Residential School

3/13/2018

In the morning we read a book called, I Am Not A Number. It shared the story of a First Nations girl in Canada who was taken from her family and sent to a residential school. It was shocking to hear about how cruel people can be. Although it is hard to hear these stories it is important to learn about the past so that as move forward we can learn form the mistakes that have been made. After lunch, we introduced the criteria for a powerful response and showed the students an example of the process and a final written piece. Students then had some time to get started on their response to the book they have been working on. In the afternoon, we had our science evaluation and reviewed order of operations in math.

1) Reminders & Homework

Sign up for the potluck (see yesterday post)
Math party Thursday
Finish the rough draft/plan of your powerful response by using the template to organize your thinking for each section.

2) Post A Response:

Post several things that you learned from listening to the book, I Am Not A Number.
What was the most shocking?
Post your thoughts on the idea of reconciliation (apologizing / trying to restore) with First Nations People
Why is it important?
Who is it important to? Why?
Reply to another persons post

58 Comments

Jordan

3/13/2018 04:07:31 pm

1st

3/13/2018 04:29:39 pm

I learned that first nations weren't treated equally and were given a number than a name. Also that before they ruled all of Canada but when the English men came they took the land and gave first nations reserves. Likes that is not fair at all.
What surprised me most was that they would give very bad punishment at Residental schools. For example putting burning coals on their hands.
To restitution with the first nations u would say we should have a day dedicated to them. To learn more about their culture and to restore stuff they lost.
This is important because imagine your living in your kingdom and all of a sudden people barge in taking everything. They also treat you bad and give you a little bit of your kingdom when you ruled everything. It's basically like going to jail but you own that jail.
This is important to us because we are the ones that took everything. It's also important to apologize so we don't fight all the time and were friends.

Ms. Golby

3/13/2018 04:51:24 pm

Hi Jordan - thank you for this thoughtful relflection and thank you for your input today. Your class definitely gave me some things to consider as we move forward in shaping opportunities for our students to learn about First Nations history, culture and reconciliation. Ms. Golby

3/13/2018 06:00:53 pm

Thank you Ms.Golby for the wonderful feedback!

3/13/2018 06:08:24 pm

Check out my website and do the blog!!
https://jordanhui.weebly.com

Aaron

3/13/2018 04:08:41 pm

2nd

3/13/2018 04:09:44 pm

I beat Lawrence, Amairis, Kaya, Emily, Roshin And Veer. Tomorrow Jordan.

Emily

3/13/2018 04:13:27 pm

Lol this time only.

Roshin

3/13/2018 04:55:50 pm

Jordan tooooooo last 🇯🇴

3/13/2018 04:13:09 pm

TURD

COco

3/13/2018 05:05:45 pm

YUSS

3/13/2018 05:13:44 pm

YEA BOIII

Daniel

3/13/2018 08:41:31 pm

💩

Tasia

3/13/2018 09:18:19 pm

Nice....

3/13/2018 04:21:17 pm

fourth

3/13/2018 05:04:26 pm

I think that in the book, the most shocking part was where the nun burned Irene`s hands with hot coals. Yes, I knew that the kids were treated horribly there, but not to such an extent.

I think that we should all do our best to try and reconcile with the First Nations people. What the settlers did was wrong, and now we need to apologize for it. We need to look at this and learn from our mistakes, so the same thing will not happen again.

I think that it's important because we want the First Nations people to understand that we know we were wrong, and that we are trying to make up for our mistakes. Forgive, but never forget.

It's important to the First Nations people, and it's important to me as well. I want to be able to say that I've done my part in bringing two groups back together, even if it's just by learning about the topic. We can all do our own part in this, and in the end, it will make a big difference.

3/13/2018 05:13:33 pm

Oops sorry Tasia I replied to your comment instead of mine. XD

3/13/2018 05:26:38 pm

All good 😎

Risha Golby

3/14/2018 06:25:55 am

Hi Emily - thank you for your reflection. I can tell this book and our conversation had a big impact. I agree the starting place is definitely to educate ourselves. I look forward to learning more from you and your class in terms of how we as a staff can meaningfully provide further education and learning about this topic.

3/14/2018 04:53:30 pm

Thanks for the feedback Ms.Golby!

