Land-Based Education: Embracing the Rhythms of the Earth From an Indigenous Perspective

ISBN: 978-1-926476-19-3
Price: $25.00
Binding: Paperback
Date: 2018
Rights: World
Pages: 113
Size: 6″ x 9″

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Table of Contents

FOREWORD by Rose Roberts, PhD

CREE CREATION STORY
CHAPTER 1
The Woodlands Cree
The Land
The People
The Culture
The Language

CHAPTER 2
Land-based Education: Incorporating Cree Knowledge
Cree Worldview
Cree Epistemology
Community Involvement
Elder Involvement
Youth Involvement
Experiential Approach
Multi-subject Approach
Woodlands Cree Culture and Calendar Cycle
Woodlands Cree Social and Historical Realities

CHAPTER 3
Indigenous Teaching Strategies

CHAPTER 4
Environment-related Education Theory and Practice
The Positivist Orientation
The Constructivist Orientation
The Critical Orientation
The Post-modern Orientation

CHAPTER 5
Stories of Land-based Education
Story of Morris Cook
Story of Hilma Clarke

CHAPTER 6
Land-based Education and Woodlands Cree Seasonal Cycle
Six Seasons of the Woodlands Cree
Spring – Sekwun… 72
Break Up – Mithoskumin
Summer – Nepin
Autumn – Tukwakan
Freeze Up – Mikiskaw
Winter – Pipon

CHAPTER 7
Conclusion and Summary Remarks

APPENDIX
Appendix 1
Appendix 2

REFERENCES
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Herman J. Michell, PhD

Herman J. Michell, PhD is originally from the small fishing/trapping community of Kinoosao, on the eastern shores of Reindeer Lake in northern Saskatchewan. He speaks fluent Woodlands Cree (‘th’ dialect) and has Inuit, Dene and Swedish heritage.Dr. Michell has been involved in Aboriginal education in different capacities
since the 1990s. He is a published author. He served as President & CEO of NORTEP-NORPAC for 5 years, a post-secondary organization in northern Saskatchewan. He was a tenured Associate Professor at First Nations University of Canada where he taught undergraduate courses in Indigenous Health Studies, Education and Environment. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Michell sat on the Board of Governors as a faculty representative for 7 years. Dr. Michell has over 10 years of post-secondary administration experience. He served as Vice-President Academic at First Nations University of Canada where he was in charge of 12 departments. He also completed a four year term as Department Head of Science. Dr. Michell is a trained university counselor and has several years of experience working with Aboriginal students. He regularly visits schools and communities promoting science-related professions. Dr. Michell has made numerous presentations on bridging Western Science and Indigenous Ways of Knowing in pre-service teacher programs.

Land-Based Education: Embracing the Rhythms of the Earth From an Indigenous Perspective is a tribute to First Nations cultural resiliency. It draws from Cree oral tradition, describing the Indigenous connection to the land, and discusses how land-based education transforms the learning experience. By describing the contribution of Cree traditional knowledge, beliefs and understandings to land-based education, it represents the return to traditional forms of experiential Indigenous learning that are currently undergoing a revival. It also highlights theoretical, practical and traditional perspectives that returning to land-based learning have to share with us. The book illustrates the transformation taking place within Indigenous education from one of classroom learning, to one rooted in traditional teachings, knowledge and understandings. I know from experience that land-based learning is often a life changing experience for students. They discover their own place in the natural environment, which is transformative in itself, but more importantly leave with a positive understanding that reverberates to their families and communities long after leaving our natural ‘classroom.’ This book should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand the importance of learning from the natural world.

Michael Hankard, PhD

Associate Professor/Chair
Department of Indigenous Studies
University of Sudbury

Herman Michell once again bridges cultures between Indigenous and Western ways of coming to know, this time enabling the reader to see the land as both teacher and classroom. In his latest book, Land-Based Education: Embracing the Rhythms of the Earth From an Indigenous Perspective, Michell weaves traditional Cree knowledge and practice with Western theory and methodological approaches and invites educators to think creatively about their curriculum and how they might move out of the classroom to the land. Using his own narrative experience and sharing traditional stories and knowledge, Michell illustrates how Cree ways of learning from and on the land are embedded with stewardship, relationship and responsibility to the land and all gifts of the Creator. Land-based education is a critically important call to action in response to our current global environmental crisis, the result of the cumulative effects and impact of unfettered and unchecked Western science. Through narrative and reflection, and using Cree ways of learning from the land as a culturally relevant framework, Michell illustrates how educators can use their own knowledge and experience to think creatively outside the traditional pedagogical, ontological and methodological practice of Euro-Western education and engage all learners, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, in this call to action in ways that attend to 21st Century learning.

Michelle M. Hogue, PhD

Associate Professor
Coordinator First Nations' Transition Program
University of Lethbridge

This is an informative and insightful book based on Michell’s rich culture and experiences as a child growing up in the beautiful lands of northern Saskatchewan. Dr. Michell has gained vast knowledge by listening to the stories of elders, fellow teachers and other land based experts. In turn he explains the important values that continue to keep communities intact despite the colonial impacts of residential schools and other impositions of cultural imperialism. This book is a valuable source for educators and teaches important lessons and methodologies. it includes using Cree concepts and language to expand our important notions of education to learn from Indigenous greatest teachers, the land. Thanks Herman for continuing to remind us of our rich heritage and roots and its importance for future generations.

Priscilla Settee, PhD

Professor
Department of Indigenous Studies
Women and Gender Studies Program
University of Saskatchewan