July 2023 – Pedagogical Explorations

Protected: Embracing Indigenous Knowledges

Interview with George – Hannah

Interview with George

As some of you know I live in Lam Circle and George the Peacock is often seen near the playground in front of my house. One night after the neighbourhood children had all gone in for the evening, I saw him outside, so I decided to pop out and say hi. I was quite surprised when he said hi back, so I decided to ask him if we could sit down for an interview sometime. He thought that would be lovely. I recorded it to share with you all.

Hannah: Hi George, I’m so glad we got this chance to talk!

George: I am too! There have been a lot of odd things written about me lately. Someone dropped a newspaper with a picture of me on the cover. I read it, and I feel it didn’t really represent me properly.

H: Yes, I saw that. What would you like to tell people?

G: Well first of all, I want to make sure that everyone knows about my amazing feathers. I do like to show them off, because they’re beautiful, but lately I have often been showing them to indicate that I’m feeling threatened (Beauty of Birds, 2022).

H: That’s good to know. I’ve seen you around Lam Circle a fair bit, and I often see you fanning your feathers. Are you okay?

G: Some of those children are not very kind to me. One of them was even trying to touch my feathers! I did not like that at all. I didn’t attack him, but I seriously considered it. I am very uncomfortable with people touching me. Especially the beautiful feathers on my train. However, the thing that makes me most uncomfortable is when there are other peacocks in my space. I have my territory and that’s where I like to be. I don’t like it when other peacocks are in my territory (Knox, 2021).

H: Oh really? Have you had any issues with that on campus?

G: Well. One time I was near a building on campus and I saw a peacock inside! I immediately fanned my feathers and went over to investigate because people never let me go inside. Why should I be treated differently than this other peacock? As I got closer, I could see that he was approaching me as well. Suddenly the wall moved and he was gone! I went in to follow him, but I didn’t see him anywhere. There was a sound behind me so I spun around and there he was! Outside! How did he get past me? I went closer, and again he approached me. The wall moved and he disappeared again! So I went back out in search of him. Again, I heard the same sound behind me, and when I turned he was there! Inside! I attempted to follow him many times, but he kept getting past me! It was very confusing. Eventually I gave up and left (Akyurek, M., personal communication, July 8, 2023).*

H: So… George… I’ve read that peacocks sometimes mistake their reflections for another peacock (Knox, 2021). Do you think this may be what happened that day?

G: (After a lengthy pause) No, you’re definitely wrong.

H: Are you sure?

G: Yes. I’m very sure.

H: Okay, well let’s change the topic for a while. You visit the UVic Child Care Services yards sometimes. Why? There are a lot of children there, and they tend to be rather noisy.

G: I agree, the children are a little loud, but they do tend to be very respectful of my space, and they have a lot of healthy plants and bugs for me to eat in their yards. The other children near the houses try to feed me, but I often feel a little sick after I eat their food.

H: I’m glad you feel the children at the child care centres are so respectful. Part of our Early Learning Framework (2019) is all about learning to live respectfully with our community, including our more-than-human friends, like you, who share this land with us.

G: That’s great to hear. Thanks for teaching them to be kind to me. I’m really glad that’s part of your philosophy.

H: Me too. So George, I’ve heard that the university has considered re-homing you.

G: Re-homing? What’s that? I have a home!

H: It’s when people decide to move an animal to a new home or territory. There are many different reasons it might happen.

G: But why though??!!?!?!? I live here!

H: I know George, but some people worry that the children could get hurt. Or that you could get hurt by a child.

G: I wouldn’t hurt a child! Not on purpose! Sometimes they scare me, so I follow my instincts and try to intimidate them by fanning my feathers, and sometimes making sounds so they know I don’t like it when they’re close to me. They need to notice what I’m doing and step back!

H: I know, and animal control agrees that you shouldn’t have to move away if you aren’t posing a threat to anyone (Link, 2023). I think it’s more the humans that are posing a threat to you, than you posing a threat to us.

G: IT’S TRUE!!!!!! DON’T MAKE ME LEAVE! I LIVE HERE!!! (Loud squawking ensues)

H: And some people worry that you could accidentally attract a cougar to the campus (Link, 2023).

G: A COUGAR????? WHERE???!?!?!? (He fans his feathers, starts turning around in circles, and continues squawking)

H: George, calm down. (Squawking continues) GEORGE!!!! GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF! THERE IS NO COUGAR!!!

