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Resiliency of Indigenous peoples through song
1.1k Plays1 month ago
LouAnn Davis (St. Michael's Elementary School, Stephenville Crossing, Newfoundland and Labrador)
Finalist of the 2024 Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Teaching
For more information about the award visit CanadasHistory.ca/TeachingAward
LouAnn Davis’s project took place as part of the primary music program. The school has a high percentage of children with Indigenous ancestry, and it is important that they have the opportunity to learn about this culture, which was an opportunity that was denied to their parents and grandparents. For the project, students in the primary choir learned The Beatles' song “Blackbird,” which had been translated into Mi’kmaq, as well as the song “Seeds” by Indigenous Artist Julian Taylor. The song “Seeds” addresses residential schools and talks about the resiliency of Indigenous peoples. LouAnn Davis, with fellow primary teachers, used these songs as a springboard for thinking about and discussing residential schools, their Mi’kmaq culture and language, and how important it is to restore this culture and language within their school and community.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Teaching Canada's History Podcast
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of the Teaching Canada's History podcast. I'm your host, Brooke Campbell, and today we are speaking with the finalists of the 2024 Governor General's History Award for Excellence in Teaching.
00:00:17
Speaker
Created in 1996, the award recognizes innovative and impactful approaches to teaching Canadian history. For more information, visit canadashistory.ca slash teaching award.
Luann Davis: Integrating Indigenous Education in Music
00:00:29
Speaker
Today I'm speaking with Luann Davis, an elementary music teacher in Stephenville Crossing, Newfoundland and Labrador. Thanks for speaking with me today, Luann. Great to be here. Thanks for having me. Can you provide us with an an overview of the project that you have designed and that you have imagined for your students?
00:00:46
Speaker
Sure. This project was part of my music program, but it links to sort of wider school activities. As a school, we've really committed to ah helping to incorporate more Indigenous education within our school because we have a high percentage of children who come from Indigenous ancestry.
00:01:05
Speaker
We feel it's important that they have the opportunity to learn about this culture, um which is an opportunity that their parents and their grandparents were denied. So at our school, we have a lot of different Indigenous groups that come in to do various teachings and things throughout the year, including the Newfoundland and Aboriginal Women's Network.
00:01:26
Speaker
And then we have some knowledge keepers, Paul Pike and Troy Bennett, who come in and do some drumming with the children. We also have Maui Omi at the end of every school year. So the project that I did sort of ties into all of this.
00:01:40
Speaker
um So as a music teacher, I want to incorporate more indigenous music into my program. And there's very little music that's actually been translated into the Mi'kmaq language ah or indigenous music that has been written and in traditional like music notation.
00:01:57
Speaker
So I did learn that the Beatles song Blackbird was translated into Mi'kmaq in 2019.
Performance and Community Engagement
00:02:06
Speaker
as part of the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Languages by a group from Cape Breton.
00:02:12
Speaker
And it was recorded by Mi'kmaq musician named Emma Stevens. I decided to use this song as well as a song called Seeds by Indigenous artist Julian Taylor for my primary choir to perform at the Rotary Music Festival.
00:02:28
Speaker
The song Seeds addresses residential schools and talks about the resiliencies of Indigenous peoples. So I taught these songs in my regular K-3 music classes, as well as combined choir classes from about January to March.
00:02:43
Speaker
Our grade two teacher, Andrea Marshall, who was actually the teacher who recommended the song Seeds, helped accompany us for that song on her guitar. And she helped with extra practices as well.
00:02:55
Speaker
So myself and the other primary teachers use these songs as a springboard for thinking about and discussing residential schools and our Megamaw culture and language and how ah important it is for us to restore this culture and language within our school and the community.
00:03:11
Speaker
So the lyric, they tried to bury us, but they didn't know we were seeds, is repeated throughout the song. And it helps to illustrate the resiliency of Indigenous people and give children a concrete way of seeing a seed growing into a strong plant.
00:03:26
Speaker
Like our culture that's been taken away, growing stronger as we embrace and learn about it. A couple of the students also created their own choreography to perform while we sang seeds.
00:03:37
Speaker
And the students helped to create a list of words that illustrated the things that were taken away from children who went to residential schools, but also helped to make them resilient. Some of those words were like family, and culture, and love.
00:03:50
Speaker
And these words were written on wide ribbons and were worn by our dancers and then held by our singers in the choir. Another portion of the program involved making ribbon skirts and ribbon shirts for the children who wanted to wear them when we performed.
00:04:06
Speaker
Susanna Rose Quilt Patch donated some fabric and the school purchased the rest. I worked with the children to select the fabric and designs for their skirts or the ribbons for their shirts and then sold the skirts myself and added ribbons to the shirts with the help of the volunteer.
00:04:22
Speaker
Once the shirts and the skirts were made, Dr. Elder Odell Pike led a feast ceremony to honor our new regalia. Students participated in traditional songs and shared the Feast of Berries together with some special guests from Naan and our community.
