Hadih and welcome! So excited to have you here. Let’s get into it!

So around January 6th, 2023 I received a email about a volunteer opportunity. The email read something like this

I am leading a team at Blackburn that is developing an Experiential, Place-Based, Indigenous, and Community-based learning program. We are calling it EPIC Jr. I am working closely with my principal and out IEW. I would love to involved some Teacher Candidates from UNBC that would be interested in Volunteering with EPIC Jr. It takes place Wednesdays afternoons from January – June. If you are interested please fill out the volunteer application below.

Dawn Bask

Here I am, reading this email thinking I have no idea what this entails or means even but I know this is something I want/need to be a part of and experience. I just felt that this is where I needed to be at that moment. So, I followed my gut and my heart and applied. Here we are 3 weeks later and I just completed my first day with EPIC Jr. I could not be more excited, grateful, and content with my decision to apply.

January 25th, 2023.

Today is the first day of EPIC Jr. Immediately upon joining in with Dawn and her students I felt this sense of belonging. As we sat in the circle, every student took turns reading, sharing, and listening. It was the definition of a safe space. Students were able to ask peers for help and Dawn has really created student-centred learning with this group of kids. You see, we learn about student-centred learning in lectures, readings, videos, etc. but until you see and experience it, you don’t know the power that it has.

The task for today was to go into the park behind the school and collect tinder (Small pieces of wood for fire building). We were collecting tinder because the students are going to be building their own fires in just a few weeks! The rules were:

The beginning of our Tinder collection!
  • Try to collect dry-ish wood
  • No ripping off trees
  • Respectful collecting (do not take every piece you see as other people & animals also need it).

The knowledge that the students carried and how well they knew the safety protocols were truly impressive especially because this was their 3rd or 4th week of EPIC Jr. To me, that just goes to show the power of students at the centre and how it can really transform students’ learning.

Students off doin’ their thing!

As we entered the park, the kids ran off with their pairs and began collecting. It was really cool to watch the independence of each of the students and how well they collaborated together. We were learners with them and I feel that they knew that. Learning never stops, I believe that as educators we are always learning with our kids so this was really cool to see firsthand and experience. I just walked around with the kids, talked to them, and listened to them tell me stories and what animal they thought the tracks belonged to. At one point I was telling a student about Water-log sticks. Now, the more research I put into it the more I realize that it really was just a “Bartha family” thing that I was taught, Ha-Ha. But there are these kinds of sticks in the woods that hold much more water than others and my family calls them Water-logs. We were always taught to not gather those for campfires because of 2 reasons, 1. They never burned well because they are so dense. 2. They carry an insane amount of nutrients and are great for herbivores. I told the student about the Water-log sticks and showed how you can tell the difference. I also disclosed that this is something I was raised on and that may not be what they were called. The student seemed to have listened but quickly brushed it off and continued with her hunt for tinder. But here is where the magic happened, in the closing circle, we were all saying one thing we learned from today… That student said, “I learned that there is a stick that carries a lot of water year round and is not good for fire starters.” THAT WAS ME! I TOLD HER THAT! Look, I know it may seem small but I just thought it was so cool and I walked away feeling inspired, encouraged and so excited that the student hung onto what I said.

Closing circle to discuss what we have learned!

When all the students went home we had a debrief lesson with Dawn Bask and talked about some of the things that we noticed. Here is a list of things I noticed and really enjoyed at my first day of EPIC Jr.

  • Students at the centre change students learning.
  • Students are much more capable than I think we realize.
  • When we teach the students what they way or how they want (i.e. land-based) we are getting through to them and making a difference.
  • The importance of a truly safe space for students of all ages.
  • How beautiful and magical taking a passive role in teaching and becoming learners with the students can be.
  • It is okay to not know everything as the teacher – it is actually better that way.
  • Land-based learning can lead into so many lessons.
  • Giving students a sense of self-agency and control can positively impact how and what they learn.
  • By challenging the western ways of learning we are benefiting our students, selves, community, and the land.
  • Land-Based Etiquette and Values document.

I am truly grateful and honoured for this experience and I cannot tell you how happy I am that I followed my gut when I decided to apply. You just can’t learn this stuff from a textbook. These are my takeaways and what we did on day one. Check my “EPIC Jr. Day 2” Blog post to see how the fire building went! In the meantime enjoy some extra photos below! **Unfortunately I became sick and was unable to attend day 2**

Field next to the park where we collected out tinder!
Another picture of the field! The connection I felt to the land today was so inspiring and calming.
Karlea Simmons and I.

mussicho

Thank you

Jake, Karlea, Karri and I with the student’s collection of tinder!