Diverse Learners
Artifact: Piapot First Nation Students U of R Visit – Lesson Plan View here
Newspaper article on the visit published in Leader Post – View
Description:
During the winter semester of 2008 I was in charge of organizing a day of activities for students from Piapot First National School. A small group of grade 7 and 8 boys along with their teacher/basketball coach came to the University of Regina for a visit. The visit was meant to be half educational (exploring the campus and seeing what it is like to be a student) and half basketball (learning fundamentals from the Cougars Men’s Basketball Team and playing games). I created a day plan with various activities and then went around the university booking tours of certain areas and making sure we had access to all the places I wanted to show them. This was one of the first opportunities I had to work with aboriginal students from a reservation school. I was very fortunate to have this opportunity to show, teach and play basketball with some amazing students.
Impact:
Having not had a lot of experience with Aboriginal students from a reservation school, I was excited to spend time with the students and their teacher. The kids were very much the same as a small group of kids from the city they just had not experienced much teaching in basketball. The teacher told me that he was just beginning to build a basketball program at the school and that they were still in the early stages. It felt really good to help them out by giving some instruction and encouragement. It made me think that if I was beginning to start up a sporting program it would be nice if a high-level team would help me get things started. It also made me realize some of the challenges of working in a rural school where you don’t have all the resources of the city at your fingertips.
Intention/Challenges:
How do I build off of this experience? What things can I do to gain more experience with diverse learners?
Recommendations:
I can build off this experience by continually trying to gain more experience working and teaching with aboriginal students. Basketball may be a tool that I can use to gain more experience in these areas through visits such as this or clinics, camps etc. I can also continue to stay involved with Ehrlo Services Community Basketball League. This is a league that runs at various community centres/schools in Regina’s core area. Overall I must continue to gain experience working with different cultures of people to continually expand my worldview.
