Block Four Reflection

In block four we were introduced to two more theories: Contructivism and Connectivism. I am more knowledgable about constructivism as I believe that I have been doing this in my own delivery of knowledge. I believe that the students that come to me in the specific class I am teaching have 'Prior Knowledge' so therefore they need to tap into what thay know already. I also see alot of students that were "programmed" into a very specific way of learning. These students I have a hard time getting through to the potential they have to unleash (self-esteem issues), however I teach in a very unique way as you will see when we publish our projects. I begin with a journey of each of the students I work with and share my own journey so they can see where I have been and how I have evolved as a learner and a deliverer of knowledge. Yes, I believe that students are NOT vessels to be filled, they are their own knowledge seekers we just have to guide them through this process, as we are being guided by our professors in this journey of ours right now. Sure it would be nice if everything was laid out step by step and a specific time to meet for our weekly meetings or classes, but we are at a stage where we are responsible for own learning, we take what we need and also what will help others.

Connectivism is a theory based on the ever changing aspects of our world, namely the technology age. A very interesting insight on this: The brain is a very unique organ, like the computer it is very complex, but there are untapped sources or unused components in our brain. If you could access one of these it makes you much more open to comprehend the many unexplainable aspects of our world.

For example: many, many years ago people were able to predict what it would be like in the future, they didn't provide the specific wording until it actually happened and they would say "My grandfather told me that a long time ago, his grandfather told him that also". Because the First Nations are an Oral People stories and/or prophecies were passed on from generation to generation. I will tell you a couple of stories:

Once long ago a Medicine man said that the journey of healing amongst First Nations would begin when the Eagle landed on the moon. Now this was very hard to believe, especially a long time ago, but was it possible? You'll have to wait and see until I get to the end of this contribution.

Another one was that an Elder said that there was a spider weaving it's web all over the world and it has been going on for quite awhile and when the spider was done Mother Earth would whisper and everybody in the world would hear her. Now how could this be possible you say? Having Aboriginal Knowledge is quite remarkable and once you understand it, you begin to see the world in whole different way.

Last week during the Winter Break I had promised myself that I would coop myself to get caught up in my assignments for this class, but ended up at a conference in Prince Albert. While there I met some amazing people who were knowledgable about the complexities of First Nations epistemology. An Elder I met was from Colorado and these stories I am sharing with you are from him. It seems that Don Coyhis (the name of the Elder who did the workshop) was an Engineer at Nasa, from Apollo 6 to Apollo 14. When the mission to the moon took place he had planted two eagle feathers in the spaceship/rocket. When the spaceship landed on the moon the first words ever spoken were: "The Eagle Has Landed". Wow!!!

Then he talked about the spider and when Mother Earth whispered everybody would hear her, it is what we know has the "World Wide Web". I literally felt goose bumps all over!

Now everybody has these untapped sources within themselves, we just have to find them and explore.

Hope you enjoyed these stories.