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The Royal Conservatory, Learning Through the Arts Youth Empowerment Program in the

Wood Buffalo Region - In-class Program with the Fort McMurray Catholic School District

Researcher: Dr. Shauna Bruno

NURTURING CAPACITY FOUNDING SPONSOR

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Preface

Nurturing Capacity:

The K-12 Indspire Institute is focused on dramatically increasing high school completion rates among Indigenous students by building strong foundations in their K-12 education. Through various programs, resources and events, the Institute fosters collaboration between educators, communities, and others to improve educational outcomes for Indigenous students.

Indspire conducts research to identify and document educational best practices from across Canada and shares these successful practices through the K-12 Indspire Institute. Indspire also champions Indigenous approaches to education, those that honour Indigenous culture, values, and world views.

Project Holder: Fort McMurray Catholic School District Address: 9809 Main St. Fort McMurray, AB T9H 1T7 Telephone: 780-799-5700 Email: info@fmcsd.ab.ca Fax: 780-799-5706 Website: www.fmcsd.ab.ca

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The Royal Conservatory TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning 273 Bloor Street West Toronto, Ontario Canada M5S IW2 Telephone: 416-408-2824 Toll Free: 1-888-408-LTTA (5882) Fax: 416.408.3096 Email: ltta@rcmusic.ca Website: www.rcmusic.ca

Contact Persons: Name of Contact: Victor Steel Title/Position: District Programs Coordinator, FMCSD Email: vsteel@fmcsd.ab.ca Telephone: 780-799-0062

Name of Contact: Shaun Elder Title/Position: Executive Director, Learning Through the Arts Email: shaun.elder@rcmusic.ca Telephone: 416-408-2824 ext. 379

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Table of Contents

Preface ........................................................................................................................ 2

Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... 5

Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 6

General Description of the Program ............................................................................. 6

Context of the Project .................................................................................................................... 6

Indigenous Language Group ........................................................................................................... 8

History of the Project ..................................................................................................................... 8

Development Focus ...................................................................................................................... 10

Documenting Best Practices with an Evaluability Framework ....................................... 10

Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 10

Data collection: ............................................................................................................................ 10

Activities Accomplished and Time Frame ..................................................................................... 11

Materials or Tools Developed ...................................................................................... 17

Logic Model ................................................................................................................ 17

Inputs: Resources Human & Financial .......................................................................................... 18

Strategies / Major Activities ......................................................................................................... 19

Outputs and/or Performance Indicators ...................................................................................... 19

Short-term Outcomes .................................................................................................................. 19

Intermediate Outcomes ............................................................................................................... 20

Ultimate Goal / Impact ................................................................................................................. 20

Documented Program Success..................................................................................... 20

Measures of Success .................................................................................................................... 20

Stakeholder Interviews and Assessment ...................................................................................... 22

Collaborative Partnership Success ................................................................................................ 22

FNMI Programming ...................................................................................................................... 23

LTTA is taking on more responsibility in developing and teaching FNMI content. ....................... 23

FNMI Community Partnership ...................................................................................................... 24

Unpacking the features that lead to the 0.6% dropout rate and high completion rate ............... 24

Place/Location .............................................................................................................................. 25

Enlightening results from the Aboriginal Entrepreneurial Program ............................................. 25

Meeting the Outcomes ................................................................................................................ 25

LTTA offers Teachers new methods of teaching and confidence ................................................. 26

Improved Academics and Attendance ......................................................................................... 26

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Student Retention ........................................................................................................................ 27

Learning the FNMI culture and history ......................................................................................... 27

Tell me what your experience has been like with LTTA in the classroom. What does that look like as a student in the classroom? ............................................................................................... 27

Lessons and Significant Accomplishments .................................................................... 28

Together We Are Better ............................................................................................................... 28

Constant Dialogue ........................................................................................................................ 28

Elder-in-Residence Program ......................................................................................................... 28

Community and School Engagement............................................................................................ 29

Next Steps .................................................................................................................. 29

Appendix A ................................................................................................................. 31

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Executive Summary

Indspire is a national charity that is dedicated to raising funds to promote the delivery of innovative programs and provide the necessary tools for Indigenous peoples - especially youth - to achieve their potential. The focus is on supporting, innovating, and fundamentally transforming Indigenous education. The K-12 Indspire Institute is intended to generate insight into effective, innovative and promising educational practices used in Indigenous communities that can lead to improved learning outcomes for First Nation, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) students and improved social, economic and political conditions for their families and communities.

Through the Nurturing Capacity program, an Indigenous regional researcher, well-versed in both Indigenous and western research methodologies, documented The Royal Conservatory Learning Through the Arts (LTTA) Youth Empowerment Program in the Wood Buffalo Region – In-Class Program with the Fort McMurray Catholic School District (FMCSD).

The FMCSD is located in Treaty 8 territory, and serves a high number of self-identified FNMI students.

The Royal Conservatory of Music LTTA has sustained a six-year presence in the school district and is an ongoing initiative. LTTA brings specially-trained Artist- Educators into the schools to work alongside teachers to deliver lesson plans through engagement in arts-based learning in order to make learning the curriculum exciting and engaging.

The objective of this research project is to document successful community-based practices that reveal strong cultural connections that honour local Indigenous knowledge systems. In the process of collecting these innovative practices, an Indigenous methodology that encompasses Indigenous contexts and worldviews is therefore considered most appropriate. An Indigenous methodology is concerned with relational accountability and enables the formation of relationships among the Students, Teachers, Artist-Educators, Elder, and FMCSD staff to facilitate conversations about LTTA in their everyday lives and school environment. The knowledge gained is fulfilled in and through relationships and in honoring the narratives.

What is unique about LTTA in FMCSD is its use of art as a tool for creative learning and engagement bringing together the Teacher, Artist-Educator, Elder-in-Residence and FNMI Liaison in collaborative work. The LTTA programming in the FMCSD is considered responsive to both the aspirations and needs of Indigenous peoples, and it promotes strong cultural connections that honor local Indigenous knowledge systems.

This report highlights the following community responsive practices for the Wood Buffalo Region: training local community FNMI Artist-Educators; implementing an Elder-in-Residence program and an after-school program; developing FNMI curriculum resource and teaching material; and creating spaces for the Artist-Educator, Elder-in-Residence, FNMI Liaison to collaborate and teach alongside the teacher in the classroom. There has been a process of learning and growing through each step.

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There is a constant dialogue that builds the program in Fort McMurray and it is very much built on relationships. This report highlights the story that LTTA can empower change.

Abstract

The project involves documenting successful innovative community-based practices in the Wood Buffalo Region – in particular, best practices that promote strong cultural connections that honour local Indigenous knowledge systems within a school space. An Indigenous methodology is used that enables the formation of relationships among the Students, Teachers, Elder, and staff to facilitate conversations about LTTA in their everyday lives and school environments. The knowledge gained is fulfilled in and through relationships honouring their narratives that bring significant insight into delivering arts-based learning that makes learning the curriculum exciting and engaging the community in the school environment.

General Description of the Program

Context of the Project

The Fort McMurray Catholic School District (FMCSD) is located in Treaty 8 territory, and more specifically, in the Wood Buffalo Region of Northeastern Alberta. This area is home to primarily Cree, Dene, and Métis.

The surrounding First Nations are represented by the Athabasca Tribal Council (ATC) First Nations, a governing body that represents the interests of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Chipewyan Prairie First Nation, Fort McKay First Nation, Fort McMurray #468 First Nation and Mikisew Cree First Nations. Over 5,000 Cree and Dene people are represented. Many share borders with the Métis community.

The FMCSD serves approximately 700 FNMI self-identified students system wide. Out of the 11 Catholic schools there are two Middle/High Schools (Grades 7 – 12) with a high number of FNMI students. For example, at Father Mercredi High School in Fort McMurray, there are approximately 300 FNMI students out of a student population of 1,000 – a third of the total student population. There are FNMI high school students that billet with families in the Fort McMurray area, but the majority of students are either bussed in from their community or stay with family or relatives in the urban area.

The Royal Conservatory of Music’s LTTA program was first introduced into the Wood Buffalo Region in 2009, and is an ongoing initiative with the FMCSD. According to the Royal Conservatory, LTTA is considered one of the largest and most respected educational intervention programs in the world. The 2014- 2015 school year represents the sixth year in which LTTA has sustained a presence in FMCSD. The program initiative “is focused on improving student learning engagement, academic achievement, and pro-social skills development.” The LTTA In-Class Program “brings specially- trained Artist-Educators into schools to partner with teachers in creating and delivering lessons that make learning the core curriculum exciting,

engaging and relevant to young learners.1” The Artist-Educators are skilled musicians, visual

artists, dancers, authors, and dramatic artists who collaborate with teachers on various units

1 http://learning.rcmusic.ca/learning-through-arts/class-programs

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and lesson plans through engagement in arts-based learning. For example, students learn social studies or math through dance or storytelling.