G: What??? Are you sure???

H: Yes, I’m sure.

G: Oh… Okay… (stops and folds his feathers down) You scared me! I really don’t like cougars!

H: Sorry about that. I should have phrased that differently.

G: That’s for sure! I think I need to rest now. That got really intense for me just now.

H: I’m sorry George. I’ve upset you. I hope you can get some sleep tonight.

G: If I have nightmares about cougars, I’ll be standing outside your bedroom window to yell at you about it.

H: That is totally fair. Goodnight George.

G: You better hope it’s good.

And with that he turned and walked off into the night. I hope I didn’t upset him too much. He already has enough to be upset about with the neighbourhood kids following him around all the time. Hopefully he will continue to be a respected member of our community. Everyone loves him and it would be a shame if he had to leave.

*The story George related about the other peacock has been verified by a friend of mine. One day he got very confused by some automatic sliding glass doors on campus. He went in and out for quite some time as my friend watched from her office window.

Rererences

British Columbia Ministry of Education, Ministry of Children and Family Development, and Ministry of Health. (2019). British Columbia Early Learning Framework. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/education/early-learning/teach/earlylearning/early_learning_framework.pdf

Beauty of Birds. (2022, September 18). Why do peacocks spread their feathers (or train)? Beauty of birds. https://beautyofbirds.com/why-do-peacocks-spread-their-feathers/

Knox, J. (2021, July 18). Jack Knox: Polarizing Beacon Hill Park peacocks proliferate, puzzle. Times colonist. https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/jack-knox-polarizing-beacon-hill-park-peacocks-proliferate-puzzle-4690758

Link, H. (2023, January 26). Students flock to Instagram to follow the beloved UVic peacock. Martlet. https://martlet.ca/uvic-students-flock-to-instagram-to-follow-beloved-peacock/

What’s “good” got to do with it? – Hannah

What’s “good” got to do with it?

Every so often a quote from Fred Rogers comes up in my Facebook newsfeed. In a 1981 episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood (PBS, n.d.), Rogers is colouring and says to the audience, “I’m not very good at it, but it doesn’t matter, it’s just the fun of doing it that’s important” (InstantTrain, 2021, 0:26). This quote resonated with me because I really enjoy doing a lot of things that I’m not necessarily very “good” at.

We tend to have this idea in western culture that we’re only good at something if we can commodify it, or do it at a professional level. I’m a decent musician. Not good enough to make a living at it, but I still find musical things to do because I enjoy it. Could I be a professional painter? Probably not, but I still enjoy creating art.

I think this narrow definition of what it means to be good at an activity is something that we, as ECEs, are perfectly situated to change for future generations. I have worked with children over the years who have decided that they don’t like doing something because they don’t think they’re good enough at it. One of the principles in BC’s Early Learning Framework (ELF) says that children are strong and capable, so part of our job as educators is to facilitate learning that instills in the child a sense of self-confidence (ELF, 2019). Encouraging children to do things just for the enjoyment of doing it teaches them that they don’t have to be good at everything. You can still have a lot of fun doing something that you’re average at. I know I do.

The ELF also reminds us to be aware of what our images of children and childhood are (2019). We all have different experiences which shape how we work with children. We should also keep in mind that different cultures prioritize different things at different ages, and we must account for that in our interactions with children (James, 1998). Children will have varying levels of ability based on cultural differences and what skills/activities families incorporate into daily routines.

In the childcare setting, I must disagree with Rogers when he says “I’m not very good at it” while working with children. Many of the things we do with children, like art, are so subjective that it’s impossible to evaluate whether it’s good or not. Who decided what “good” is?

If we are creating art with a child and we tell them “I’m not very good at it,” I feel it could undermine their self-confidence a little. Due to our fine motor development, we are likely to be more able to draw a horse that looks like a horse than a young child will be. If I say that I’m not good at drawing a horse, but my horse looks more realistic than the child’s, they may feel bad about their skill level.

I believe that while working with children we could say something more along the lines of “I’m not sure how to do it, but I enjoy trying to figure it out,” or “mine isn’t the same as my friend’s, but I’m still having fun making it.” If a child says “Hannah, your horse doesn’t look like a horse,” I would blow it off and just say, “Oh well. I’m having fun making it,” because Rogers was right when he said, “it’s the fun of doing that’s important.”

