UVic CCS ProD Offerings 2023-2024

See below for the Schedule for the Day for our May 3, 2024 Professional Development Day!

- our previous all day Pro-D gathering, + feedback received on our previous Wandering With/Away from Developmentalism focus and creating space to work within and across teams (Key’s words: “I only needed 1 tea to get through the day!” comes to mind:)),

- where teams are at (amid changes), and

- what might be needed now

In the same way that working in alignment with UVic’s Indigenous Plan 2023 and Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 2030 are non-optional, taking a common worlding approach to early childhood pedagogy and practice is something we are committed to; it is simply what we do at UVic CCS. It doesn’t it doesn’t matter whether we focus on materials, environments, Haro Woods, ‘transitions’, toileting, food security, communal eating, etc. – if we do not understand and/or work towards learning more about a common worlding (cw) approach, the considerations, curiosities, and alignment will not be there. (Denise Hodgins)

AGENDA for the Day 

• Everyone at Sŋéqə House (Conference centre space in new residences)
  • 8:30-8:50 – Welcome, opening remarks (Kim and Sadaf)
  • 9:00am-10:00am – (B. Denise Hodgins & Narda Nelson) CCS Common worlding reboot: Inheriting-Commoning-Worlding pedagogical practice
  • 10:15-10:30am – Break Out Groups (within teams) to compare notes & discuss  resonances/questions/curiosities (15mins)
  • 10:30am – 10:45am Break
  • 10:45am-12:00pm – Breakout Groups (across teams) (1 hr 15 mins common worlding group experimental ‘activity’)
  • 12:00-1:00pm – Everyone Lunch  
  • 1:00pm – 2:00pm – Groups share back to large group; invitation-directive for afternoon
  • 2:00pm – 4:30pm –  Within this block of time centres will have:
    • 2 hrs 15 mins to continue working as teams (supervisors to determine if ‘1 hr staff meeting’ time allotment is needed or not, or whether to use this time to continue with ‘activity’)
    • 15 mins break

Sarah Brewer will be joining us to talk about her art-based work aimed at unsettling colonialism and her re-mapping intentions with a plaque-making proposition for Salal Place, in October, 2022.

Artist Bio:
Sarah Brewer is an undergraduate student in UVIC’s Visual Arts program. Her art practise explores nature and family. Working primarily in drawing, painting, sculpture, Sarah asks questions like:

-How can blackberry be used as an art material? 
-How can manipulating blackberry cane give insight into the role of a settler descendant in decolonization and in navigating family histories?
-What can be learnt from jars full of moss? 
-What can be discovered in a small-scale closed system and does one need to have a purpose to start a long-term exploration? Is there distinction between science and art?
-Are mushrooms gong to save the planet? Where is the beauty in decay? How to visualize the mystery and magic of mycorrhizal networks? Can we shift from dualistic thinking to rhizomic complexity?
-Is this working – health of the environment, health of society, health of family?
-How can art be/show: sustainability, resilience, evolving, dynamic, scales, time based, cycles, flow, change, holding space, ways of being, relationships, family, environment, materials, storytelling, complexity, nurturing, care, intersections, biology, art, nature based, ephemeral, site specific, hyper local, sensitive, weight of history, possibility of future, action….?

Formerly a professional biologist (registered with the ASPB) who worked in landscape ecology as a public servant within the Alberta government, Sarah has worked on freshwater fisheries population restoration, boreal forest species recovery (particularly caribou), and environmental assessment impact review and criticism of oilsands drilling operations in northeast Alberta. She has also worked as a designer and educator in museum, science center, and art gallery settings.

Sarah has young twin daughters who also enjoy collecting sticks, rocks, and lichen samples.
Her work can be viewed on Instagram @sarah.brewer.insta

Tracy Underwood will be joining us share her knowledge and perspective on Territorial Acknowledgement:

JÁEȽNOṈET (phonetic JAYE-LLL-NONG-IT) is a SENĆOŦEN (phonetic Sencha then) word and the name of her workshop which means to acknowledge, to thank; it is a reciprocal framework for respectful relationships and living on Indigenous land. Tracy describes the background;

My JÁEȽNOṈET presentation derived as a response to University of Victoria’s Land/ territory Acknowledgement “We acknowledge with respect the Lekwungen peoples on whose traditional territory the University of Victoria stands, and the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.”.  I intertwine my story as someone who has grown up in W̱SÁNEĆ and connect our language, culture and history related to cultural genocide that is real.  I conclude with my thoughts of full circle(s) of RECONSTRUCTION(reconciliation).

My hope is for people who attend the workshop to think about the Indigenous land where they live. My goal is that you will understand our people and be a part of RECONSTRUCTION (reconciliation).

HÍSW̱ḴE,

Tracy Underwood PhD Candidate -- 
W̱SÁNEĆ Matriarch
Assistant Teaching Professor – Indigenous Studies

Among other questions and considerations: What might our collective responsibility be in early years education to presence  lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) and W̱SÁNEĆ place-based connections and cultural knowledges in everyday pedagogy and practice?  How can we do this in a respectful way that does not trivialize or diminish the histories and ongoing  lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) and W̱SÁNEĆ ties to place.

Reading/listening/video resources:

In anticipation of our time together, please read/listen to:

• UVic Territorial Acknowledgement (video 1:48 mins + text to read)

  In this video, Songhees Elder Elmer George welcomes visitors to the traditional lands of the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ people in lək̓ʷəŋən and English.

• ‘I regret it’: Hayden King on writing *Ryerson University’s territorial acknowledgement *renamed Toronto Metropolitan University. (Podcast, 14:51 mins)

Territorial acknowledgements have become common in many spaces. You hear them at the beginning of events, in speeches, during school and even at hockey games.
But there's growing tension about the politics of territorial acknowledgements. Are they emptied of meaning as they become more commonplace?

Read: Zoe Todd’s (2016). Zoe Todd From Classroom to River’s Edge. Aboriginal Studies Policy, 6(1), 90-97.

How do you teach about the layered colonial realities that mould a Canadian city? How do you connect the threads of movement, displacement, stories, erasure, resistance, and kinship that enliven and shape cities across Canada?

Educator Professional Development Days

Gatherings of/with/in the Commons

Session 1 - Topic TBD

Session 2 - Topic TBD

Session 3 - Topic TBD