In 2010, the LTTA Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) “was customized to regional needs through a lengthy consultations process involving local youth and other community member members, and which was specifically designed to fit the Alberta Crime Prevention Framework.”2

According to a three-year research report by LTTA on the impact of YEP in the Wood Buffalo region, these community consultations identified many of the major challenges facing regional youth that put them at risk of engaging in anti-social and/or criminal activities, any of which can disengage them from school and lead to poor academic outcomes 3:

Lack of supervision during out-of-school hours because of long work shifts for

parents/guardians

Economic disparities

Lack of opportunity for extra-curricular activities, especially in the arts

Lack of safe gathering places

Altercations between groups of youth Involvement with drugs and alcohol

Cultural enclaves

Based on research, the report also noted additional challenges for FNMI learners: entering school with under-developed English language skills; contending with external and internalized racism; encountering teaching styles that were not in line with traditional ways of FNMI learning; and feelings of displacement when required to move from their homes to attend high school.

The Summative Research Report on YEP also affirmed that as a direct result of community consultations, LTTA leaders collaborated with the FMCSB and the Fort McMurray Public School Board to develop a list of actions and objectives that might have a protective impact on the lives of youth in the Wood Buffalo Region. These included:

1. To provide arts-based school programs that merge the arts with other, non-arts school

subjects in order to promote differentiated learning that meets a wide variety of learner backgrounds, capacities, and preferences.

2. To promote school and social success of FNMI students through arts-based programming that suits FNMI learning styles and values, and that engenders cultural pride and self-worth.

3. Provide arts-based, structured, after-school, weekend, and/or summer activities for Wood Buffalo youth to encourage positive pro-social interactions among the wider youth community.

4. Provide programming that crosses cultural and ethnic lines to help diminish the

2 The Royal Conservatory: Learning Through the Arts. Social Return On Investment (SROI) Case Study: Safe

Communities Innovation Fund Learning Through the Arts’ Youth Empowerment Program. Recipient of Safe

Communities Innovation Fund, Alberta Justice and Solicitor General.

3 Patteson, A. (2014). Revised: Summative Research Report on the Learning Through the Arts Youth Empowerment

Program in Wood Buffalo Region, Alberta 2010 to 2013. Submitted to the Government of Alberta: The Royal

Conservatory.

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divisiveness and polarization of cultural groups that eventually results in stereotyping, bullying, and the formation of cultural enclaves.

5. Make programming easily accessible. The goal is to empower youth to be successful in school and in society. The 2014-2015 agreement between LTTA and FMCSD supports these actions and objectives in their contract:

LTTA and FMCSD share a common interest in promoting learning engagement, academic achievement, pro-social skills development, and school completion for children and youth in the Wood Buffalo Region, especially those student enrolled in the FMCSD, and more specifically First Nation, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) children and youth. Therefore, both parties agree to take advantage of opportunities to work in partnership in ways that will benefit the successful education of these children and youth, especially in those areas where the parties’ missions and interests overlap in the planning, implementation, and assessment of LTTA programming within FMCSD schools.

The agreement outlines a list of responsibilities of partners that includes a combined total of In- Class Program Units to the schools and classes of 170 units, commencing September 2014 and ending June 2015.

In gathering this data, there is clear evidence of good practices taking place within FMCSD in offering LTTA, and it has proven to be difference-making in the lives of Aboriginal learners. It is equally important to acknowledge this difference-making is a result of combined factors by FMCSD that has led to student success, but due to the scope of this report will not be fully captured.

Indigenous Language Group

The industry in Fort McMurray has attracted many Indigenous people from diverse language groups. The population is continuing to grow with a larger number of young families. The majority of Indigenous students attending Fort McMurray Catholic School Division are of Cree, Dene, and Mechif backgrounds. The primary language spoken and taught in the School Division is English.

History of the Project

LTTA’s relationship with the district began in 2009. LTTA approached FMCSD to discuss the possibility of delivering arts-based activities in school and in the community.

It was clear from the onset that there was a commitment from LTTA to support FMCSD’s board improvement plans and that programming would offer an enhancement to the current curriculum objectives taught by the teachers. The objectives set out in this partnership were clear about “teaching the curriculum, not teaching art.” The District Program Coordinator recognized this as a key differentiation and therefore recommended to the Superintendent of the time to take this on as an Alberta Initiative for School Improvement Project (AISI). It was supported for four years from AISI (2009-2012) and the Alberta Justice’s Safe Communities Innovation Fund (SCIF) (2010-2013) as well as investment from the Suncor Energy Foundation (2009-present). SCIF funding was provided to various organizations and programs as part of the government’s plan to reduce and prevent crimes in Alberta. The Government of Alberta ceased SCIF funding in 2014.

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LTTA, and especially the YEP, are currently funded by an agreement between FMCSD and the LTTA, with ongoing support from Suncor Energy Foundation.

In the first year of programming (2009), only eight classrooms ranging from Grades 2 to 8 showed interest in taking up LTTA. At that time, the only high school was running Grades 9 to 12 and there was no interest in LTTA at these higher grades. The initial lack of interest stemmed from teachers’ hesitations. Some teachers felt “nervous about it” or questioned whether or not they could “trust them [Artist-Educators] in their classrooms” and therefore did not participate (Source: teacher interviews). However, over the next few years, and based on early program results and feedback, the number of interested classrooms increased. LTTA was proving to become an exciting initiative.

FMCSD reconfigured the grade levels offered in schools in 2011-2012: from K to 8 and 9 to 12, to K to 6 and 7 to 12. FMCSD was inspired to make this substantial change based on the insight that students entering Grade 9 were facing significant transition challenges: they would have to deal with writing provincial achievement tests while also adjusting to a new school environment, which proved to be too demanding. Therefore, the shift to offering Grades 7 to 12 in high school provided more opportunities to support the students towards high school completion. This revision also enabled the integration of LTTA and YEP programming into Grade 9.

The need and focus for the YEP in the Wood Buffalo Region was expanded and clearly defined in the fall of 2010 at a strategic retreat that included stakeholders from Fort McMurray Public and Catholic School Boards, Athabasca Tribal Council, LTTA Artist- Educators, LTTA senior personnel,

and FNMI youth from Wood Buffalo Region.4 These insights and the strategic framework that

arose from the retreat’s collective visioning and planning processes became the driving force for the following spring’s LTTA programming, as well as the guide for the subsequent two complete school years of the SCIF-funded project work (September 2011 to June 2013). Within this framework, the same principles of LTTA from the initial AISI project were maintained.

The 2011-2012 academic year marked the second round of Youth Empowerment Program programming under SCIF funding and the third under AISI funding. The blending of these two funding sources allowed the program to both focus attention and expand more fully into Grades 6 to 9. The YEP project was initially only offered in Grades 7 to 9 but the AISI funds provided the opportunity to extend and offer it in Grade 6. Within this programming framework, YEP has been successfully evolving. As evidence, in 2011- 2012, YEP was offered in over 40 classrooms from Grades 6 to 9, primarily in the subject areas of English Language Arts and Social Studies. In addition, the Elder-in-Residence and the After- School programs were established this same year. These programs are described later in this report. Consequently, there was a noticeable increase in student engagement, enhanced cultural understandings, and academic achievement, which Teachers who received YEP can confirm. Teachers themselves benefitted from the program by receiving arts-based differentiated teaching support and added capacity to include more FNMI content in their classroom practices.

4 Patteson, A. (2014). Revised: Summative Research Report on the Learning Through the Arts Youth Empowerment Program in Wood Buffalo Region, Alberta 2010 to 2013. Government of Alberta: Learning Through the Arts, The Royal Conservatory of Music.

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The following video captures the success of YEP and LTTA in the 2011-2012 academic year: http://fmcschools.ca/learning-through-the-arts

Development Focus

Based on the findings of the 2010 community consultations, the developmental focus of LTTA in the Wood Buffalo Region has been targeted to Grade 6 to 9 students who attend FMCSD, as well as their teachers. These same consultations made clear that FNMI youth did not want to be segregated from their non-FNMI peers to receive programming, and that their interest was to engage all youth from all nationalities and cultural backgrounds in the program.

Planning is in place to extend LTTA into the early primary years, with Grades 4 and 5 having been added in 2014-2015 academic year. The programming remains inclusive and is delivered to all students in the identified grade levels in all participating schools.

