Rock Your Mocs, was established in 2011 and is a worldwide Native American & Indigenous Peoples virtual unity event, held annually in November during National Native American Heritage Month in the U.S.A. People will wear their moccasins and take a photo, post it online with the hashtag #ROCKYOURMOCS and usually wear a turquoise ribbon to show support. (https://rockyourmocs.org/sample-page/#:~:text=Established%202011%2C%20Rock%20Your%20Mocs,video%20or%20story%2C%20add%20the). In my class, we spoke about moccasins and had a great dialogue about the significance of moccasins, and what they mean. This led to great conversations about beading and the culture within that. Furthermore, I guided the discussion to talk about what is local to our Dakelh people in this area. Dugout Canoes, we looked at a lot of resources from the SD57 portal about Dugout Canoes and the students were so intrigued by how they were made, what the art part of it meant, and overall the culture behind them. This led us into cross-curricular discussions about Natural Resources and Indigenous people, site C dam, evidence of First Peoples’s existence before colonizers, and even science and biomes.vThis is something I wish to continue participating in wherever I go.

“The Northern Lights” By J.

It was super cool to acknowledge our local First Peoples and others around the world and I am bursting with passion on how I can extend and weave this into the curriculum and subject areas. I cannot wait to see where I can go from here, and I hope you’ll come back and check our Rock Your Mocs – Part 2 after I have had the opportunity to do it again!

M’s Grandpa makes moccasins – this is coloured to represent a pair she has from her Grandpa. M brought the moccasins the next day and it was such an amazing experience to see her proudly show off her grandpa’s work and that she felt she was in a safe place to do so. Very thankful for all my students taught me.

Last but not least, the “In Process” bulletin board.