RED ROCK—St. Hilary Catholic School wanted to reach and engage a broader group of students in a special cultural Indigenous activity.
Ashley Muir, Native Language and Culture teacher, had this unique idea that in her view was going to help her reach the goal that she had for all students at St. Hilary Catholic Elementary School. As she described it, “I wanted to reach a broader student base rather than just my Native students.”
So, to facilitate some Indigenous learning for all students, she chose the Medicine Bag. In Muir’s view, this was a “good starter.” The activity would be offered to every student from JK to Grade 8.
The Medicine Bag project ended up being not only a school community project but a family endeavour, as Muir shared that her sister became involved. “My sister was the knowledge helper for this activity,” said Muir, an activity that would take two days per class.
The school Native Language and Culture teacher, Muir, her sister, and her team of teachers had the whole process organized over the week that the two days per class needed to complete this activity.
During the first day, the students learned about the teaching behind the medicine bag and the importance to Indigenous culture.
When asked how the students reacted to this project, Muir said that student responses ranged from: “supper accepting”, “asking all the questions”, “excited about telling their families”, all about the activity once they returned home at the end of the day. As some students shared, they told their families all about the activity and how each part of the Medicine Bag had a special meaning.
The one aspect about joining the Indigenous culture with non-Indigenous cultures represented by students at St. Hillary was what Ashley described as the fact that all students felt that they “knew it was a safe place to ask questions.”
The Medicine Bag activity was hands-on and one where the students could use each of their five senses: taste, smell, touch, hear, and see.
On the second day, the students were actually able to complete making the Medicine bag. It was important to their teachers to share that the Medicine Bag had important spiritual significance to Indigenous Culture. As Muir described it, “It was an activity gifted to them and the first item given to the students to place in the Medicine Bag, was tobacco; which they used later in a smudging activity.”
This one activity also enabled students to participate in other activities as well. The Indigenous students brought out the drums, and Muir’s sister did the drumming and sang for the classes.
The activity symbolized one that Muir said would eventually lead to more, as like she indicated in her opinion, this one “Brought out a fire in them wanting to learn more."