Documenting Best Practices with an Evaluability Framework

Methodology

In the process of collecting community-based successful practices, it is important this work is grounded in a methodology that respects and reflects Indigenous perspectives and practices. This is foundational to Indigenous education practices established by Indspire. An Indigenous methodology that encompasses Indigenous contexts and worldviews is therefore considered most appropriate.

An Indigenous methodology is concerned with relational accountability and enables the formation of relationships among the students, teachers, Artist-Educators, Elder, and FMCSD staff to facilitate conversations about LTTA in their lives and school environment. The knowledge gained is fulfilled in, and through, relationships. This methodological process involved, but was not limited to:

Visits to two high schools and one elementary school

A visit to the district office, and attendance at an administrative meeting with principals

Observations, interviews, and informal conversations with various stakeholders, teachers, and students at each site

Following protocol with the Elder-in-Residence that involved the giving and receiving of tobacco and a gift. This also involved gift-giving to various stakeholders as a way to reciprocate their time and knowledge shared.

Data collection:

Several Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) LTTA program documents were reviewed, analyzed and referenced in this document

Meeting with RCM LTTA senior management

Review of websites: RCM LTTA and FMCSD

Interviews were conducted with the superintendent, District Programs Coordinator, LTTA FNMI coordinators, Artist-Educators, FMCSD FNMI Liaisons, teachers, and Elder-in- Residence

A focus group was conducted with Grade 9 students Observations of an LTTA Grade 7 Language Arts Class

Observations of a residential school presentation made by Elder-in-Residence to high

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school students.

Observations and participation in two after-school programs.

All participants were required to sign an informed consent that outlined their rights as a participant and the purpose of the study. Participation was completely voluntary. All interviews were tape-recorded.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with various stakeholders, teachers, and students to gather information on the history, purpose, goals, and development of the program, as well as the levels of involvement and experience in the program.

Activities Accomplished and Time Frame

This section recognizes elements of the Youth Empowerment Program that led towards community-based successful practices that were responsive to both the aspirations and needs of FNMI peoples. In particular, the following are highlighted activities accomplished by LTTA in partnership with FMCSD and key stakeholders in the Wood Buffalo region between 2009 and 2014. They are not to be considered a fully detailed list of all the undertakings during this period:

1. Early Relationships

LTTA had established a relationship with Suncor Energy Foundation, which has expressed interest in the vibrancy of the Wood Buffalo region. The Foundation encouraged an application for funding from LTTA to explore programming to the region. This resulted in a one-year Foundation investment that provided the initial groundwork for an extensive community needs assessment process before any program design or delivery began. Community consultations were conducted, which helped initiate relationships and trust between LTTA and stakeholders in the region. This led to the development of key community insights and relationships that were essential to executing a regionally responsive program development process, which was further enriched by in-depth visioning sessions discussed in the second point below.

The Royal Conservatory designated an LTTA team that included an Alberta Regional Manager, LTTA FNMI Program Lead, LTTA Research Director, LTTA Managing Director, consultants, and Artist-Educators to assess the possibilities and need for programming in the Wood Buffalo region. Conversations and relationship building with Athabasca Tribal Council, the Catholic and Public Schools Divisions, and with the closest post-secondary institution, Keyano College, were made at the time.

“There were a lot of initial meetings, visiting the region and traveling to the surrounding areas, relationship building, and footwork in the beginning to speak with as many people as possible in order to make this happen.”

Shelley MacDonald, LTTA FNMI Program Lead 2. Visioning Sessions

The concept and vision of the YEP, as it was realized in the Wood Buffalo region, was delineated during a visioning retreat in Banff (2010) with various stakeholders including senior administrators from Fort McMurray Catholic and Public School Division, and local artists and youth from Wood Buffalo region.

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The primary purpose was to gather the community voice in order for LTTA to work from a place of responsiveness. It was important to identify what the community wanted and how they wanted the program to be delivered. As Jason van Eyk, LTTA Managing Director, said, “The program always works from a position of needs-based assessment and regional responsiveness.”

LTTA has a standard model it uses across Canada. However, LTTA creates the space to accommodate what works within any given community while maintaining alignment with school improvement plans and teachers’ learning objectives.

3. Staffing/Training

Professional artists that are specially trained by LTTA become Artist-Educators. The first Artist- Educators to enter Fort McMurray were trained at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, who in turn, trained and mentored local community Artist-Educators from the Wood Buffalo region. Over time, LTTA has trained and mentored approximately 20 to 25 local community Artist- Educators to work in school and community spaces.

An overview of the training structure provided by LTTA, as quoted in their report to Safe Communities Innovation Fund, is important to include here in order to provide further understanding of this role:

LTTA conducts a highly intensive training and professional development program with its Artist-Educators that involves: a series of deep training sessions for local artists throughout the year; assignments within the school and community programs; lesson plan review prior to delivery; observation of Artist-Educators while they're delivering selected programs and lesson; and debriefing after a lesson is complete. LTTA needed to adapt its Artist-Educator training model for Northern Alberta to ensure success. Given the special nature of the locale and its inhabitants, local artists require more training prior to taking on community work, as well as a greater degree of mentorship as they commence taking on program delivery assignments in Fort McMurray and the surrounding northern Alberta communities. Local artists typically have little classroom experience before they meet with LTTA, and as a consequence they require more assistance with skills acquisition and to build the confidence required to work with teachers and groups of 30 Grade 7, 8 or 9 students.

Before a local artist is given an assignment of their own, he/she is partnered with a Level III LTTA Mentor Artist so that he/she can first observe and then be coached to take on an increasingly more active role, first by assisting their Mentor Artist in the delivery of programming over the course of the week. The Mentor Artist then accompanies the local artist on his/her first program assignment(s) to provide any needed support until the local artist demonstrates the ability to successfully deliver programming on his/her own with the confidence and skill required.

This training and mentorship model has proven to be very successful. While it has required longer and more active involvement by RCM certified Level III Mentor Artists from across the country at the onset, the benefit is that the local artists are excellently prepared to work in both the community and the classroom, and those who have since attained Level III certification are now Artist-Educator leaders in the Fort McMurray

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region.

Another benefit of LTTA’s customized intensive training program in Fort McMurray is that artists from throughout Alberta have been attending the training alongside our Fort McMurray staff and they too have increased their skills. LTTA’s province-wide Artist- Educator roster is now also more robust and able to take on increased and more demanding work as our program grows in Edmonton and Calgary.

This was further elaborated with the additional information provided by Jason van Eyk, LTTA Managing Director:

The LTTA YEP project in the Wood Buffalo Region benefitted from the oversight of the Alberta Regional Manager, with additional supervision and relationship management/quality control from LTTA head office in Toronto. Locally sustainable program development is critical to LTTA, and so over the years of delivering programming, the local Level III Mentor Artists were cultivated to take over program management from LTTA’s side of the partnership. The 2014-2015 academic year marks the first where this is the case.

In their role working alongside teachers, Artist-Educators are equally invested in the improvement and growth of student engagement in classroom activities and learning; an increase in confidence; and an increase in attendance and academic achievement. It was very clear there are benefits to the role that Artist-Educators play in the classroom. One teacher who was interviewed stated, “They just opened my eyes to a whole new world of teaching, to be honest… I need to use what I learned through LTTA and incorporate it in as much as I can because I see the success, and overall, just motivation, excitement in the kids when they do it… I know what LTTA has offered me as a teacher; now I feel more confident.”

Training regional artists certainly has not come without its challenges, retention being the greatest among them. While LTTA has trained many local artists from the Wood Buffalo region, the surrounding industry brings a great deal of transiency and a high cost of living. Consequently, artists have moved in and out of the community, resulting in ongoing challenges in maintaining the consistency, size and variety of a local Artist-Educator roster. Nonetheless, LTTA has worked hard to develop a strong core management team in the region consisting of Artist-Educators, Program Leads, and Coordinators. As a result of their leadership and mentoring role, this group is dedicated towards improving retention practices with noticeable results beginning to come to light in the 2014-2015 academic year.

One example of a future objective is to train the FMCSD’s FNMI Liaisons to take on a more frequent role within the LTTA program. The relationship between Artist-Educators and the FNMI Liaisons is encouraged. FNMI Liaisons presently work with teachers under the direction of the school principal and at the request of the classroom teacher. They often assume a blended role of community and academic support, but an emphasis in empowering FNMI Liaisons to provide the best in-class support they can is emerging. By example, FMCSD has and continues to encourage successful partnerships between FNMI Liaisons and Artist-Educators in the classroom.

The following illustration of a Grade 6 class exploring Aboriginal Sky Stories/Connecting with Science and Language Arts provides a detailed example of how these partnerships are enacted.