References

InstantTrain. (2021, March 24). Drawing (subtitled) – Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zJVZsXW3M

James, A. (1998). From the child’s point of view: Issues in the social construction of childhood. In Panter-Brick (Ed.), Biosocial perspectives on children (pp. 45-65). Cambridge University Press.

PBS. (n.d.). How people make crayons. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. https://ww.pbs.org/video/mister-rogers-neighborhood-competition-how-people-make-crayons/

New post from Hannah (caring with the more-than-human)

Taking Good Care

I stopped to watch a flying insect walking on the ground. One of the children noticed and watched with me. I wondered aloud what the bug was doing. Why wasn’t it flying? Bugs usually fly away when we get close to them. The child replied, “I think his wings are wet.” I agreed and said that a lot of insects can’t fly if their wings are wet. We watched the bug walk across the ground and attempt to climb some blades of grass. I asked the child what kind of bug he thought it was. He told me it was a wasp. I responded that I wasn’t sure because wasps have a lot of yellow stripes, and this one doesn’t. He thought for a moment and said, “maybe it’s a bee.” We didn’t want him to get stepped on, so the child decided we should move the bee. I told him that I didn’t want to pick the bee up with my hand because I didn’t know if it was a stinging bee, so he suggested using a stick. We turned to look for a stick or a longer wood chip, but when we turned back, the bee was gone. We looked around the area, but we couldn’t find him. I said that his wings must have dried so he could fly away because he should be easy to find if he had walked away. After searching a minute more, the child agreed with me and went to play.

I believe that in learning how to care for our more-than-human relations we learn to care for each other. If we believe that the bee is worthy of care and attention, wouldn’t it make sense that the same would apply to a peer? If we are required to care for each other, why are we not required to care as deeply for our more-than-human relations?

Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013) reminds us how young children often use personal pronouns (he/she/they) for everything. They offer “intention and compassion – until we teach them not to” (p. 57). As we get older, living things are reduced to being an “it” which allows us to reframe them as being somehow less than, and not worthy of the same care. “Saying it makes a living land into ‘natural resources.’ If a maple is an it, we can take up the chain saw. If a maple is a her, we think twice” (Kimmerer, 2013, p. 57).

Many Indigenous languages are verb-based, which means that things are described by their relationship to other things, or by their use (Styres, 2011). With noun-based languages (such as English) we are able to create an objectification of things that we should be in relationship with. When we do not have the context of how we are in relationship with the things around us, we are able to deny the interconnectedness of the land, our more-than-human relations, and ourselves (Styres, 2011).

As a part of our living inquiries in the BC Early Learning Framework (2019) we are invited to explore pathways involving social responsibility and how we are connected to everything around us. It states that “learning is not an individual act, but happens in relationship with people, materials, and place” (p. 67). To be in relationship with a place, we should consider the Indigenous definition of land and place as put forth by Anja Kanngieser and Zoe Todd (2020). They tell us that in Indigenous philosophy land is not just a physical place, but also an abstract space as it is “conceptual, experiential, relational, and embodied” (p. 386).

When we consider our more-than-human relations (both plants and animals) living on and with the land, how can we be separate from them? We can’t. Whether you look at it from a settler or Indigenous viewpoint, we rely on the land for everything. The land and our more-than-human relations feed and clothe us. If we do not have ground cover like “weeds,” the soil will eventually erode or become infertile (Frick & Johnson, 2002). We will be unable to grow food. If we do not have the pollinators, like our friend the bee, both edible plants and “weeds” will be unable to grow. This is why it is so important to teach the children in our care to live with the land and our more-than-human relations in a good way. To take good care.

References

Frick, B. & Johnson, E. (2002). Weeds – When are they a good thing? Organic agriculture centre of Canada, faculty of agriculture. https://www.dal.ca/faculty/agriculture/oacc/en-home/resources/pest-management/weed-management/organic-weed-mgmt-resources/weeds-good.html

Kanngieser, A. & Todd, Z. (2020). From environmental case study to environmental kin study. History and Theory, 59(3), 385-393. https://doi.org/10.1111/hith.12166

Kimmerer, R. W. (2013) Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions.

Styres, S. D. (2011). Land as first teacher: A philosophical journeying. Reflective Practice, 12(6), 717-731. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2011.601083