Northland School Division

NSD Principals provide feedback during a group activity on October 11, 2018

Northland School Division (NSD) principals dived into a series of topics at the Principal’s Meeting on October 10th and 11th. The two-day gathering began with a discussion about numeracy. Area 1 Associate Superintendent Shelley Willier provided an update to principals about implementing a numeracy strategy through an Indigenous lens division-wide. Implementing a numeracy focus is a goal listed on NSD’s Three Year Education Plan https://nsd61.ca/download/117991 (Page 64). A division-wide numeracy strategy is being implemented to help students improve in subject areas related to mathematics.

Principals were asked to put on their critical thinking caps on for an activity related to a recent board motion. On September 21st, the board of trustees directed the superintendent to explore and develop a plan for a learning calendar and learning program; which includes community engagement that reflects and honours Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Ways of Being.

Before showing a proposed concept to principals, Superintendent of Schools Gord Atkinson guided principals through a card trick to help them visualize a learning cycle connected to Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Ways of Being. For example, in a deck of 52 cards there four suits (hearts, spades, clubs, diamonds). The suits were described as representing an Indigenous belief that natural occurrences happen in fours (the four seasons, four directions, four human races, four chambers of the heart, four quadrants of the body, four sections of the brain).

Following the card demonstration, Atkinson and Director of First Nations, Métis and Inuit Learner Success Lorraine Cardinal-Roy, presented a visual learning calendar concept aligning with the four seasons; which honours Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Ways of Being. After the visual presentation, principals were split up into groups and asked to share their thoughts and explain how they would organize instruction within this concept. Atkinson will present a strategic plan for the board’s consideration in 2019.

NSD’s First Nations, Métis, and Inuit team invited Walking Together Consultant Crystal Clarke to support the division’s work with respect to truth and reconciliation. Clarke shared a resource that educates staff how colonization and residential schools have contributed to many negative social realities within an Indigenous context then and now. The activities within the resource challenge and dissolve negative stereotypes embedded in society.