Teaching Each Other

Nehinuw Concepts and Indigenous Pedagogies

By Linda M. Goulet and Keith N. Goulet

UBC Press

In recent decades, educators have been seeking ways to improve outcomes for Indigenous students. Yet most Indigenous education at the K-12 level still takes place within a theoretical framework based in Eurocentric thought.

In Teaching Each Other, Linda Goulet and Keith Goulet provide an alternative framework for teachers working with Indigenous students – one that moves beyond acknowledging Indigenous culture to one that actually strengthens Indigenous identity. Drawing on Nehinuw (Cree) concepts such as kiskinaumatowin, or “teaching each other,” Goulet and Goulet provide a new approach to teaching Indigenous students.

Just as beaders learn how to improve their own designs and techniques from watching others beaders work, kiskinaumatowin, when applied in the classroom, transforms the normally hierarchical teacher-student relationship by making students and teachers equitable partners in education. Enriched with the success stories of educators who use Nehinuw concepts in Saskatchewan, Canada, this book demonstrates how this framework works in practice. The result is an alternative teaching model that can be used by teachers anywhere who want to engage with students whose culture may be different from the mainstream.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of teacher education and to practising teachers and educators of K-12, particularly educators who work with Indigenous students

Awards

2015, Shortlisted - University of Saskatchewan President’s Office Non-Fiction Award, Saskatchewan Book Awards

RELATED TOPICS: Education, Educational Policy & Theory, Indigenous Education, Indigenous Studies

This book offers a multidimensional journey into Indigenous pedagogy, a journey that moves beyond decolonization and has wide-ranging implications for the field of education. It is powerful, authentic, and original. Pamela Rose Toulouse, professor of education, Laurentian University

An excellent resource for teachers and teacher educators who seek to challenge their students and themselves to work in new ways in the school system. The careful analysis of Cree words and related Nehinuw principles is a powerful and important contribution to the literature on teachers of Indigenous students. Celia Haig-Brown, professor of education, York University

Linda M. Goulet is a professor of Indigenous education at First Nations University of Canada. Keith N. Goulet is an adjunct professor of Indigenous studies at First Nations University of Canada.

1 Where We Are in Indigenous Education

2 Where We’ve Been: Sociohistorical Realities

3 What to Build Upon: Sociocultural Strengths

4 How to Get There: Conceptualizing Effective Teaching

5 Weechihitowin, Helping and Supporting Relationships: The Foundation

6 Weetutoskemitowin, Working Together: Social Systems

7 Iseechigehina, Planned Actions: Connection to the Process

8 Weechiseechigemitowin, Strategic Alliances: Connection to the Content

9 Breaking Trail: Stories Outside the (Classroom) Box

10 Ininee mamitoneneetumowin, Indigenous Thinking: Emerging Theory of Indigenous Education

Appendix 1: Cree orthographic chart

Appendix 2: Model of effective teaching for Indigenous students: Categories, subcategories, and attributes