The Teacher, FNMI Artist-Educator, Elder-In-Residence, and the FNMI Liaison taught this

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particular program unit. As a team, they collaborated on the lesson plan in order to reach specific curriculum outcomes. This experience provided a teaching opportunity for the FNMI Artist-Educator, Elder-in-Residence, and the FNMI Liaison to demonstrate how to appropriately bring the Aboriginal community into the classroom.

During their collaboration, they modeled for the Teacher appropriate protocol in how to invite an Elder into the classroom and how to care for an Elder in the classroom. For the FNMI Liaison, this experience helped develop confidence in the classroom space. The Liaison said, “I was really nervous about this, but now I know that I can do it.” There are other documented cases where FNMI Liaisons credit LTTA Artist-Educators for giving them the tools and skills to augment their academic support role, giving them more confidence in their classroom involvement and in successfully partnering with teachers.

Therefore, it is clear the Artist-Educators can play an important role in mentoring and empowering FNMI Liaisons to work in the classrooms, alongside teachers, connecting cultural knowledge and perspectives to curriculum. FNMI Liaisons already play a significant role in schools and nurturing their classroom experiences and providing the support enhances their professional growth and development, which further supports the aims and objective of YEP.

4. Elder-in-Residence

The Elder-in-Residence concept was identified and implemented in Year two of SCIF funding, under the leadership and impetus of the LTTA FNMI Program Lead. The objective of the program is to take culture out of the textbook and bring it to life in the classroom in ways teachers could never do on their own. The Elder works alongside LTTA’s Artist-Educators, sharing stories, cultural traditions and teachings in Grades 6 – 9. This practice is part of embracing and acknowledging the significance of Indigenous pedagogies in the classroom.

The LTTA FNMI Program Lead has served as the Elder Keeper. This role was emphasized as an important responsibility, to model protocol around how to care for and treat an Elder in a school space. While the appreciation and understanding of Elder protocol has increased within FMCSD schools, there remains a need for constant dialogue within the school district in order to expand and maintain this understanding of the Elder-in-Residence program and to recognize the value of its role in the classroom. There is also a need to educate school personnel on the importance of Elder care such as offering tea or food.

The process of selecting the Elder has evolved and is based on relationships. LTTA does work with various Elders but Issapaakii is the main Elder. Her given English name is Hazel, and her traditional Blackfoot name is Issapaakii. She is a respected Elder and has been married for 40 years into the Dene community. This region is her home and she is clear about her Blackfoot language and heritage. Below is a story that grew out of a lesson plan (See Appendix A) inspired by her use of her traditional name versus her given English name. This story was shared in a correspondence between the LTTA Program Leader, Suncor Centre for Youth Empowerment and the Executive Director of LTTA as an unexpected outcome.

Issapaakii, FNMI Mentor Artist Shelley MacDonald and [the Teacher] introduced the values and lessons of the Tipi in the first hour long session in the classroom to a respectful and busy group of grade 7 students at Holy Trinity. Holy Trinity School, located in Timberlea has an interesting mix of arts focus with a heavy emphasis on sports. And Timberlea is a housing area where many new immigrants to the community settle. Over

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14 languages are spoken among the FMCSD population and many of those languages are represented at Holy Trinity. On day two of the lessons with the Elder, [the Teacher] started the class by reviewing the values that Issapaakii and Shelley talked about the previous day. She asked the students if they had anything to add or anything they wanted to tell Issapaakii before they started. A young man from Nigeria put up his hand. "Where I come from in Nigeria," he said. "I was given a name, too. We have the same tradition as you do. The same."

When he spoke his name out loud, two boys nearby laughed. [The Teacher] frowned at their disrespect and then handed the lesson over to Ms. MacDonald. "Before we start," Ms. MacDonald said, "I want us to think about Issapaakii and what she told us yesterday about the values, about the respect that each person in an Aboriginal community has for the other person." When Issapaakii was asked to add her thoughts, she said, "I was ashamed of my name when I was young. I wouldn't tell anyone." And she talked about the racism she dealt with as a child and the way her culture was laughed at and belittled in the residential school. She shared how she is proud of who she is today, although it has taken her a very long time. She told the Nigerian boy that he had courage. Later in the same class, and completely unprompted, the boys who laughed at the Nigerian boy apologized.

After that day, Issapaakii has asked us all to call her by her Aboriginal name.

Issapaakii was inspired by this young boy’s courage to speak and share his name. As a residential school survivor, reclaiming her name in a school setting is profound.

FMCSD acknowledges the residential school legacy and is committed to promoting awareness and educating all students about the residential schools and the impacts. Issapaakii shares her story of the residential schools with students and staff. This is an opportunity to learn about residential schools through personal testimony. Approaching the topic of residential schools can be challenging for teachers, especially for many new teachers. Fort McMurray has attracted diverse people from around the globe and for some, teaching in Fort McMurray has been their first exposure to FNMI people (Teacher Interview; Superintendent Interview). Therefore, in order to ensure FNMI objectives are met in the curriculum, LTTA and the Elder-in-Residence provide pedagogical support, in some cases through art as a way to explore challenging topics in the curriculum. It is important that an authority who can bring real-life experiences into the classroom teaches the subject matter:

For example, in the Grade 9 curriculum there is a discussion about residential schools and Issapaakii, Elder-in-Residence, is a survivor of the residential schools; so when she comes in and speaks of her experience with the residential schools, it really resonates strong with the kids… there is an exposure to the culture in a way that is moving for the students. (Victor Steel, District Programs Coordinator)

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After exposure to the stories told by Issapaakii, students are often more open to hearing facts about Canadian history. It increases student awareness to culture and history. It validates the content for students, and generates a heightened interest in what they are learning. As one student from the Grade 9 focus group confirmed, “It’s easier to learn about it when someone who is actually in that culture is teaching it to you. Because they will understand it more than your teacher and so it becomes easier to understand if someone who is Aboriginal is teaching it to you.”

5. After-School Program

“What happens to a child after school is just as important to what happens to a child during school” (Shelley MacDonald, LTTA FNMI Program Lead)

The After-School Program is organized by one LTTA Lead Artist and is assisted by a second Artist- Educator and frequently by the Elder-in-Residence. The Lead Artist develops, implements and assesses the programming, which is offered immediately after school from 4 – 5 pm, one-day each week in two High Schools: Holy Trinity and Father Mercredi. While an emphasis is placed on engaging students in FNMI tradition and culture, the Program is equally available to both FNMI and non-FNMI students. There are two programs per week. In total there are two 10 - 12 weekly sessions per semester, 20-24 per academic year. Each session is led with a prayer, smudge, game or activity that highlights aspects of FNMI culture and traditional knowledge. Healthy snacks are provided.

The LTTA After-School Program provides a safe place for youth to congregate and acquire life skills while learning how to express themselves through artistic media. Since the afterschool hours are known to be a time when unsupervised youth are frequently lured into anti-social activities, this programming has made an important community contribution by channeling the

energies of participating youth into pro-social activities5.

The ultimate goal of the program is to increase student attendance and cultural relevance. “This is usually met when students take from the After-School Program a sense of belonging, interest in new things, high interest activities, and good stewardships offered to them and expected of them” (Victor Steel, District Programs Coordinator). The Program also provides opportunity for students to develop the qualities needed to assume leadership and mentorship roles within the program. Students are expected to take ownership of the Program, and while it is concentrated on Grades 7 – 9, past participants from Grades 10 – 11 will return and provide mentorship. For example, Issapaakii, Elder-in-Residence, shared a story of one student who started in the After- School Program as a very shy and quiet young female, and after a couple years participating in the program she has “blossomed” and is considered one of its leaders. She is now in her graduating year. While there are success stories such as this one, there remain challenges in developing leadership and mentorship roles due to inconsistent attendance by other potential leadership students.

A more detailed description on the After-School Program is provided in a second report through the Nurturing Capacity program titled: The Royal Conservatory, Learning Through the Arts Youth Empowerment Program in the Wood Buffalo Region – After- School Program with the Fort

5 Patteson, A. (2014). Revised: Summative Research Report on the Learning Through the Arts Youth Empowerment Program in Wood Buffalo Region, Alberta 2010 to 2013. Government of Alberta: Learning Through the Arts, The Royal Conservatory of Music.

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McMurray Catholic School District.

Materials or Tools Developed

The materials and tools that were developed through LTTA YEP and that have had a significant impact on the success of FNMI students include:

Training local community FNMI Artist-Educators Working with Aboriginal communities to provide training opportunities for FNMI

peoples.

Provides opportunity to increase FNMI presence in the schools.

Establishing the Elder-In-Residence Program

The program provides opportunities for embracing Indigenous pedagogies and valuing worldviews in the classroom.

Elder-in-Residence connects and nurtures the spirit of each student.

