Our Lunch and Learn series is a free professional development opportunity offered to all SelfDesign contractors and educators as part of our commitment to help our community deepen their understanding and awareness of the First Peoples’ Principles of Learning and the journey towards reconciliation.
No one single program or event SelfDesign offers and no one single discussion we host within our community will suddenly change the world. But they each might advance reconciliation a little bit further, and over time, this can build.
In honour of Truth and Reconciliation Day, SelfDesign Learning Foundation is proud to launch a new section on our website that is devoted to Indigenous education.
In recognition that reconciliation will be one of the most important challenges facing today’s learners in the years to come, SelfDesign® seeks to integrate Indigenous culture and perspectives into the everyday learning experience.
The overall vision for reconciliation and learning at SelfDesign® is to integrate and weave Indigenous education and mainstream education seamlessly together so that learner, families, educators and contractors automatically consider both the Canadian Indigenous and the national or international perspectives, ways of knowing and being, and ways of approaching learning.
For Patricia Collins, seeing learners embrace opportunities to learn about Indigenous ways of seeing and being and build them into their learning and lives drives her. Read more about Patricia’s journey to become SelfDesign® Learning Community’s Indigenous Education Facilitator.
“SelfDesign is a unique opportunity to pursue your interests in a different way,” says former SelfDesign learner Erik, a member of our Class of 2019. “It’s also a great opportunity to find like-minded people – which could be hard to do otherwise – but SelfDesign provides the perfect opportunities for these connections to be made.” At SelfDesign® Learning Community, learning [...]
Quebec City has its Winter Carnival. Winnipeg has the Festival du Voyageur. Edmonton has the Deep Freeze Festival. Many communities in Canada and beyond hold winter festivals. They celebrate light and community in the coldest, darkest time of year. They push people to bundle up, leave the coziness of their homes, and meet up with friends and neighbours. SelfDesign® Learning [...]
In 2021, when SelfDesign Education Assistant Meghan mentioned to colleague Talisha that she thought she had been the only person who had applied for the position in 2020, Talisha set her straight. “No. No, you weren’t,” Talisha said. “I know, because I applied for it, too.” Meghan, who commenced from SelfDesign as a learner in 2017, came into the role [...]
Every fall, learners from grades 8 to 12 with SelfDesign Learning Community elect 10 of their peers to represent them on SelfDesign’s Learner Council. The main role of this group of elected learners is to be a voice for the school’s learner body and act as a bridge between learners and the school’s leadership and administration. Learners throughout the school [...]