3/13/2018 04:31:22 pm

5th

3/13/2018 04:35:16 pm

Veer

3/13/2018 04:56:36 pm

put up your blog

3/13/2018 06:07:51 pm

done

3/13/2018 04:34:53 pm

The most shocking thing for me was the fact that the First Nations children were stolen from there families. I know that the government was annoyed by the First Nations because they thought they discovered a new land for them selves, but actually there were already people there. And so they tried to erase them, their culture and stuff to turn them into basically white people like them so that they can treat them as settlers instead of people who own the land. But stealing their children? That's crazy. It's horrible. I can't believe people were actually able to do this, without feeling guilty enough to stop them selves.

I think it's important that we learn about First Nations culture and the history of residential schools because then we can learn not to make the same mistakes that the settlers did. But I think it should be done in a way so that even if your not aboriginal, you can relate. I mean more than half of our school is Asian. Not First Nation or Caucasian so we can't really relate. we don't have family members or anything that were part of it. So I think it's really hard for us to maybe feel, involved? I don't really know but I think I don't feel involved with the reconciliation thing.

I think it's important to First Nations people because they were obviously affected. But I think it should also be important to us as Canadians using what used to be their land.

3/13/2018 04:47:44 pm

I agree it is crazy that children were literally kidnapped from their homes.

3/13/2018 04:55:23 pm

nice Aaron

3/13/2018 05:50:33 pm

If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people. – Chinese Proverb

Aden

3/14/2018 09:23:51 pm

nice

David

3/13/2018 08:02:39 pm

I agree that it's crazy that settlers, when kidnapping children, were able to do so legally and without guilt. Imagine if you were in the agent's position. Wouldn't you feel disappointed in yourself?

3/14/2018 06:39:43 am

Hi David - I think this is an interesting point. It’s question that often comes up when studying the past: how did the individuals involved not see the wrongs they were doing? I think it may speak to why studying history is so important - the good and the bad. As we move forward we can be reflective individuals that aren’t so easily caught up in the norms of the time. Ms Golby

3/14/2018 06:34:53 am

Hi Aaron - I really appreciate your insight here. I agree, that one of the challenges of having students relate to First Nations history and cultures is that, at Laurier, we have so many ethnicities, cultures and languages. In a way though, the common experiences of unfair treatment and historical wrongs may give us insight into how we reconcile with all cultures and ethnicities. I think as we continue to grow as a multicultural school, city and nation this will be an important exercise for all of us. Ms. Golby

3/13/2018 04:46:35 pm

Some of the things I learned included one of the cruel ways that they would "teach lessons" by burning their hands, and that if the parents refused to send their children to residential schools, they would be severely punished.

I already knew that the nuns were cruel to the children, but the book reminded me of how many kids just like you and me had to suffer and some of the ways they were treated when they didn't follow a rule. I think that everyone should be treated equally, regardless of where they came from. Apologizing for the poor respect towards first nations people is definitely a step in the right direction I would say.

For me, my great Grandma went to a residential school, so when we learn about how children were effected, I can also learn some what about what sort of thing she went through. It is important to me that we treat First Nation's people with kindness, because it is hard to know that someone who you love went through that pain, both physically and mentally. It is kind of in a way like giving back to her and the people who were with her. If that makes sense :)

3/13/2018 05:12:55 pm

I never knew that your great grandma went to residential school! Did she ever tell you about it?

3/13/2018 05:27:52 pm

Not really... I think she is still kind of you know shook. I think she has told stories to my other Family, but not to me personally.

3/13/2018 05:52:58 pm

Reeeeeeeeeeeeeead before you send stuff Tasia. I thought you wrote that your grandma was shook after the residential school for a sec before I realized it was a typo. That scared me.

3/13/2018 08:45:37 pm

@Aaron- Wait I don't understand anymore... XD

3/13/2018 09:17:14 pm

Aaron, it was not a typo... I said I think she is still shook (meaning physically disturbed by definition) from her experiences. Meaning that it effected even the way she is now. She seems pretty private about it as well. Which I find interesting.

Sorry to scare you 😂
I guess it wasn’t clear :)

3/14/2018 06:46:36 am

Hi Tasia - thank you for sharing your own personal connection here. I was really touched by your idea about how learning about this topic is ‘like giving back’ to your great grandmother and the others who experienced this. Hopefully we get the chance to talk about this more as I would love to hear about your great grandmother and your own connection to this topic. Ms Golby

3/13/2018 04:54:24 pm

The most shocking thing for me was learning that First Nations children were taken from there families and brought to a far place from where they lived becasue they government wanted them too.

