The Faculty of Education stands with the people of Iran whose demonstrations in response to the tragic death of Mahsa Amini are being met with violence and repression. Peaceful protest is one of the hallmarks of a thriving society in which all human rights are valued.
We recognize that many of our students, staff and faculty have collegial and familial ties with people and communities in Iran. In many cases, because of restrictions on the flow of news and information, it may not be possible to ascertain whether loved ones living in Iran remain safe. We support the members of our community who are experiencing trauma and distress as a result.
The Faculty of Education reminds our student community that supports and assistance are available, including crisis, grief and trauma counselling.
There are also mental health resources available for staff and faculty, including UBC’s Extended Health Benefits Plan and the Employee and Family Assistance Program, which provides confidential professional and emergency counselling services and additional support via phone, video, web or mobile app. More.
As part of its recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the UBC Faculty of Education is pleased to announce a new award, the Reconciliation and Decolonization Alumni Award.
The award recognizes extraordinary alumni who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, integrity, respect, and commitment to furthering decolonization efforts or reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples or communities, or who has inspired others to continued decolonization or reconciliation efforts. The awardee may be Indigenous or non-Indigenous.
Award Criteria
Nominees must have graduated from the UBC Faculty of Education with a Bachelor of Education, master’s degree, or doctoral degree, and must currently be an educator working with Indigenous Peoples or communities toward reconciliation in schools, educational institutions, or community organizations.
Nominees must have a minimum of five years’ teaching experience. While previous award winners are not eligible, previous nominees may be re-nominated.
Nominations open in January, 2023
Nominations will be accepted beginning in January, 2023. References and letters of support (maximum of three pages per letter) from students, parents, or colleagues must be included in the nomination package. Nominators need not be UBC alumni.
September 29, 2022 Photo Credit: Tiffany Brown Cooper Photographer
Hundreds of tiny, lovingly crafted orange shirts and sweaters are on display in the Neville Scarfe Building at the University of British Columbia. Each little garment represents a child who did not return home from residential school or a survivor who was forever changed. This dynamic art installation provides a site of remembrance and reconciling of residential schools.
A public unveiling ceremony will be held Monday, October 3, 2022, 11:30 am–12:30 pm. Learn more
The Orange Shirt Installation: A visual cue to attend to the Calls to Action
The installation is an act of public pedagogy designed to help teacher candidates keep Indigenous concerns and histories at the forefront of their thinking as they learn what it means to become an educator in British Columbia.
Photo Credit: Dr. Shannon Leddy
Because the project is dynamic, with new sweaters and shirts being added regularly, the installation will serve as a visual reminder that the number of unmarked graves continues to rise, and that the often-unacknowledged history of residential schools and our shared responsibility to work toward reconciling need continuing commitment.
Dr. Shannon Leddy, Assistant Professor of Teaching, UBC Faculty of Education, hopes that the installation will inspire people to examine the notion of decolonizing in different ways and to consider these questions: What does decolonizing mean? What does it mean that we live in a colonized country? In what ways are we all colonized?
Consider these questions: What does decolonizing mean? What does it mean that we live in a colonized country? In what ways are we all colonized?
Breaking free of colonial thinking will allow us to reimagine ways of being in the world that are not tied to Eurocentrism, white normativity, class and privilege but that are instead human-centered and focused on lifting up all of our students and each other.
Origins of the art installation
The Orange Shirt Project began in response to the May 2021 announcement from the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation of 215 unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamploops Indian Residential School. In a grassroots initiative, Jennifer Kent Symons from Vancouver Island posted a call-to-action to knitters on the Tiny Orange Sweater Project Facebook Group.
Dr. Lorrie Miller, a textile artist and instructor with the UBC Faculty of Education, was in involved in the initial project and invited colleagues Dr. Shannon Leddy, Dr. Kerry Renwick and Heather Clark to expand the project into a teaching tool.
Over the past year, faculty, students, colleagues and friends contributed tiny orange shirts and sweaters to this collaborative work.
Kerry Renwick, Shannon Leddy and Chrissy Smith adhered approximately 600 tiny shirts and sweaters to the installation panels that hang in the Scarfe building. The goal is to receive one tiny orange shirt or sweater for each of the estimated 7000 residential school children who did not reunite with their families.
Photo Credit: Tiffany Brown Cooper Photographer – Dr. Lorrie Miller (right) at the Indigenous Teachers Education Program – NITEP Day, September 24, 2021.
An open invitation to contribute to the Orange Shirt Art Installation
Photo Credit: Tiffany Brown Cooper Photographer – Dr. Kerry Renwick (centre) demonstrating how to make tiny sweaters at the Indigenous Teachers Education Program – NITEP Day, September 24, 2021.