Establishing the After-School Program

Improve student attendance and cultural relevance Improve social and leadership skills and reduction in criminal activity

Artist-Educator, Elder-In-Residence, FNMI Liaison collaborating and teaching alongside

the Teacher FNMI curriculum resource/teaching material Establishing partnership with teachers in the classroom

These are not listed in any particular order. In fact, each interconnects and honours Indigenous knowledge systems, creating a cyclical relationship with community, school, elders, culture and tradition.

Logic Model

The logic model presented here is a list of the resources, activities, outputs and outcomes that were created in the partnership between FMCSD and The Royal Conservatory, LTTA YEP that represent the many “moving parts” geared towards improved FNMI student learning outcomes and social success. The logic model is used as a tool in this study to illustrate the promising practices used within FMCSD in their partnership with LTTA and is not to be considered an all-encompassing and exhaustive description of the current programming and delivery of education by FMCSD or by LTTA.

What is unique about LTTA in FMCSD is its use of art as a tool for creative learning and engagement bringing together the Teacher, Artist-Educator, Elder-in-Residence and FNMI Liaison in collaborative work.

“We are professional in our art form and the teacher is the expert in the curriculum. We partner together and provide a differentiated way of looking at t h e curriculum and how we do that is through our art form …” (Shelley MacDonald, LTTA FNMI Program Lead).

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“LTTA Artist-Educators are trained in understanding the core curriculum and instructional design that teachers use, as well as in classroom management techniques, so that they can be effective partners in the classroom” (Jason van Eyk, LTTA Managing Director)

The LTTA program is composed of four guiding principles6:

1) Partnership as manifested through the collaborative work of Teacher, Artist-Educator

and community experts.

2) Professional Development for Teachers, Administrators, and Artist-Educators through

in-class sessions as well as regional workshops.

3) Outcome-based integration of curriculum.

4) Embedding the differentiated instruction of LTTA through student engagement and

teacher transformation so that the program becomes sustainable.

Inputs: Resources Human & Financial

FMCSD Senior Administration

District Program Coordinator (FMCSD)

LTTA Senior Management

LTTA Regional Coordinator

LTTA Artist – Educators

LTTA FNMI Program Lead

LTTA FNMI Coordinator

Elder-in-Residence

FMCSD FNMI Liaisons

6 Alberta Education, FNMI and Filed Services (2013). Promising Practices in First Nations, Metis and Inuit Education: Fort McMurray. Government of Alberta.

Principals

Teachers

School space for after school program/art materials/IT equipment/snacks

FMCSD FNMI funding

Industry contribution

RCM LTTA contribution

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Strategies / Major Activities

FMCSD School District Coordinator to oversee and coordinate the LTTA program in the district. Connect and coordinate between internal (e.g. Administration, Teachers, FNMI Liaisons) and external (LTTA Senior Management, LTTA Artist-Educators, LTTA FNMI Coordinator).

LTTA Regional Coordinator to act as point person to oversee and coordinate successful program operations from LTTA’s perspective within the partnership (including communications, scheduling, logistics, administration and management).

LTTA FNMI Program Lead, LTTA Artist-Educator, LTTA FNMI Coordinator, Teacher, Elder-

In-Residence, FNMI Liaison collaborate, develop, and provide a curriculum on the FNMI

history and culture that is experientially based and incorporate into core courses.

Depending on subject matter, one lead LTTA Artist-Educator will collaborate with the

Teacher and provide an arts-based programming to be varied (e.g. divided into themes

and units) so that it remains interesting to youth, but also offers some depth and

challenge, while encouraging sustained involvement and effort over time.

Incorporate FNMI history and culture into the curriculum

FMCSD to incorporate LTTA into Professional Development opportunities with Teachers, FNMI Liaisons and Administrators

Artist-Educator FNMI training, recruitment, ongoing professional development, and evaluation

Provide an in-classroom and after-school space that facilitates learning in a safe and inviting space where youth feel that they can be themselves without judgment or criticism.

Incorporate activities that include FNMI cultural traditions and practices in the After- School Program

School provides opportunity for community engagement from surrounding FNMI communities.

Outputs and/or Performance Indicators

LTTA arts-based teaching and learning offered in core courses from grades 6 – 9

Ongoing collaboration between Teacher and Artist-Educator

Ongoing professional development with Teachers, Administrators and FNMI Liaisons

Consistent communication with all stakeholders involved – internal and external

Ongoing community engagement opportunities

Welcoming, engaging and safe spaces created for the After-School Programming Consistent monitoring of all the “moving parts” involved in offering the in-class and after

school programming. Ensuring the number of units of programming is delivered per year in each program stream.

Development of pro-social and life-skills development in after school programming

Elder and FNMI Liaisons engaged in the classroom

Students want to learn, attend class, and participate

FNMI curriculum resource/teaching material developed

Short-term Outcomes

Improved student attendance

Increase in student engagement in-class activities

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Increased student self-confidence and ability to pay attention and focus on learning projects

Greater student ability to express themselves through various art forms (e.g. dance, digital photography, and acting)

Increased exposure to and knowledge of FNMI pedagogies

Increased awareness of the After-School Program and an increase in participants in the program

Greater capacities/skills for students to be group leaders

Enhanced ability for students to trust and share

More knowledge of how to work well with others

Increased capacity to have fun learning and feel valued

More FNMI curricular content in the classroom

Intermediate Outcomes

Increased teacher involvement and uptake of the LTTA model

Increased sustainable Professional Development materials related to FNMI culture and history

Increased exposure to FNMI culture and history engenders cultural pride and self-worth

Increased school and social success of FNMI students through arts-based programming that suits FNMI learning styles and values

Increased FNMI Artist-Educator presence in schools

Increased presence of Elder and FNMI Liaisons in the classroom and in the after school program

Ultimate Goal / Impact

Improved student engagement with their learning

Improved student achievement of the provincial learning outcomes

Improved student retention

Improved student attendance Decrease FNMI Drop-out rate

Increase in Graduation rates

Improved pro-social activity and reduction in criminal activity

Documented Program Success

Measures of Success

A number of combined indicators support the achieved outcomes.

1) The Fort McMurray Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 32 public document Combined 3-Year Education Plan and Annual Education Results Report (AERR) for School

Authorities (2013-2014)7 states in a list of accomplishments, five of which are highlighted below:

The outstanding Provincial Achievement Test Results in Grade 6 [includes all students].

The continued improvement in Grade 9 Provincial Achievement Test results in all areas [includes all students].

7 http://fmcschools.ca/public-reports

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The outstanding dropout rate of 0.6% for FNMI students continues to significantly outperform the provincial average [which is 7.8%]

The 3-year completion rate for FNMI students continues to significantly outperform the provincial average [FNMI completion rate is 80.1% and provincial average is 43.6%].

LTTA is a coordinated learning/teaching differentiation initiative supported by Toronto’s Royal Conservatory. It expanded from 8 District classrooms in 2008 to 70 classes of student, which represents 1/3 of the District’s student population. The after-school component offers students high-interest exposure to life skills, FNMI cultural education, and pro-social behavioural opportunities.

2) The following are significant findings reported in the Year 3 SCIF Report on the Youth Empowerment Program of Learning Through the Arts8 for students who participated in the school-based YEP between 2010 - 2013:

Marked increase in academic achievement in school subjects that were taught in YEP

classes, as demonstrated by students’ scores on school-based and provincial achievement tests (PATs) in the subjects of Language Arts, Social Studies, and Mathematics

Deeper engagement in and greater enjoyment of the school subjects that were taught in YEP classes

Enhanced cultural understanding among the various cultural groups represented by students

Broader appreciation for the arts and recognition of the importance of in-school arts experiences

Greater student belief in their own creativity

More comfort and prowess in the collaborative process involved in group work

Wider-spread preferences for arts-based learning as opposed to more traditional approaches to school curricula

One of the identified goals for FMCSD is success for every student. One outcome of this goal is the elimination of the achievement gap between FNMI students and all other students. A variety of strategies are implemented by FMCSD as they work towards this outcome and the overall impression is schools are continuing to significantly improve in their achievement results. One important component as stated in the AERR is the “LTTA YEP continues to target FNMI at-risk students to increase attendance and academic achievement.” The findings suggest there have been improvements in FNMI student learning outcomes, student retention, and student attendance since the inception of LTTA.

LTTA is an exceptional program and has certainly contributed towards making a difference, yet in the spirit of this collaborative partnership, it is not the only component that has contributed to FMCSD student success. FMCSD has a history working closely with the surrounding FNMI communities and is known for assisting and helping FNMI students increase their academic and personal success. The Superintendent of FMCSD has witnessed and recognized an increase in parent confidence in their schools and the belief that their child will be successful. This experience is rooted in his history with the district as a former Principal and his current involvement with FNMI programming. There was a sense of satisfaction knowing some of his

8 Pattson, A. (2013). Year 3 SCIF Report on the Youth Empowerment Program of Learning Through the Arts in the Wood Buffalo Region, Northern Alberta. Government of Alberta: Learning Through the Arts, The Royal Conservatory of Music.

