am passionately interested in pursuing, both as a full-time educator and as an M.Ed student. I have created a Connectpage to invite anyone who is interested in these topics as well, to consider becoming a subscriber, collaborator, or even a contributor to the Featured Blog page. My hope is that I will be able to develop a readership for this blog organically and even separately from social media. I may not always share every post that I write on social media, so the best way to connect with this page is to subscribe to the RSS feed or fill out the new and improved contacts form through the Connect page.
One of my first tasks as an M. Ed. student was to write an introduction of ourselves and share it with the rest of the cohort who will be taking this program with me over the next two years. Here is what I wrote, and have been intending to share through this blog ever since:
I come from a historic gathering place, now called the town of Fort Qu’Appelle, situated in the Qu’Appelle Valley northeast of Regina, SK. I come from the heart Treaty 4 Territory, where a treaty was signed in 1874 between representatives of the British Queen Monarch, the 7-year old Dominion of Canada, and various bands of the nêhiyawak (Plains Cree), Anishinaabeg (Saulteaux), and Nakota (Assiniboine) First Nations, whose existence and nationhood evolved on these lands long before the nation of Canada ever came to be.
Growing up with several First Nations surrounding my hometown, I have come to develop an empathetic understanding of the negative impacts of colonial government policies, including the creation of the Indian Act and the horrific residential schools that were forcefully enacted, shortly after treaties were signed and existed for over a century. I have come to know and understand the extent of intergenerational traumas resulting from colonial policies and practices of cultural genocide and assimilation. I have also come to recognize the extent of the systemic privileges I’ve been receiving because of my perceived identities as a white cis-gendered, heterosexual male. It was at a fairly young age that I came to realize that I would either be part of the problem of continuing the poisoning of our relationships with the Earth, ourselves, and one another, or I could grow and evolve to become part of the solution and work towards the healing of these fragmented relationships.
I completed my B.Ed. degree in 2008 after having dropped out of university after my second year of Education in 2003 to make sure that I was pursuing a path that aligned with a sense of passion and a purpose and which has been carrying me forward ever since. I spent a year travelling (domestically and abroad); another year working as a youth care worker with the Ranch Ehrlo Society; and another school year as an Educational Assistant in an at-risk youth satellite school program with Regina Public Schools before I decided I was ready to go back and complete the remaining two years of my B.Ed. degree.
I completed my teaching internship in my hometown of Fort Qu’Appelle in 2007, in the same high school I graduated from nearly ten years prior. As an emerging Social Studies major, I was tasked with “teaching” the Native Studies 10 and 20 courses to classes made up almost entirely of Indigenous students. Through these early teaching experiences, I learned the importance of taking a learning facilitator (guide on the side) approach to teaching rather than the top-down sage on the stage approach like so many teachers have traditionally taken on. You can catch the highlights of my professional experience since graduating with my B.Ed at the bottom of my Aboutpage. What I love most about my approach as a facilitator of learning, is that I don’t feel like I have to know everything. The most important thing I can bring is a passion and commitment to developing supportive learning environments and processes that can spark natural curiosities to learn and grow with one another.
After trying my hand at self-employed consulting contracts last fall, I picked up a contract as a Learning Support Teacher with Prairie Valley School Division’s Remote Learning School from February until the end of June. PVSD Remote Learning school was created on the fly to meet the needs of students and their families through this pandemic year. Although this position didn’t become available until February, I am so glad it did, as I was able to learn a lot about individual student supports that can be offered within a remote learning environment.
This coming school year, I have accepted a follow-up position to work as a Transitions Teacher for Prairie Valley SD this coming school year, where my upcoming job description reads as follows:
The Transitions Teacher provides a significant connecting and integrated role. This teacher will provide both virtual and in-person support to students, families, and staff. The priority for this teacher will be to engage with students and families that did not attend a school or had low attendance in 2020-2021. The Transitions Teacher will work with a team to provide supports.
As for the M. Ed program through Vancouver Island University, I had initially applied for and was accepted into the program in the spring of 2020, but after the pandemic hit and with too much uncertainty in the air, I withdrew shortly before classes began and so had to re-apply again this year. I feel the timing is better for me now and am looking forward to researching, synthesizing and designing practical applications of Universal Design for Learning, Personalized Inquiry Learning, and Social & Emotion Learning, as outlined through my research page.
The plan is to seek, explore, and inspire best practices for developing education programming supports that can re-engage our most disengaged students.
My Top 5 Audiobooks that I listened to this summer and would highly recommend include:
The Practice: Shipping Creative Work. by Seth Godin. This book leaves me thinking about the creative practices, purposes and responsibilities involved in this work as an innovative educator.
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel Pink. How to inspire intrinsic motivation by offering opportunities for students to practice autonomy, mastery, and purpose in their educational programming.
And lastly, I wanted to share a link to another great audiobook and author who I was introduced to by one of my classmates in my M. Ed. program who works with this fellow teacher/educator in Victoria, BC:
Dive into Inquiry. By Trevor McKenzie. This book provides some great practical tips and tricks to implementing inquiry over the course of the year, and great examples of how to co-design learning with your students.
If you’ve read this far, I thank you for your interest! If you’d like to subscribe/support, collaborate, contribute to the evolution of Creative Classroom Connections, you can do so by filling out the form Connect page here.