The seven things that I from this novel was that
1. First Nations people didn’t want there children to go to residential schools
2. As this happened not so long ago we have to apologize for our wrong doing even though it might not have been us
3. We have to respect the fact that this land belonged to First Nations so we should give them there land back
4. I learned that the nuns in the school treated the children bad
5. First Nations would protect there children somethings no matter what until they go to jail or a worse punishment
6. Idk
7.Idk
We should try to say sorry to the First Nations and try to regonize the things that people did to them as Canadians and this is important beacause they were the first people in Canada. They should get some respect for that and people should all realize that the land that we live on is not our land

3/13/2018 05:11:58 pm

You mean 5 things... 2 were idk xD

3/15/2018 11:46:50 am

Hi Roshin - I appreciate you taking the time to do a reflection on this book and important topic. I agree - a good place to start is RESPECT. Maybe this is part of learning to SOAR, both as Laurier studetns and as Canadians.

3/13/2018 05:26:45 pm

LEARNING
1.how the children were taken from there home
2.what all went on in the schools
3.how they were cruly treated
4. how the students were punished
5.what they were not allowed to do
6. in what ways the teachers striped there culture from them
7.how they would feel when they came back to there home
TOP 3 MOST SHOCKING
1. the punishments
2. how there culture was being taken from them
3. how they basically kidnapped the kids from there parents
HOW TO MAKE THINGS BETTER
1. hte government couuld call a meeting that calls anyone who was fouced
to go to a residential school and maybe gift them in a way and make a formal apology
2. we could agknolage that we are living on the very land the we forcefully took from
some other colony of people that had to go through so much suffering

3/13/2018 05:29:42 pm

Typo! "hte" instead of the, agknolage instead of acknowledge :)

3/13/2018 05:33:58 pm

SRY

Risha Wake Golby

3/15/2018 11:51:36 am

Hi Veer - Thanks so much for taking the time to do a reflection of this book. I agree that a good place to start with reconciliation is acknowledging the past. Ms Golby

Lawrence

3/13/2018 05:44:38 pm

I find the most shocking part of the story was when the maid put a bucket of steaming coal on the young girl hands. Some of the things I learned during the story was that the maids were trying to take away their culture and tried to make them forget their culture and family. I really think that the way that our government is apologizing is not good enough as they had to go through a lot of pain over the years and is not really a good enough apology. I think this is important at it's some of our history of wrongdoing. From this we can learn that we didn't treat some races equal as others. This is especially important for our next generation so we don't make the same mistake.

Lainey

3/13/2018 07:01:38 pm

That's true, because most of the apologizing have been over words, they should put First Nations celebrations into nation holidays or something like that. GEN WE

3/15/2018 11:55:05 am

Hi Lawrence - I agree, some of what this book talked about was shocking and highlighted some atrocities that I was unaware of. Hopefully you are right and the next generation can learn from the mistakes that were made, and in the future can treat all races equally.

3/13/2018 06:58:00 pm

You were right, Mr.Fisher, one loaded book! It was very powerful and reminded me of many lessons learned from before about First Nations.

It was really shocking that they would call Irene (is that her name?)'s language the devil's language, and how they told her to scrub off all the brown. Even though I'm not surprised that they would punish the children, but not like that!

It's really important, because even though we did nothing of the sorts, the ancestors of some of us has done that. But without them some of us wouldn't have been born in Canada or came to Canada. Still, being a good human being, we have to apologize for what we've stolen. This is one of the reasons why we are so multi-cultural. We've become Canadian or born Canadian so even though we are innocent, we will apologize to them as a whole. It's important to all of us. To understand the history of Canada, how to help our country and how this can help our everyday lives and this will make First Nations feel much better too. To let them know that the rest of Canada accepts them, to let them know to not to hate us, to rip free of the haunting memories implanted by the Europeans.

3/15/2018 12:04:34 pm

Hi Lainey - I was really struck by your thoughtful reflection of this book. I think one of the reasons that I wanted input from you as students, was so that I could get your opinions on a complex topic. How do we move forward with reconciliation as a school community, knowing that many of our families are recent immigrants themselves, and have experienced their own atrocities and incidents of racism? Maybe it is in our shared experiences that we can begin to shape a more accepting and inclusive future. I agree with you when you say that way forward is through acceptance. Ms Golby

Miikka

3/13/2018 07:25:04 pm

The most shocking part for me was when the nun burned Irene`s hands with the hot coals. I knew that the kids were treated horribly there, but I didn't know that the nuns could do that!