The Orange Shirt Project team extends an open invitation to anyone around the world who wishes to contribute to this active wall of remembrance.
Beginners, experts and everyone in between who wishes to crochet, knit, sew, bead, or cut something out of felt, may find patterns, instructions and videos here.
Please send your handmade contributions to:
Orange Shirt Project
c/o Shannon Leddy
Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy
UBC Faculty of Education
2125 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Truths of Indigenous trauma and Indigenous brilliance
This September 30 is the ninth Orange Shirt Day. It also marks the second National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in which the nation acknowledges the painful truth of Canada’s history of residential schools and cultural genocide.
Other truths that Dr. Leddy says are sometimes missing from our discussions are the truths about survivance, Indigenous successes, Indigenous humor and creativity, and Indigenous brilliance.
We tend to focus on the truths around Indigenous trauma, she says, but it’s important to keep at the center of our thinking the truths about Indigenous people living in the present as active participants in the world.
Dr. Leddy is working with Indigenous artists, authors, actors, comedians, dancers and singers to illustrate to her Indigenous and non-Indigenous students that Indigenous people are also all these wonderful things.
How conversations around decolonization changed
Dr. Leddy has noticed a change in her students since she began teaching twelve years ago. Teacher candidates are now coming in with a far better understanding of and openness to talking about Indigenous content, learning and histories. A few, though, remain somewhat resistant or are fearful of making mistakes.
But she says that this is one of the beautiful things about Indigenous thinking and pedagogies: there is room to make mistakes. As long as we understand what it means to make repairs—and not on our terms but on the terms of those we have injured—we make space for everyone to be human.
For many teacher candidates, Indigenous education is just one part of their curriculum. There is so much to learn, and this can be overwhelming. With time, as we continue to share Indigenous literature, scholars and arts with our teacher candidates, Dr. Leddy believes we will eventually achieve saturation.
Dr. Shannon Leddy
What’s next
Members of the Faculty of Education are collaborating on many Indigenous initiatives, including a mobile app that will offer an Indigenous art walking tour of the UBC campus as well as a visual storytelling project in which artists visually portray the stories of survivors of residential schools.
Mobile App: Indigenous Art Walking Tour of UBC campus
In collaboration with the Museum of Anthropology and Belkin Gallery, and with a grant from the Indigenous Strategic Initiatives Fund, UBC Faulty of Education faculty are developing a mobile app featuring a self-guided Indigenous art walking tour of the UBC campus. The app will provide information on Indigenous works of art on display in public spaces on the Vancouver campus along with interviews with artists and their families. It will also provide information linking the university’s relationship with the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples and their traditional, ancestral and unceded lands.
Visual storytelling and graphic art in genocide and human rights education
The Faculty of Education is involved in the SSHRC Partnership Grant, “Visual Storytelling and Graphic Art in Genocide and Human Rights Education,” led by Charlotte Schallié, University of Victoria. The project involves Education faculty members: co-director Andrea Webb, co-applicant Shannon Leddy, and collaborators Cash Ahenakew, Vanessa Andreotti, and George Belliveau. As the Turtle Island Cluster Lead, Dr. Leddy is helping to connect residential school survivors and with artists who will create visual depictions of their stories of residential school.
A website supporting teacher candidates, in-service teachers, and faculty members as they move towards implementing Indigenous education and pedagogies into their curricula.
Two symposia were held, in October 2021 for teacher candidates and in January 2022 for teacher educators and staff, to cultivate inclusion of the perspectives and experiences of racialized and marginalized people previously absent in teacher education programming. Recordings are available below.
Teacher Educator and Staff Session (January 28, 2022): youtube.com
Indigenous curriculum bundles
In more than 20 curriculum bundles, developed by third-year Indigenous Teacher Education Program (NITEP) students, Indigenous teachers share their culture and learning with non-Indigenous teachers in ways that help Indigenous teachers understand what kinds of learning and humility they need to bring to using these curriculum bundles in their own classroom.
Dr. Johanna Sam’s team at UBC is listening to the experiences of diverse youth to help them develop coping strategies for cyberbullying
While young people may not use the term “cyberbullying,” they sure know when somebody is mean to them online. That can take different forms, from having an unwanted photo of them shared on social media to being excluded from a group chat. They could be targeted by a spam social media account or have their account used to spam others.
Researchers know that cyberbullying impacts youth mental health and can lead to anxiety, depression and substance use. But they don’t know if Indigenous youth are being targeted differently than other youth—through hate speech or online discrimination, for example. They also don’t know how best to help them cope. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” says Dr. Johanna Sam, an assistant professor in UBC’s Faculty of Education and a citizen of the Tŝilhqot’in Nation. “Because Indigenous youth have been excluded from this research, we know very little.”
