Reflecting on my Inquiry Presentation

The beginning of this inquiry project was an incredibly rewarding experience for me. Indigenous advocacy is deeply valuable to me, so having the opportunity to share this passion with my peers was exciting. Interestingly, this presentation made me more nervous than any other I’ve done this term. I think this was because I felt a responsibility to do justice to a topic that is so central to my personal values. Indigenous pedagogy and content are high-stakes topics, and I wanted to effectively communicate the fundamental necessity of this work in our profession. It felt a bit like an uphill battle, though, since our focus in this program is always fragmented between many important considerations that demand our attention daily. I ran out of time near the end of my presentation, but I would have liked to connect Indigenous pedagogies explicitly to ideas we've been discussing, such as SEL, relational learning, collaboration, etc.

I’ve noticed some of my peers express hesitation or resistance toward Indigenizing the curriculum, often perceiving it as an entirely separate and daunting task. However, I believe this work can be approached in small, manageable ways that align with existing educational practices and philosophies. For example, project-based learning and strengths-based assessment naturally incorporate elements of Indigenous pedagogy. Reframing this integration as an enhancement to familiar approaches can reduce overwhelm and make this work more accessible. Moving forward, I’d like to create practical resources for integrating Indigenous perspectives into teaching and collaborate with colleagues to explore these connections further. This presentation deepened my commitment to advocacy and reminded me of the importance of persistence and humility in pursuing equity and inclusion in education.

There were several subtopics that I stumbled across during my research that could be the subject of my Inquiry II project. Firstly, more deeply exploring the connection between math-phobia and "culture clash" intrigues me because math trauma was one inquiry question I considered researching. Another idea is to look into how Math has been used as a tool of oppression and look at the math curriculum through a social justice lens.