I think that we should all do our best to try and reconcile with the First Nations people. We need to apologize and look at this and learn from our mistakes, so horrible things won't happen to Canada's citizens again.

I think that it's important because we want the First Nations people to understand that we know we were wrong, and that we are trying to make up for our mistakes.

It's important to the First Nations people, and it's important to me as well. I want to be able to do my part to help, even if it's just by learning about the topic. We can all do our own part in this, and it will make a huge difference for us, the world, and our cultures.

3/13/2018 07:59:11 pm

Prior to have been read this book, I had acquired knowledge of the residential schools through the news and books. The Canadian Government was starting a reconciliation project with the First Nations people. I knew that the schools were awful. But having read a near-real story, I was shocked that such a thing happened. The firsthand accounts of many pushed my thinking and knowledge. It was a very powerful book.

The part that shocked me was when the nun told the girls to "scrub off all the brown". I was thoroughly bewildered at how ignorant the nuns were towards the First Nations. It was almost if they said it deliberately said it to make themselves forget about the Aboriginals. This was a part of their way to change the culture of the children.
I think reconciliation is very, very important in building a better future.

By reconciling, we help set a better example for the children of the future, so we can all finally leave behind this dark spot in Canada's history. By reconciling, we learn from these terrible acts, so we can do better in the future, and build a better country and world for us to live in. After all, we are all human.

It is important because we need to learn from our mistakes in placing these children in residential schools. By understanding, apologizing, and helping heal, we help set forwards a motion. This is essentially a step in the right direction. More steps mean we come closer to creating a world with equality and diversity.

This is important to the First Nations people, as they have, and are still haunted by the memories of the schools. By helping heal these wounds, we are making a fairer country. Even if we acknowledge, take responsibility, and apologize, we do our part in building a place fit for us all to live in, in our community, country, and world.

Kaya

3/13/2018 08:24:47 pm

I already had some background knowledge on Residential Schools, but I didn't know that some schools gave students numbers instead of Christian names like others. In the story, the main character Irene is punished for speaking her native language and is forced to hold a bedpan filled with burning coals. This gives her painful red blisters along her forearms. Blisters are a symptom of a second degree burn, in which the top and middle layers of skin are burnt. This would be considered torture nowadays and what makes this worse is the fact that this was done to young children. I think reconciliation is important because how the First Nations people were treated before is simply inexcusable. Obviously we can't go back in time and change the past, but we do have control over the present. Some people have made some terrible mistakes, but at least now we can show that we acknowledge them and that we want to make amends with the First Nations people. I think that reconciliation is an important step towards healing those communities that were affected and forgiveness for the atrocities committed not too long ago.

3/13/2018 08:44:02 pm

6th.
The most shocking thing I learnt today was that they put coal in a pan then on a First Nation childs hands for several seconds. I think the apology for the residential schools were too late and that it shouldn’t have taken so long to stop and apologize or that it shouldn’t have been created at all. This is important to everyone in Canada because this is history which definitely should not be repeated.

3/13/2018 08:49:16 pm

Another thing that I learnt today was that they called all the students a number instead of their name. Also that they call their language was “the devils language” even though people around the world believe in the devil and think they have a certain appearance and they probably think the devil would speak the language most commonly used in the area. (I forgot to do multiple things that I learnt today).

matt

3/13/2018 09:48:00 pm

I learned that even though the student's in the residential schools had really bad food like dry porridge, the teachers fed them self with steak and whatnot. I also learned that they gave people numbers instead of calling them names like they do in jail.

Coco

3/14/2018 08:14:17 am

The most shocking part of the book was when the nun "punishes" Irene by putting hot coals onto her hands just because she spoke she language which the nun referred it to "the devils language". I also thought the part where the government just "kidnapped" the children, was acceptable, not illegal, no consequences given after the fact that they just took the first nations children away from their homes just because in what they believed in.
What I've learned in this book was that children were taken away from their homes, they were punished by putting hot coals on their hands, and they were given numbers as names instead of their actual name.
I think that reconciliation is important since back then, they were treated awfully and it shouldn't have been legal to just take away children from their homes just to go to a residential school to teach them "the right way to think or live".

Residential School

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