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former students are currently working in or are a part of the LTTA program. Administration supports the program and acknowledges the benefits of LTTA and the YEP program.

To successfully achieve the desired outcomes, the district certainly has had to be innovative and think above and beyond their current practice. An example is in developing and sustaining their collaborative partnership with The Royal Conservatory’s LTTA YEP. Buffum, Mattos, and Weber (2012) state, “When a school creates a school culture focused on collective responsibility for student learning, ensures that every educator is part of a high-performing team, identifies the essential standards that all students must master, and frequently measure student learning and

teaching effectiveness, a vast majority of the school’s students are going to succeed” (p. 129).9

The district embraces the integrity of the LTTA program and their effort and focused responsibility in helping students learn through the power of the arts.

Stakeholder Interviews and Assessment

This section forms part of the project “story” which the narratives will tell. The following is based on the data collected throughout the interview process and is summarized in narrative threads that reverberated throughout the conversations. Threads are pulled to highlight a narrative evaluation on the projects success. There were visits to two High Schools and one Elementary School to conduct semi-structured interviews with Teachers, a Grade 9 focus group, the District Programs Coordinator, LTTA FNMI Coordinators, Artists-Educators, FMCSD FNMI Liaisons, Teachers, and Elder-In-Residence. A semi-structured interview with the Superintendent was also conducted at the district office. Below are a few examples. Victor Steel (Fort McMurray Catholic School District, District Programs Coordinator)

Collaborative Partnership Success

“I think of the classroom as a sacred space and we are all privileged to be there. I never take it for granted …it needs constant tending …through communication”

“I’m proud of this story, but I see where the pitfalls can be…. It’s very complex. But it’s founded in communication.” “In May of last spring we rewrote our partnership and in that document…we have value statements. This is what we value … it sets out the idea of transparency. Sets out to the idea of communication, absolutely being essential. It sets out the idea of partnership, and it was at that point that I described we want this now to be with us, not to us…if I wanted this project to get bigger and better and be authentic and fresh, that switch had to happen.”

“LTTA has been an emphasis, not only financially, because we know what kind of money we’re spending, but time-wise … You absolutely need a lead person who believes in this, who is willing to … support, all the way from being in the classrooms with them [teachers and artist- educators], helping the planning, training the artists. Just checking the quality, at all times.”

9 Buffum, A., Mattos, M., & Weber, C. (2012). Simplifying Response to Intervention: Four Essential Guiding Principles. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tress Press.

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FNMI Programming

“We know that the transition year of [grades] 6 to 7 is when the FMNI students find it the toughest and find other reasons not to go to school, and our results have always shown that they are accomplishing equal to the general population in grade 6 and by grade 9, they can be 20% lower. And so [those were] the crucial years, and we thought that if we continued to program in grade 6, there would be a familiarity of the program in grade 7, and they would see something and maybe the same artist and the same continuity, and they would be excited about staying in school, which was one of the objectives of the YEP program, is attendance and achievement … we negotiated a way of funding 6, as well as 7, 8, and 9… it seemed to work.”

“… we’ve been trying to increase the FNMI content, not only in the classroom contributions to the classes …, but also in the after-school programming, and … the use of our elder, throughout our schools. And now, what we’re looking for [PD training] our FNMI Liaisons, … we’ve asked them to join in with the LTTA classes. But, we haven’t prepared them to do so. So, that’s the other piece that we have to work on now. Professionally developing them, so that they are true and comfortable partners with the teachers and the artist educators of LTTA.”

LTTA is taking on more responsibility in developing and teaching FNMI content.

“We make sure there’s content… through LTTA and the access to an Elder, and access to other local supports, through LTTA, we’ve been able to highlight where in the curriculum there is FNMI objectives that need to be emphasized. So many of our new teachers …don’t know how to teach this content. …we can make changes very quickly up here, by putting an emphasis on it. And LTTA has been an emphasis.”

“I would say the contributions that we can probably quantify, as being directly connected with the Elder in Residence, is the relief in teachers … to teach and support and feel valid, when they’re teaching some of the FNMI content. For example, in the grade 9 curriculum, there is a discussion about residential schools and Issapaakii is a survivor of the residential school, so when she comes in and speaks of her experience with the residential schools, it really resonates strong[ly] with the kids. … she is a living artifact of that part of our Canadian history, and nothing can replace that. There is a credibility level that goes way up for the teacher, to bring somebody in like that, and for the subject matter to be discussed with an authority, that can’t be replaced. As a result, I think … the Elder in Residence program is … an exposure to the culture in a way that is moving for the students… an openness to listening to some very awkward parts of our Canadian history”

“The Elder in Residence, and from having a resource like Issapaakii and our liaisons, it brings validity to and it enlivens those objectives that need to be taught…. There’s higher interest in the content. As a result, I think that our [student] attendance is better. There’s a reason to go to school. There’s a validity that happens… It helps with … the aboriginal students that are in there, that their culture is being validated. It’s being taught, in the school, and it’s not marginalized anymore”

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George McGuigan (Superintendent of Schools)

FNMI Community Partnership

“We certainly work in partnership with the communities and our personnel will go out and visit the outlying areas.”

“Historically, most of the students, when they're coming from the outlying area, they're coming into the Catholic system… We have a history with working closely with them, and I think that Victor Steel would probably echo it too. The word of mouth in how we're assisting and helping the aboriginal students and the success rates and things we're doing. That is out there now, so the parents know that, and they know if they put their son or daughter in with us, there's a good chance they're going to be successful and they're going to be looked after and there is somebody paying attention to them.”

Unpacking the features that lead to the 0.6% dropout rate and high completion rate

“Certainly a lot different than across the province. There is a multitude of factors. LTTA certainly has a piece of that in the programming and the curriculum. I think it backs up right from the time the students enter school, when we chart our results and we have the results in play that have shown us that at the elementary level, there is no difference between an aboriginal student and a non-aboriginal student when it comes to academic performance. So, there's a belief right from the get-go that aboriginal students can perform just as well as anybody else because sometimes there is a belief in people's heads that maybe they can't do as well, but that's not our belief system. So we say, no, they can do just as well. Here's the result. Where the students and aboriginal students started to fall apart a bit was when they hit adolescence, our data was showing us that. Grade 6 in the achievement tests outperforming in some cases, like the non- aboriginal students and the general population, and then there's a slide at nine for all students in adolescence, but there seems to be a bigger slide in our aboriginal students in adolescence. It seems to get them a lot harder. So, we put a focus in that 7 to10 because then we saw if we are able to help them and keep them in school, by the time they got to grade 10 or 11, we had them, and they were graduating. They were finishing, so if we could get them through that area. That was kind of what started us on the road of saying, okay what do we need to focus on? What do we need to do? So, we put some things in place to focus on them when we moved our two high schools to 7 to 12, then we had a collective body that we could focus on. We had the liaisons in our school.”

“There’s still the cultural aspect and building the relationship with the families, going and making home visits, picking kids up, bringing them to school, those types of things happen. At the secondary level it’s more visiting the outlying areas, going to their homes, bringing the parents, grandparents into the school to knock down the stigma being from the residential school system… when we started having family feasts we might have hit 30 people or so and now we’re up over 250. So bringing people in and making them more comfortable. So those are things and through Vic’s work with the liaisons meeting on a monthly basis, talking about

activities and things they can do to bring in the culture, what can we do academically and there’s a real focus and an integrative part of who we are as a Catholic school system and our aboriginal students are part of that. They’re not an add-on out here. It’s integrated naturally.”

“The other thing is I’m in the schools a lot. I’m not patting myself on the back by any means but making sure that these things are happening and they know in the schools it’s important to me and that’s what makes it important to them. And I mentor still, even when I was principal I

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always mentored the aboriginal students, and even as superintendent I still do it. I have kids in schools that I visit on a regular basis…leading by example helps”

“We get asked that lots of times when people see the results and we’ll say well you know there’s no real magic pill. I mean it’s as simple as saying we pay attention to our elders and students. Right and not lip service. We roll our sleeves up and we’ll chase them. We’ll go to their homes. We’ll help them do whatever we can and we won’t give up and I think that speaks to why the dropout rate is so low and why the completion rate is so high.”