Dr. Sam and her team are working to bridge the diversity gap in educational and developmental psychology research. By doing so, they can help communities, schools and parents better target mental health supports and develop programs and policies to promote healthy device use.
Taking a “two-eyed seeing” approach to cyberbullying research
Dr. Sam is researching how cyberbullying impacts the mental health of young people, including the relationships between online aggression, resiliency, academic achievement and wellness.
“I’m really interested in mental health promotion,” she says. “How do we prevent mental health problems from happening down the road? How can we help young people be resilient, and how can we support them?”
Dr. Sam leads a team of researchers in the Community-based Indigeneity, Resiliency and Cyberbullying Lab in Education (C.I.R.C.L.E) at UBC. The team connects with teens, community members, educators and researchers to promote youth wellbeing in online spaces. Their main project, researching how both Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth cope with cyber aggression, takes a “two-eyed seeing” approach.
“’Two-eyed seeing’ is an Indigenous concept from the East Coast, from Mi’kmaq Elder Albert Marshall,” explains Dr. Sam. “You see Western approaches, Western concepts in one side of your eye, and then on the other side of your eye, equally, you see Indigenous ways of knowing and Indigenous concepts. So out of both eyes, they’re equivalent.”
That’s important, she says, because almost all research in developmental and educational psychology has previously been done from a single perspective—a Western one.
“In Western ways of knowing, it’s all about personal resiliency….In an Indigenous concept, resiliency would include your family, your community, your culture.”— Dr. Johanna Sam, Assistant Professor, UBC Faculty of Education
Moving inclusive research forward
As an undergraduate student and throughout her career, Dr. Sam says that she never came across another Indigenous researcher in the psychology field. “I would go to psychology conferences and, for the cultural components or presentations, it was non-Indigenous people presenting on Indigenous psychology.”
She created the C.I.R.C.L.E lab to inform anti-racism and Indigenous ways of knowing in cyberbullying, mental health promotion and curriculum development. The acronym references a sharing circle, which is a community-focused, Indigenous way of knowing that brings people together.
For the “two-eyed seeing” project, the team is surveying students across British Columbia about their experiences around cyberbullying. They’re gathering data from young people through a smartphone app that captures their daily experiences. Another project, Tŝilhqot’in Online Warriors, is looking specifically at how Tŝilhqot’in youth engage with technology.
The UBC team is working hard to make their research inclusive. The team includes co-investigator Dr. Jenna Shapka, whose Developmental Change and Technology Lab looks at child and adolescent social development in an increasingly technological world.
“We are having one sharing circle for all youth of any background, and a separate one for Indigenous-only youth,” Dr. Sam explains. “That’s where ‘two-eyed seeing’ comes in. We want to give Indigenous youth a safe space to talk about unique things that come up or that they experience being Indigenous.”
Incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing into coping strategies
Dr. Sam’s prior research has found that youth of all backgrounds who are cyberbullied are more likely to engage in substance use. But having a trusted adult helps to mitigate the risk of using substances. “If we can help them build these relationships with adults, we can hopefully prevent them from coping through drugs and alcohol.”
With these projects, she hopes to gain insight into additional effective ways of coping for Indigenous young people, which may be more focused on the community than on the individual.
“In Western ways of knowing, it’s all about personal resiliency,” she explains. “‘How well I can be resilient as an individual?’ Whereas in an Indigenous concept, resiliency would include your family, your community, your culture.”
Mental health coping strategies could also involve strengthening community connections or connection to the land, such as medicine walks by knowledge keepers. “Connection to the land isn’t even looked at in mental health and wellbeing from a Western way of knowing,” Dr. Sam says. “But with Indigenous ways of knowing, the connection and relationship to land is so important.”
Bridging digital divides
For the Tŝilhqot’in Online Warriors project, the C.I.R.C.L.E team has partnered with the Tŝilhqot’in Nation to help foster healthy device use among Tŝilhqot’in youth.
Dr. Sam points out that there’s a big digital divide in access to technology between rural, Indigenous and urban youth. The Tŝilhqot’in National Government, made up of six communities including ʔEsdilagh, Yuneŝit’in, Tŝideldel, Tl’esqox and Xeni Gwet’in, has received a Canadian Internet Registration Association grant to build infrastructure for high-speed internet. Dr. Sam is working in partnership with the Tŝilhqot’in National Government to learn what youth in these communities are doing online as they connect to the internet.
Communities and schools across Canada share the challenge of harnessing the benefits of technology while minimizing the harmful ones. Dr. Sam hopes her team can help by really listening to what diverse youth have to say and supporting them in developing effective coping strategies. The research could have a positive impact on youth both locally and on a national scale. “There are so many silos in mental health promotion,” she says. “This is about finding ways to all come together and support each other.”
