On September 28th I was invited to join a fire circle at UNBC. We listened to Michael Gauthier as he shared about his life journey and shared his wisdom with us and then participated in a drumming circle with the UHNBC drummers. I enjoyed listening to Michael. His insights and spirituality showed just how deep and meaningful indigenous culture is to his identity. Michael’s story reminded me just how powerful culture is in identity and how it can feel when that is blocked in comparison to when it is nurtured. As Michael shared with us I learned about his frustration and confusion about how to express his identity. His struggle reminded me of the students I’ve encountered and their anger about feeling out of place. I hope to incorporate this into my classrooms by allowing students to practice their cultural identities and to explore who they are as individuals and thus ease their frustration. The Drumming circle was really powerful too and I learned about the impact of community as we all sang together as well as the flexibility of leadership as the drummers each led different songs I saw that their is no need for me to necessarily be the sole leader of my class but that I can share this leadership with my students to embolden them. I hope to continue to be part of cultural events like this that remind me just how much cultural variety is in Canadian classrooms when I try to teach my students. I want to include my students the way the drummers included us by giving them the tools and opportunity to participate in culture in my classroom. The drummers were respectful and brave and this is something I want to bring in to my classroom as a leader by example showing my students that they do not need to be afraid to be themselves in the classroom.