Place/Location

“…it makes people come together because they don’t have their extended families here. So they create their own extended families… our teachers are fairly young. Our average age of teachers is probably low 30s. A lot of young families… I always say too our isolation is probably our greatest asset because we’re self-contained. We’re independent. We have everything we need inside the boundaries of Wood Buffalo… And as long as students are being cared for, looked after, our results are good.”

Enlightening results from the Aboriginal Entrepreneurial Program

“I mean the other piece that helps us here too in the isolation is we’ve got a captive audience, right, in the oil sands industry. They provide us with lots of opportunities and lots of opportunities for the Aboriginal students that graduate from school… There’s an opportunity for great careers… we’ve got upwards of about 130 Aboriginal businesses, successful Aboriginal businesses, in this community, and very successful… We have the Entrepreneurship Program, the Paul Martin Program. This is our third year of that program. And, the National Aboriginal Business Association (NABA) folks in being mentors and working with the students. The president of NABA is actually was one of my students that graduated from Father Mercredi, years ago…. every year they have a fall convention. They have displays and people go around and look at the different businesses. And, we took the Aboriginal Entrepreneurship kids through there… the first year we had the Aboriginal Entrepreneurship program, and I went with them and there were 50 - 60 probably different displays that different companies had set up booths and things. And I looked around, there were, without exaggeration, at least 20 people on the booths who were graduates of Father Mercredi, who were now running their own companies.”

Jana (Grade 6 Teacher)

Meeting the Outcomes

“I’ll be brutally honest and tell you that in the beginning, like so many teachers, I had doubts, I was skeptical in the beginning and I was just thinking, OK, I’m giving control over to an artist and I was thinking what is my role in this and how can I ensure that the outcomes were covered? … After my first experience, I was eased of all tension from that point on, from the initial meeting. I met with the artist. We made that initial contact, and we sat, and it was just a light hearted chat, but they knew exactly where they were going, the goals that they had to accomplish through the session, so we had that primary meet and I was, like I said once again, I was put to ease in the fact that, OK, I know that they’re interested in the outcomes, like that was one of the first questions, what outcomes can I cover in your class, so we discussed that and I sat in place and they’re not pushy in the sense of well this is what I wanted to do. They totally accommodated the outcomes I wanted to cover and it’s been this way for the last 5 years. I

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haven’t had a bad experience with any artist. Now, I’m a true advocate of it. I also put the word out there. I hear other teacher saying they’re nervous about it. I have new teachers that are just starting LTTA and their questioning ‘They’re coming into our class and they’re gonna take over? and do we trust them and they’re artists, they’re not educators? are they gonna be able to reach the outcomes?”

“I found it delightful to see the looks on the students faces and to see when they knew that LTTA was in that day or the look of disappointment when I said no So that’s how I knew I need to use what I learned through LTTA and incorporate it in as much as I can ‘cause I just see the success, and overall, just motivation, excitement in the kids when they do it.”

LTTA offers Teachers new methods of teaching and confidence

“These people have, through that planning, just opened my eyes to a whole new world of teaching, to be honest. This is my 13th year of teaching so I have some experience and I can recognize in the students what’s effective and what’s not, but to see that motivation in the students and to ask, to be excited and say, do we have LTTA today? It makes me know that this is really working and that’s how it started and that’s how it’s progressed even to this year. I just had a break dancer in my classroom, and he taught social studies, hit on every curriculum outcome that I outlined, and we actually did Athenian democracy in the classes, and some would think, how is a break dancer going to teach something like that? And because I’ve done it in years past, I said, oh yeah no problem, they’ll work it out, they can do this, because they just have that artistic mind, and they put a twist on things.”

“I know what LTTA has offered me as a teacher, I feel more confident that I can do this because I can appeal to these kids, I can reach these kids, because LTTA has shown me how. I know I’ve gained experience over the years and I’ve taught junior high for quite some years. It’s not to say I wasn’t confident before, but it’s just given me that extra boost that we can work with these kids, we just need to find a way to reach them.”

Improved Academics and Attendance

“I saw success and made anecdotal records… I can’t believe the change that it had on this child, but then it actually showed in their marks, in their assessments, in their motivation, in their attendance, like they actually showed up. This one particular student would say do we have LTTA next week? ‘Cause attendance was really low over the years for quite a few of my students, and then they would always say well when does LTTA start, or do we have LTTA on Monday? And I’d say yeah, and for sure, like any day that the students knew in advance that we had LTTA, I could just check my attendance and say yeah, everyone’s here today. And it’s just so funny. It was never a day that came up where they would say you know, like some, especially if they know there’s a test coming up or an assessment of some sort, and even knowing that in the end there’s an assessment, you’re getting assessed, they were excited to show off what they had learned, or to show off their skills or whatever. So it was no fear of assessment either, because you have at that age, especially Grade 6, Grade 7 and Grade 8, those years where, I mean they can use excuses to get out of things like that… And it just seems apparent that they’re going to try their best not to miss this, and so it’s obviously doing something for my students.”

“I have parents that come to me and say ‘my child really likes school this year, and I don’t know what it is, but they really enjoy it.’ And it’s because I’ve used the information I’ve learned from LTTA. I’ve even applied it to math, I get them up out of their seats now, and we do the integer

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shuffle, we’re dancing the integers and everything because I’m like you know what, I know what works, I’ve learned through LTTA and what actually works. And I can reach more of my students this way, and accommodate so many needs in the process, so why not, right.”

Student Retention

“I couldn’t believe the amount of retention and recall. There were things even in reviewing that I noticed… so we’re in June and we’re reviewing everything we’ve done all year, and I said to the students, ‘OK, now we need to go back to Athenian democracy that we did in late September, early October, what do you remember about that?’ And they all mentioned all these things… and I could tell, there’s no such thing as just recalling, they recalled the experiences that they had… there was something that solidified that information for them, and I think it was the experiences they had.”

Learning the FNMI culture and history

“Honestly I wasn’t exposed to it, and I can honestly attest to my ignorance. And I guess not too many want to admit that, but I mean when you’re not exposed to it you just don’t know. I moved from Newfoundland to Fort McMurray and I’m exposed to all these cultures and I’m thinking how can I even, not to say that I disrespected them, but how can I respect them and meet the needs of all these students if I’m just ignorant to the knowledge, I didn’t know anything about the culture. And it’s not that I didn’t want to know, but I was like do you just go up to someone and ask them questions about their culture? Shelley and Gitz are people who have taught me in so many ways. They’ve offered me knowledge that I can pass on and I can incorporate into my teaching. But they’ve also made me aware Aboriginal people have so much to offer… And now I know how to reach them [Aboriginal students], I try to incorporate things that have amazed me with the Aboriginal culture over the years. For example, learning through Issapaakii and our FNMI liaison here. She come in for social studies to teach on wampum belts. So they actually made the belts and everything, they loved it. And they worked symbolism into it… they really enjoyed the experience. So it’s me wanting more to do that and feeling comfortable in the position to do it… I had Issapaakii in to talk about her residential experiences… I have so much respect for her.”

Grade 9: Student Focus Group

Tell me what your experience has been like with LTTA in the classroom. What does that look like as a student in the classroom?

“It’s really fun to do. I’ve done it since grade 7 and I’ve always enjoyed it, I always thought I learned better because I’m a visual learner so if people show me how to do it properly then I understand it better. But if they just read out stuff and they don’t show me on the board or something I won’t understand it. So being able to do all the activities and bring LA into it and social and science and math and stuff it really helped.”

“It makes it make learning more fun for someone instead of sitting in a classroom and doing stuff on paper… but LTTA make it fun-ner, like dancing, painting, doing stuff with your hands, doing group work with others makes you understand it more.”

“That’s what I like about LTTA when they come back they don’t do the same thing, they always mix it up. For an example the break dancing, the parodies, the art, we usually get a lot of art but every once in a while someone will come in and it’s different, it’s just it’s strange, like it’s

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something you wouldn’t have thought of when they came in because you’re LTTA… arts, painting, drawing, but then they come in and they’re like let’s break dance and then everyone’s like whoa, so it’s a different experience.”

“It helps me learn a different way instead of just having that one way to learn it. I can have many different ways to help me remember, like the fractions and the singing one - that’s from grade 7, that was 2 years ago, 2-3 years ago. So if I still remember that then that means it did something right. To help me remember that, to help me remember what we were learning.”

Lessons and Significant Accomplishments

The FMCSD and LTTA partnership succeeded in accomplishing objectives for affecting the success of FNMI students by incorporating the following valued practices. Although this is not an exhaustive list, it does identify some fundamental practices that are essential to replicate success.

