Mappin’

Cait Bertrand

Map of a Journey to Educating, 2024

For my final EDUC 446 project I wanted to create something that I can display in my classroom as a reminder of the journey I took to get to my role as an educator. No one journey is the same; however, through the vastly different experiences we have, we are brought to the same place: to a calling and passion for educating. It’s through these life experiences that we develop the 9 R’s: respect, relationships, relevance, reverence, reciprocity, reflexivity, responsibility, reconciliation and reclamation. These are interwoven throughout the “landmarks” on the map, as they are essential in our success as educators and in becoming positive role models to our future students. No road or river ends on the map as a representation that everything is interconnected, and the journey of learning continues endlessly. We are committed, as future teachers, to a lifelong learning journey. Now to see where the road takes us!

Doodle map/art concept inspired by: @doodle.blair.maps

Explanation:

For my project, I decided to make something that not only captures parts of this program, but also captures parts of my life that led me to this point. Throughout our courses we have discussed the idea of maps quite often: mind maps, creating maps for lessons, that time Glen literally had us plotting maps of Canada. So it’s no surprise that when I was brainstorming ideas for this project, my mind leaning into making a map. 

I also took some inspiration from an artist I’d seen online who creates maps of people’s relationships and marks significant land points throughout to tell a bit of a story. I really resonated with that idea, and I thought about my relationship with my journey to education. No one journey is the same, if we all made these maps they would look incredibly different; however, through the different experiences we have, we are brought to the same place: to a calling and passion for educating and to this point in the program. Interwoven in different places on the map are landmarks that have significantly affected and altered my life in order to lead me to a passion for educating, and I realized that these landmarks also correspond with the 9 R’s.

First, respect. In the bottom corner represents my time spent living overseas in Copenhagen. I grew to appreciate the differences in culture and also learned to navigate respecting those differences by making efforts to learn the language and their history. I took tours, I took history classes and I spent multiple days a week in a Danish language course. I felt that same feeling of respect in our Dakelh second language course, where we were able to build those connections between language and land, and build that respect for local history.

Second, let’s move on over to the garden. This garden represents relationships that I’ve built throughout my life along many years. Relationships is represented through a garden because like a garden, relationships need to be tended to, cared for and nurtured in order to grow. We need to give our plants, or our students, a solid foundation to be able to put down those roots in the ground. And we need to make sure that we are weeding and pruning our garden to help it thrive. 

Third, responsibilities is represented through my childhood home. This is the home that I spent most of my time growing up in and is where I began to understand the responsibility that I had for my own learning and behaviour. My parents instilled strong value in education and through that respect and value of education, I find myself in this spot, wanting to instill that value in my future students.

Fourth, reciprocity is something that I learned through my time spent living in Whistler. It was my first experience really being in nature and surrounded by landscapes that I could have only dreamed of while living in Toronto. I began to understand the idea of reciprocity in nature, and how important it is that we are interconnected within it, and not just abusing it for benefit. We take, and we give, and that translates into teaching as well. We teach our students, and we learn from them.

Fifth, reverence is represented in a forest landscape. In the definitions of the 9 R’s we were given is the quote: “we are the land, and the land is us.” In my own interpretation I understand this to mean that we exist on this land, we live, work and play, and the experiences that we create on this land exist in us and in the land itself. This land holds story, memory and history within an infinite landscape.

Sixth, reclamation is represented through the bandshell at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park, a traditional medicine wheel, the Indigenous Education logo and Mr. PG. The bandshell, and the renaming of Lheidli park, are a nod in reclaiming that space that was home for Lheidli T’enneh people for so long. I also added two more R words in this space: recognition and rooted. Finally there are movements in the right direction to reclaim that culture that was stripped away, and recognize that rich Indigenous history. The SD57 Indigenous Ed logo features a tree with visible roots. One of the block 1’s said something to me yesterday that resonated with me: “the bigger the structure, the larger the roots need to be to support it.” The history of this land is so vast, it’s impossible to understand how strong and big those roots are on this land for the Lheidli people.

Seventh, relevance is represented through a school, one that I attended when I was younger. It’s from my experiences in these places that I draw on inspiration for my practice now: whether it’s things I want to do or things I don’t. There’s also a thought bubble of an SD57 sign, because that’s where I want to bring my relevant knowledge of teaching and local culture into the classroom.

Eighth, reflexivity is represented through a river. Reflection is an essential part of life, similar to water. I find in my own experience that water can be very peaceful, but also powerful and moving. It fills every space. This river travels through the map towards another, where the two meet. This is a nod to the land we live on, and to the Lheidli T’enneh people whose name means: the people from the confluence of the river. 

Lastly, reconciliation is represented through the UNBC entrance sign that features Dakelh language. It’s here, at this university, through our professors and guest speakers that I really began to truly understand the importance of reconciliation and what that can mean for our students and our future as a community. It’s here that I began to understand and appreciate the land I live on and the privilege that we have as educators to instill an appreciation of it into the next generation. 

So, I’ve begun to understand these 9 R’s in my life experiences, but this program has given us the tools and inspiration to be able to put them into practice to better the life experiences of our students. In my map, no road has a clear end or beginning. We are committed, as future teachers, to a lifelong learning journey, and in that the road continues on. Now to see where the road takes us!