Impact on Students and Future Plans
00:04:38
Speaker
Once the performance was finished at the Rotary, the students reflected on their experience in various discussions and age-appropriate writing activities. For example, some kindergarten students designed their own ribbon skirts on paper and wrote about when or why they would wear them.
00:04:53
Speaker
Older students completed longer writing pieces talking about the special day that they performed or reflecting on orange skirt day orange shirt day and what it means to them.
00:05:05
Speaker
This is a very interdisciplinary project. As you're talking about, you know, there's music, there's history, there's, you know, dance and arts and traditions and Can you can you share more about um the historical thinking work that went into this project and that your students were able to to utilize while while engaging with with these songs?
00:05:28
Speaker
So using the music, the students were able to learn about residential schools in a way that was age appropriate. They learned that Even though most indigenous people here on the island of Newfoundland weren't forced to go to residential schools, culture was still lost because our ancestors weren't permitted to participate in their culture.
00:05:48
Speaker
They weren't able to speak their language, wear their regalia, sing their songs and so on. So like the seeds that grow into plants, the culture can be reclaimed and shared within our community.
00:06:00
Speaker
Singing the song Blackbird in Mi'kmaq is a step towards bringing this link this language back to our community. is my goal for the upcoming school year to work at having some more children's music translated into Mi'kma.
00:06:15
Speaker
As an accredited music therapist and a music educator, I know that music is powerful and it's a wonderful tool that can be used to help learn language. So i want to work with a fluent speaker to translate or write songs that are meaningful to children and can help them learn words and phrases in the language so that they can be used in our everyday lives.
00:06:35
Speaker
it important to help restore our language for future generations. Many of the teachers on my staff are of Mi'kmaq ancestry, and we all want to give our children at the school an opportunity to learn about their culture and their language, which wasn't something that we had as children, especially within the the traditional school system.
00:06:55
Speaker
Can you tell us more about the types of resources that you use to help support you know, teaching and learning about history and how how you're using them alongside your other your other teaching programs.
Resources and Community Contributions
00:07:08
Speaker
programs I used video recordings from YouTube to help teach the students the songs, especially Blackbird. um And I also had a written translation, which was written out phonemically to help us with the pronunciation.
00:07:23
Speaker
We also use a lot of Phyllis Webstad's books about Orange orange Shirt Day. um So we use them throughout the year. Children have read them every year. But a week before we did the songs and our performance, Ms. Webstad was actually speaking in our area. So we the whole school got to go and hear her speak. So that was an amazing way to kind of connect what we were doing with real life and hearing like real life experiences.
00:07:52
Speaker
And I guess the other resource that we use a lot is just the members of our community that come in and do those teachings. So Dr. pe Dr. Pike, um Paul Pike, Troy Bennett, they're in our school regularly and the ladies at NON.
00:08:07
Speaker
um And they really help provide us with the teachings that link it all together.
Fostering Understanding and Reconciliation
00:08:13
Speaker
When you reflect back on this this project, um can you share about the impact that it's had on on your students and and on the community itself?
00:08:25
Speaker
ah Well, the the students now have a bigger awareness, I think, of the past injustices that have been done against Indigenous people. It's a wide age group that we worked with. Kindergarten are only five years old, up to kids that were around nine.
00:08:40
Speaker
And really other children in the school kind of were involved indirectly in the program. So they all all kind of had their understandings at different levels, but it did provide everybody with the solid foundation for future learnings and understanding. So when we speak about it next year, the kindergartens will have a little bit more and they'll be able to connect. Oh, yeah, I remember wearing my ribbon skirt or whatever.
00:09:04
Speaker
um And I think the children were very proud to perform in the language that was spoken by our ancestors. They were really passionate when singing the song Seeds because they felt that they were singing it for all of the children who were taken away from their homes.
00:09:20
Speaker
They wore their ribbon skirts and their shirts so proudly on the stage. And then they wore them again when we had our school Mauiomi. And then since then, I've seen photos of them at different powwows around the area wearing their skirts or their shirts and while they danced.
00:09:36
Speaker
So many of them didn't already have their own regalia. And it's not always easy to buy children's size regalia. So it was really special to him them to have their own skirt or their own shirt.
00:09:47
Speaker
um And I think the project is important to our school and our community because it's just another step towards truth and reconciliation. Our school is really committed to making sure that our students and our community have a chance to help restore the culture that has been lost by so many families here in Newfoundland.
00:10:07
Speaker
um we're learning together with our students so that future generations will have opportunities to participate in Mi'kmaq culture and we'll have knowledge of the language and the teachings that we didn't have growing up.
Conclusion and Appreciation
00:10:20
Speaker
Thank you so much for sharing this work with me today, Luann. It's been been a pleasure to hear about this project and learn more about what you've been doing. Thank you. was wonderful speaking to you.