Mandhir Singh Sambhi

Post Class Reflection 4 - July 19, 2018

I found Team SIT’s demonstration of understanding native populations’

knowledge of land, lifestyle and laws very comprehensive and informative. I appreciated

the presentation and the engaging talking circle that initiated the demonstration. I could

sense many reasons behind the positive feelings of the circle: the pleasant weather, the

short walk, the circular shape, or the simple yet personal information we casually

shared. Perhaps it was a combination of all these factors, but Team SIT’s effective

decision to have students share their thoughts with a randomly paired colleague on

incorporating Indigenous People’s knowledge into curriculum did not let our thoughts

stray while walking back to class for the remainder of the presentation. I walked away

from the talking circle considering aspects of knowledge of Indigenous people from the

perspective of an immigrant. My ancestors also spent their lives on the land, toiling in

the fields or mining resources from the land, and they had become experts in living off

the land. I started making parallels on how little I know about both the Indigenous

people and my own people. Indeed, I would feel like a stranger in any of these lands if I

don’t know about their inhabitants. While I was still tackling this issue in my head, team

SIT flooded us with more information on how to include responsible and thoughtful

assessments into our teaching practice that do not simply provide lip service to

Indigenous People’s knowledge. Although I felt a little overwhelmed when I initially

opened the booklet that was given, but I soon felt grateful for the effort team SIT put into

compiling a useful resource for us to use. This resource shall be helpful for all people

looking to further their awareness of Indigenous People’s experiences, regardless of

future aspirations in the field of education.

 Mandhir Singh Sambhi

There was another group that presented on the curriculum culture of Discovering

Self and Spirit. Though they claimed to have no group members heading into teaching, I

found their approach and effort sufficient to demonstrate their goals. This group’s

presentation took inspiration from the curricular ideology of Social Reconstruction, so

they aimed to group students by expressions of self that resonated most with their

spirits and invited people of similar interests to consider social issues of various kinds. I

found this as a welcome experience and a varied interpretation that was by no means

wrong. I did, however, find their plan to extend such an investigation over weeks and

months a bit ambitious. While I was hesitant to sound critical by raising this question, I

was glad that it was felt by others and brought up nevertheless. I don’t want to

undermine their efforts, but I wanted to ask if the group had any ideas on how they

would maintain student interest for that long, or if that is even viable or practically

possible. Apart from that, I enjoyed the chance to discuss some socially relevant topics

with colleagues and connect with them without necessarily taking away any radical new

knowledge. I feel that sometimes educators may sometimes give less thought to cherish

some organic interactions in the pursuit of pushing academic content. But learning can

happen through numerous modes, sometimes even those that don’t aim to output a

content-based outcome. This group’s activity may have helped express some core

skills-based learning and growth, whether they intended it or not, knew about it or not.

For both the presentations this day, much of the learning was student-led and

only facilitated by the groups. Team SIT, however, left a greater impact on me as they

let my attention or intention fade throughout the presentation. I enjoyed the other

group’s efforts, but I was able to take away a lot more as an emerging educator, both in
 Mandhir Singh Sambhi

realization and in resources. Team SIT also had everyone do a self-assessment in

rather peculiar and memorable conditions -- however unwelcoming and crass their

behaviour seemed in the moment. The “method in their madness” was revealed to show

the suffering of Indigenous people over the years at the hand of individuals and

governments who sought to remove and destroy the natives of this land. This little

episode reminded me of the Blanket Activity that we had a chance to act through during

the 401/402 semester in module. It made me uncomfortable back then, and it did so

again this time, but for reasons that again made me run parallels to the experiences of

people in my culture, back in my ancestors’ homeland. Whereas the need for

reconciliation and truth was reinforced in me this day, it also became imperative for me

to recognize actionable goals from awareness of such issues. The self-assessment

reminded me that as an educator, I must design the syllabus such that students are

inspired to think greater and beyond the status quo, both on a local scale and on a

larger platform. Education is about setting goals that we can achieve, then to set sights

beyond them, and to accomplish those new goals.