As we spend more time in online and hybrid meetings, an advanced skillset in Zoom is fast becoming an essential skill. Join UBC Educational Technology Support (ETS) staff to learn professional tips for setting up and managing the technical aspects of Zoom. This is the first of two sessions offered.
Session 1 of this staff professional development event will cover the following:
Before the meeting: account settings and pre-meeting preparation
During the meeting: facilitate like a pro
After the meeting: best practices
Feedback and questions
Date
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Time
12:00 pm PT
RSVP
The Zoom link will be provided in the registration confirmation email.
PHOTO CREDIT: Tiffany Brown Cooper Photographer – Image from NITEP Day, September 24, 2021
Event Description
Join us for the unveiling of the Orange Shirt Project, a new art installation in the Neville Scarfe Building, Vancouver campus.
The Orange Shirt Project began in the summer of 2021, when Jennifer Kent Symons posted a Facebook call-to-action for knitters to respond to the announcement of 215 unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Since then, similar discoveries have been made across the country. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s initial estimates of a death toll of 3200 have now been revised to more than 7000.
The installation is a collaboration among Dr. Kerry Renwick, Dr. Shannon Leddy, Dr. Lorrie Miller and Heather Clark, who invited their students, colleagues and friends as a collective act of recognition, remembrance and reconciling. The installation is intended to remind all educators of their responsibility to keep Indigenous education at the heart of their teaching practice.
Grace Point will welcome attendees to the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Territory, followed by a few words from the project team and other invited speakers. Everyone is welcome, and no RSVP is required.
Attendees will learn about the current research on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on children’s mental health & wellness, and implications for Early Childhood Educators. Strategies for helping children navigate uncertainty and build emotional literacy in the context of the systemic impact of the pandemic will also be discussed.
Date(s): October 3, 2022 Time: 7:00-8:30pm Format: Virtual Cost: Free Register by: October 2, 2022
Facilitator:
Mary Turri
Dr. Turri is a Registered Psychologist at the Richmond Early Childhood Mental Health Program and Sunny Hill Health Centre at BC Children’s Hospital. She holds her Ph.D. in School and Applied Child Psychology from UBC, where she currently serves as an Adjunct Professor (sessional). Dr. Turri is experienced in providing psychological assessment and family-centered intervention for children and youth, as well as consultation to schools and community agencies. Dr. Turri works with individuals and their families from early childhood to adolescence experiencing difficulties in development, learning, behaviour, and mental health.
The awards are presented by the university annually to recognize staff members who demonstrate outstanding achievement and excellence within the UBC community.
Karen Yan maintains a high quality of service and excellence in providing support to the students, faculty and staff within the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education. For over three decades, Karen has been a leader in building a community where new students and new faculty feel included and at home.
As the first point of contact during the admissions process, Karen’s interactions with students are welcoming and informative, and help students be successful both in their application and later in their transition to campus life. She goes above and beyond to assist international applicants and applicants from underrepresented communities, especially those who lack convenient access to technology or experience language barriers, so that all applicants feel that UBC is a place for them to be successful in their academic journey.
Karen guides graduate students as they navigate course planning, clinic placements, and graduate requirements. From orientation to graduation, Karen takes great care to assist and recognize students and promote a culture of respect.
In addition to student success, Karen is also vital in the success of faculty and staff across the department. She takes initiative to ensure administrators and faculty are aware of updates to graduate policies; she mentors colleagues on admissions processes and re-accreditation processes; she assists new faculty and helps them settle into their roles, and; she reaches out to alumni, providing information about professional certification requirements and opportunities to connect back with the department.
President’s Staff Award for Creativity and Innovation
Effiam Yung couples his technical expertise with initiative to create innovative technologies and inclusive spaces for students, faculty and staff.
Notably, Effiam led the programming and technology in two innovative projects: Singling and PhoneMe. These open-access software platforms fill important technology gaps that advance research, teaching and learning in literacy studies across Canada and around the world.
Through his innovative programming and development of Singling, Effiam played a pivotal role in allowing researchers to convert any text into sound or musical information – the auditory equivalent of data visualization. Singling can assist scholars with visual impairment in their analysis of qualitative data via sonification, and has many diverse and exciting applications for research, teaching and the arts.
Over several years, Effiam also led the technological development of PhoneMe. This application connects Indigenous pedagogies of place-based awareness with poetry in a social media environment. The app was especially popular during the pandemic as teachers were seeking meaningful and engaging literacy-promoting opportunities. PhoneMe enabled UBC’s Digital Literacy Centre to make significant strides in teaching and enhancing digital and creative literacies in communities, schools, and higher education across the country.
Effiam also contributed to these projects by co-authoring journal articles and text book chapters, presenting at conferences, and offering demonstrations and musical performances.
