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Check out some exciting resources, developments and events below.
Week 7: Faculty Showcase
What is life like after you submit your Curriculum Integration project roadmap? Join us on Thursday, March 14th, from 12-1pm to hear from a Dynamic Duo, a recent CI grad and their Chair, to find out what their experience was like during the CI Project, and what they've done after the project ended. We will have lots of time for all of your questions and answers in the session, as well. Sign up for the Faculty Showcase on MyPD today!
Our next Curriculum Café is a virtual, special Saturday Edition that will be held on Saturday, March 16 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm, virtually. Register for Curriculum Café: Saturday Edition in MyPD today!
If you can’t make it, join us for our next flex Curriculum Café. It will be held on Thursday, March 21, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm in room A2506 at Newnham Campus. This Curriculum Café discussion will be an ongoing opportunity for faculty to share their curriculum stories and values statements. Note: All sessions are open to non-faculty champions. Register for Curriculum Café in MyPD today!
Seneca’s Curriculum Café is a bi-weekly informal get-together where faculty share and learn about curriculum integration in Truth & Reconciliation (TRC), Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI), and Sustainability (SUS).
Nbiiish (Water) is Life
World Water Day is on March 22, 2024. This year’s theme is “Water for Peace.” The UN World Water Day website affirms what many of us believe is true: “Water is a human right, intrinsic to every aspect of life.” And yet, “2.2 billion people live without safely managed drinking water.”
Water is known as “Nibi” or “Nbiish” in Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) language. Canada is a developed country and has 20% of the world’s freshwater, yet many First Nations communities are experiencing a water crisis. They still do not have access to clean water. We have a shared responsibility to advocate for fresh water access for all Indigenous communities in order to advance the Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action #19, which aims to close the gaps in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
We encourage you to reflect on your relationship with fresh water.
How much water do you use every day?
Where does your fresh water come from?
Where does it go after you use it?
Here are some resources to explore as you reflect on your relationship with water.
Watch a Water Blessing Ceremony at Lake Seneca with our recently retired colleague from First Peoples@Seneca, Peggy Pitawanakwat.
“You can’t eat money. You can’t drink oil.” Watch The Water Walker, a short film featuring Autumn Peltier, Anishinabek Nation chief water commissioner. (Available via Seneca Libraries)
Available through Seneca Libraries, the documentary There is Something in the Water was screened at Seneca recently. It draws attention to the ecological disasters brought on by the colonization of Mi’kmaw territory.
Decolonizing Water is an Indigenous-led partnership committed to enhancing the protection of water and Indigenous water governance. Learn about community projects to see how you can support the call to action for fresh-water access in First Nations communities.
Listen to the podcast episode Life in Canada Without Clean Water, which features an interview with Rachel Arsenault, a member of Decolonizing Water and a Master's student in the Indigenous Relations program at Laurentian University.
Watch the webinar Great Lakes Under Threat: Indigenous Water Defenders on Line 5.
The sustainable and responsible use of fresh water can strengthen communities and reduce inequities around the world. What actions will you take in your personal life and in the classroom to promote equitable access to fresh water in your region and beyond?
Finally, consider taking immediate action in the Toronto community by joining Vivian Recollet, Bigasohn Kwe, Turtle Clan from Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation, for a Water Walk in High Park on Sat. Mar. 23, 2024, 2-4 p.m.
Feelings of belonging are important for daily interactions but what’s crucial is how those feelings empower a person to live fully present and with confidence. When our social identities are acknowledged, recognized, accepted, encouraged and loved by others, then we thrive.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs suggests that with belongingness, a person’s self-worth increases and educators know this to be true. We try our best to ensure all students find places to belong within our classrooms. It’s not always easy plus many of our students lived through a pandemic that challenged senses of belonging.
Known as Academic Belonging, there are ways for educators to teach for belonging, and build a community where all are welcome in the relational space.
Some considerations:
Ask students about their subject knowledge; their lived experiences are great resources
Bring in guest speakers from marginalized groups to enhance the learning
Check that the content represents diverse groups and ways of knowing
Apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to content
Connect with The Teaching & Learning Centre for more strategies
Indigenous teaching and ways of knowing extend the notion that everything in the universe is part of a single whole; everything is connected in some way. If educators root their practice in this idea of interconnectedness, then it’s not a question of how students belong, it’s a matter of assuring them they already belong. These actions of assurance wholeheartedly advance Seneca’s Reconciliation and Inclusion plan.
This week, we are so happy to introduce a face that may be familiar to you already, especially faculty from SELS: Darryl Bautista, Associate Director (secondment), Inclusive Curriculum, in the Office of Reconciliation and Inclusion. Watch Darryl’s video below to learn about his new role and responsibilities with the ORI.
Looking for support? Feel free to reach out to the CI team at any time by emailing teaching@senecapolytechnic.ca.
Caption: Artwork by Isaac Murdoch, “The Petition to the Water Spirits”, located at Seneca@York Courtyard. Source: Seneca Polytechnic, 2023.
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