Until next time, take care out there.
https://i0.wp.com/www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG_3207-scaled.jpg?fit=1920%2C2560&ssl=125601920Scott Fultonhttps://www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LOGO-hor-green-2.pngScott Fulton2021-08-24 15:43:032025-01-29 04:07:19Life’s Chapters – Past and Present
After a couple of months of doing research, building a business plan and navigating the world of self-employment, I have some exciting news to share! I’ve just been offered my first double-digit days contract since launching under the name Creative Classroom Connections. Starting in January 2020, I will be serving Ocean Man Education Centre as a Land-based Learning Facilitator & Consultant. I’ve been offered a contract that will take me out to Ocean Man at least a couple of times per week from January until the end of March, with the possibility of renewal at the beginning of the next fiscal year.
I am incredibly grateful to principal Murray Bird and Ocean Man First Nation for the opportunity to return to a school that I worked with for 4 out of the past 5 years while coordinating Learning the Land initiatives and while employed by Treaty Education Alliance. It has me realizing the importance of honouring the seeds we’ve sown and how connections to the seeds can continue to grow if and when we continue to nurture them.
On November third, I was invited out to Ocean Man to visit their opening day of a week-long fall camp that they were hosting for their entire school, out near the Ranger Station in Moose Maintain Provincial Park. Ocean Man School was part of an Outdoor Learning Areas grant through the Nature Conservancy of Canada a couple of and ended up ordering and receiving a bunch of camping equipment and tents that would allow them to offer these multi-day and night camps for their students. So I was excited to get out there and help with camp set-up and see everyone again. With sunny skies and a high of 18’C, and virtually no wind, it was a beautiful day for a visit. From this trip out there, the school began looking for extra funding to bring me in as a consultant. I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve this school again.
I’m particularly inspired to work with Ocean Man elder Peter Bigstone. He is one of the few remaining Nakota speakers alive today, within our treaty territories. His knowledge of the Nakota language is vitally important to pass on to the next generation. My inspirational challenge will be to find ways to creatively incorporate Pete’s knowledge within the activities we’ll be facilitating together, along with the rest of the staff and students.
It seems like the perfect place to get back up and running, as I’ve gotten to know and work with most of the staff at Ocean Man in previous years. And I am looking forward to getting to know the rest of the staff and students in the new year and excited to see what kind of fun and engaging activities we can create for them. I will be striving to collaborate with the teachers and staff to co-create an engaging set of activities with connections to the Nakota language, culture, and provincial curriculum outcomes.
I’m very much looking forward to supporting this school by creating an even more robust land-based learning program to utilize in whatever ways they best see fit. With a sense of humility and respect for the Nakota language and the school I’m being contracted to serve, I say pinamaye-no (I thank you); midaguyawabi (all my relations); looking forward to spending some time out there with you all again in the new year.
https://i1.wp.com/www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IMG_46481336-Copy-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=114402560Scott Fultonhttps://www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LOGO-hor-green-2.pngScott Fulton2020-12-11 16:30:452025-01-29 04:09:04Hired to Serve: Midaguyawabi (We’re All Related)
It was an awesome experience having spent 2014-2020 coordinating a Learning the Land partnership between Treaty Education Alliance (TEA) and the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) that included many different projects and initiatives over that time-span, some of which are featured in the video above.
Background Information on Video:
Back on June 10th of 2020, we released this video to celebrate and showcase some of the projects and initiatives that were developed and delivered in partnership with TEA, NCC and our affiliated schools and first nations, including:
Before shooting this video, each group of students were asked:
What word or symbol would best represent what your group would like to see more of in this world?
What key land locations around your First Nation best represent who you are and where you come from?
The video reveals the answers to those questions, while set in time and in tune with three songs produced and created by N’we Jinan Artists and the talented youth from Kawacatoose, Cote and Ocean Man first nations, (played in the following order): “MANY PATHS” // Kawacatoose First Nation: https://youtu.be/Qpbw6UvB21U “LOOK AT ME” // Cote First Nation: https://youtu.be/C5FVxXzK8Hs “HUNGER FOR MORE” // Ocean Man First Nation: https://youtu.be/rk9fIVSMVHg
Hope you enjoy it, like, comment, or share!
https://i1.wp.com/www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCC-LTL-Partnership-1.png?fit=929%2C533&ssl=1533929Scott Fultonhttps://www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LOGO-hor-green-2.pngScott Fulton2020-06-10 16:30:302020-12-16 05:18:36Learning the Land TEA & NCC Partnership Showcase
This video project was made by students at asiniw-kisik Education Campus as part of an integrated arts program lead by N’We Jinan in 2018/2019. This video is a powerful reminder of the dark history of residential schools and the resilience shown by First Nations to maintain connections to culture and identity.
For more information on the powerful and inspiring art that was produced as part of this Integrated Arts Program, you can visit: http://rockinthesky.ca
https://i1.wp.com/www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Were-Still-Here-1.png?fit=1000%2C533&ssl=15331000Scott Fultonhttps://www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LOGO-hor-green-2.pngScott Fulton2019-03-30 22:42:152020-10-05 04:55:50“We’re Still Here” Integrated Arts Project
From 2017-2019, I had the opportunity to coordinate another Learning the Land partnerships between Treaty Education Alliance and Outward Bound Canada.
The video below highlights our second trip up to kâniyâsihk Culture Camp run by Outward Bound Instructor Dr. Kevin Lewis.
Throughout the two-year partnership, educators from Treaty Education Alliance affiliated schools had opportunities to attend of series of outdoor camps and training modules. The camps were intended to build greater capacities of teachers to offer strong land-based learning programs to their students.
The following video highlights some of that training and features a few of the awesome educators that were able to take part.
https://i0.wp.com/www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/OBC-LTL-partnership-1.png?fit=1045%2C586&ssl=15861045Scott Fultonhttps://www.creativeclassroomconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LOGO-hor-green-2.pngScott Fulton2019-03-22 22:14:342020-10-05 05:00:03Learning the Land TEA & OBC Partnership Showcase