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fter this unit of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people studies, I've definitely gained a larger understanding of how we've miss treated them in the past. Also, I really enjoyed doing literacy circles with my peers because sharing and listening to others interpretations of the book we read helped to broaden my understanding of the book and learn things that I wouldn't have thought of on my own. I learned collaboration skills through out the unit but I especially did while making a presentation with my group on reserves in Canada because we all did a research summary prior to meeting up and we all had to put an effort in to teach each other something different and to make sure we had an effective presentation to share with the class.
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After feeling the wrath of white people on several occasions, Saul is now even more conscious about the discrimination against First Nations people. After getting fed up with the constant booing and cruelty of the fans and teammates of the Marlboros major junior A team, he quit. His dream was to play in the NHL ever since he was young. He then went back to his native reserve and he didn't live the life he originally wanted. I think that after all of this doubt and hatred, he began to believe that he couldn't achieve anything.
"Indian Horse" by Richard Wagamese is about Saul and the hardships he faces in life. He is forced to go to residential school after watching his grandmother die. While at the school, he has endless chores and jobs he has to do in addition to adapting to a whole new lifestyle. He eventually finds a passion for hockey and uses that as a coping mechanism.While beginning to read the book "Indian Horse", I immediately thought about a book I read with my class in grade 5. The book is called "Fatty Legs" by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton. The book is about a girl named Margaret who wants to go to residential school so she can learn how to read. While at the school, she clashes with a nun, Raven. "Fatty Legs" is written for children and young adults so it isn't as harsh as "Indian Horse", but it is a good introduction. A similarity between Margarets experience and Sauls experience, is they both learn that residential school is not at all the ideal place to be.In school, we have worked on and watched multiple presentations about reserves, residential schools, elders, and many other topics about Aboriginal people. The topic that interested me most was residential schools. I still have lots of questions about this topic such as: what does a typical day at a residential school look like? What does it feel like coming home and forgetting your culture? How might todays society react if more residential schools opened up? I don't think I'll truly have answers to some of these questions. I did learn a lot about residential schools after watching a group's presentation such as what the punishment is for going against the residential school's beliefs. Many of the children were beaten, abused, or faced confinement. As well, many children got diseases and died while at these schools. This breaks my heart because I care about children and none of that is fair to them. Some Aboriginal people still have the traumatic memories of residential schools.
In Canada, we have a horrible history about the way we treated and continue to treat First Nations people. Today, we have reserves for First Nations which are basically a piece of land that First Nations people have build houses and schools on for their culture. The purpose of these reserves is to try to allow First Nations people preserve their ways of living. These reserves may seem like a good idea and all but the reality is that they are not. Most First Nations people don't have a high school diploma or the equivalence. Also, the water on these reserves is very poor. According to Laura Eggerston, "As of Feb. 29, 2008, there were 93 First Nations communities living under either boil water advisories or "Do Not Consume" orders". After reading that, I was astonished! I understand that that is old data, but that doesn't change the fact that at one point in time, there was 93 communities that don't have proper drinking water. To read more of Eggerstons article, click this link: http://www.cmaj.ca/content/178/8/985.full.
At school yesterday, we watched multiple ted talks. My favourite one was 'to this day...' by Shane Koyczan. I really liked the message and I agreed with what he was talking about.
Basically, this ted talk was about when he was a child, he got bullied often and as well as people around him. Eventually, he began to be a bully but then realized that there is no reason to be a bully. He also considered suicide, but again realized that he shouldn't kill himself and instead, he make a difference in his life and the lives of others. I think that this was a great ted talk because many people can relate to the topic of being bullied and becoming a bully. Bullying is something that effects many people, and if there was no more bullying, everything would be much better. I like how he talked about his own personal experience being bullied and how that effected his life. Here's the link to the video http://www.ted.com/talks/shane_koyczan_to_this_day_for_the_bullied_and_beautiful . Its February, which means its time for Family day and Valentines day! My family and I have been busy planning fun things to do over the long weekend. We decided to go skating at a local outdoor ice rink with other family members, and friends! We did this last year too and it was a lot of fun! We always play hockey after everyone is tiered of skating around in circles. Finally, after a long day of skating, everyone comes back to our house for a potluck and hot chocolate!
I am super stoked that this is my third blog post! This is definitely the most awesome part of my day! I think that it is very important to acknowledge wonderful things that happens throughout our daily lives. For example, it was a snowday a week ago, and I love going to school, but instead I decided to have a 'lazy day'.
Today in school, we watched this video, http://www.ted.com/talks/ze_frank_are_you_human . After watching it, I noticed that it starts out funny, then becomes more serious. Lots of the stuff in this video applied to me. It really made me think about how we all go through similar situations like that, be our lives are all so different.
Today, I am writing about something awesome that happened in my life. The thing that first pops into my mind, is snow days! we just had a snow day a week ago and it was awesome! I stayed home and had a 'lazy day'! It's nice to be able to do absolutely nothing for a day!
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AuthorI am in high school and am writing this as a school project. I hope you enjoy! Archives
May 2015
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