Together We Are Better

A universal theme that emerged within the LTTA / FMCSD partnership, as expressed in the video from the 2011 – 2012 academic year, was Together We Are Better. This theme is embedded in the concepts of inclusive education and differentiated instruction of learning objectives, which both LTTA and FMCSD live every day. There are many great benefits in learning and living alongside peers and valuing diversity. This is not new information for either FMCSD or LTTA. The significance accomplishment is if this concept can be evidenced in the development of the partnership over the last six years. There have certainly been challenges along the way, but being able to document even one school’s cultural shift in adopting the values and beliefs of LTTA is a great example of how the concept of Together We Are Better has come to life. LTTA works within the objectives set out by the district and accepts collective responsibility to ensure high levels of learning for every child in a collaborative way. This approach further demonstrates the integrity of the program.

Constant Dialogue

A major thread that reverberated throughout this study was and is the need for open and ongoing dialogue among various stakeholders; and what supports successful dialogue is a clear and consistent communication. This practice of dialogue and communication is what builds and sustains the partnership at many levels, and is the foundation upon which the project is fostered or falters.

“ Communication is absolutely essential for this project to work. There are too many moving parts … there are so many variables” (Victor Steel, FMCSD District Programs Coordinator).

Elder-in-Residence Program

One of the challenges FMCSD experiences is a high turn over of Teachers, especially within their first few years of teaching. For many new teachers this is their first exposure to First Nations people and therefore they experience challenges in teaching FNMI content in an efficient and effective style. This can represent a significant barrier to success. In order to ensure FNMI curricular objectives are met in the classroom, LTTA and the Elder-in-Residence will provide pedagogical support. The Elder brings real life experiences into the classroom and can impart an FNMI perspective on various subject matters.

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The role of the Elder-in-Residence has proven to be an important one within LTTA and YEP, yet finding Elders can be a challenge, for many reasons. Therefore, LTTA is sure to prioritize what works for the Elder within the program while still maximizing the impact they can make in the classroom, after school, with administrators, and in the community. The key to success is to be flexible, caring and accommodating to an Elder’s needs.

It should be noted that the benefits of an Elder participating in the program are reciprocal. In response to her experience as an LTTA Elder-In-Residence, Elder Issapaakii has shared, “this has changed my life. This is part of my healing.” Her experience in the program has been difference- making not only in her own life but in the lives of others as well. Prior to LTTA, in her previous position as an FNMI Liaison with another school district, she questioned whether or not she was making a difference only working with FNMI children. She said, “I understand now what the creator wanted me to do and I needed to be here [referring to LTTA] for everybody so that all students could hear about our culture and hear about our truths.”

Community and School Engagement

While LTTA is built on a standard model that can be used across Canada, the program practices a principle of regional responsiveness. LTTA will focus on what works in the community and will make the necessary shifts to meet community and school needs without sacrificing positive impact on school improvement plans and meeting learning objectives. For example, this report highlighted the following community responsive practices for the Wood Buffalo Region: training local community FNMI Artist-Educators; implementing an Elder-in-Residence program and an After-School program; developing FNMI curriculum resource and teaching material; and creating spaces for the Artist-Educator, Elder-in-Residence, FNMI Liaison to collaborate and teach alongside the Teacher in the classroom. There has been a process of learning and growing through each step. The management team has strengthened over the years and the schools are now taking ownership of LTTA in all aspects, and making it their own.

There is a constant dialogue that builds the program in Fort McMurray and it is very much built on relationships. This report highlights the story that LTTA can empower change.

“If you want to change the system you need to be part of the system and help change it.”(Shelley MacDonald, LTTA FNMI Program Lead)

Next Steps

During the interview process the following narrative threads emerged throughout the conversation on what, if any, are the next steps for LTTA YEP in FMCSD. Many of the highlighted threads are currently continuing and progressing as stated throughout the report:

Increase connection and professional development opportunities for FMCSD FNMI

Liaisons to join in with LTTA learning initiatives, adopting many of the practices that Artist-Educators use in the classroom.

Continue to train and grow the roster of local FNMI Artist-Educators

Continue developing curriculum and resource materials to increase the FNMI content

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(in-class and in the after school programming)

Continue promoting LTTA across the district

Continue developing the After-School Program. It should be noted that during the time

of writing this report, the After-School Program was expanded to another high school with the Fort McMurray Public School District (FMPSD) and also to an Elder Lunch youth program.

RCM LTTA to increase presence with FMPSD. LTTA serves the Public Schools and has

created a relationship with the district. Their involvement in the schools is continuing to grow.

As a final reflection, the researcher confirms there is clear evidence of good practices taking place within FMCSD in offering LTTA over the last six years, and it has proven to be difference- making in the lives of Aboriginal learners. The objective of this research project was to document community based successful practices that identify strong cultural connections that honor local Indigenous Knowledge systems. The LTTA programming in the FMCSD is considered responsive to both the aspirations and needs of Indigenous peoples, and it promotes strong cultural connections that honor local Indigenous knowledge systems.

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Appendix A

Aboriginal Values and Governance Through Tipi Teachings: A Lesson Plan by FNMI Mentor Artist: Shelley MacDonald and Elder in Residence, Issapaakii

Overall vision for this unit is: (What are the students going to gain/ know by the end of my visits?)

Students will have a deeper understanding of First Nations, Métis, Inuit culture: knowledge, values, and experiences through Elder visits, drama, visual arts, and media arts.

Students will create collaborative artistic re-productions of tepees, which reflect their

understanding of FNMI values. (Family, environment, and community)

Students will write and perform monologues in the historical voice of the FNMI peoples Students will explore First contact, the impact of the fur trade through role play with our

Elder

Students will create a written response TBD

Hazel will share her story of Residential school and students will create a dramatic response TBD

Core Curriculum Objectives (cut and paste from Alberta Program of Studies www.education.alberta.ca)

7.1 Toward Confederation

General Outcome Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the distinct roles of, and the relationships among, the Aboriginal, French and British peoples in forging the foundations of Canadian Confederation.

Values and Attitudes Students will: 7.1.1 appreciate the influence of diverse Aboriginal, French and British peoples on events leading to Confederation 7.1.2 appreciate the challenges of co-existence among peoples

7.2 Following Confederation: Canadian Expansions General Outcome Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of how the political, demographic, economic and social changes that have occurred since Confederation have presented challenges and opportunities for individuals and communities. Art Objectives (what do I want the students to know about my art form by the end of your visits):

Through Speaking and moving, students will

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Acquire knowledge of self and others that results from reflecting on dramatic play.

Develop competency in communication skills through drama.

Develop an awareness of the body and voice as tools of communication

Develop a capacity for imaginative and creative thought

Explore, control and express emotions

Through Visual Art/photography students will create independent and collaborative pieces that reflect pre and post confederation and FNMI perspectives

Key art form vocabulary for the teacher:

Found Poetry: Using a piece of text and sharpie, students create a script by circling phrases, words, and sentences that stand out to them. All words, sentences, phrases not being used are blackened out with the sharpie

Choral speaking: 4-5 students stand together each reading lines of their story/poem until Teacher/Artist taps another student to read theirs

Tableau: A frozen picture/snapshot using body

Machines: Repetitive movement with sound and body created collectively

Slide show: Tableau with narration

Sounds capes: Using voice and body percussion students create sounds to portray a mood or theme

Camera Angles: Long /wide shot: An establishing shot with full of view of subject and background (setting) Medium shot: Subject Waist up including background Bugs eye view: A low angle shot of main subject looking up Bird’s eye view: An aerial shot of the subject Close-up: A tight shot on the main subject or person. If person a close up shot on face to show emotions and thoughts Insert shot: An extreme close up of an action or important object relevant to the story. I.e.: a hand turning knob or a pamphlet so that you can see the writing the main character is holding if it is relevant to the story.

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LESSON ONE (60 minutes)

Number of Learners: 27

MATERIALS (provided by LTTA): Flute music, Elder power point, Long pieces of dowling (tipi poles), rope

Curricular Outcome(s) to be satisfied: When the students leave the room today, he/she will understand the history of the Tipi and how it’s core values/teachings helped to shape Aboriginal society

Art Outcome(s) to be satisfied: When the students leave the room today, he/she will have collaboratively assembled the 4 core poles of the Tipi and in role reflect on their teachings from an FNMI point of view

Hook (10 minutes) Opening circle:

o Acknowledge Traditional territory. o Introduction of Elder and where she comes from. Piikani Nation of the

Blackfoot Confederacy

Development: Elder with power point: Introduces the history of the Tipi

o Elder shows students how to tie the 4 main poles and explains what the 15 poles represents:

2. Obedience 3. Respect/honor 4. Humility 5. Happiness 6. Love 7. Faith 8. Kinship 9. Cleanliness 10. Thankfulness 11. Sharing 12. Strength 13. Good Child rearing 14. Hope 15. Ultimate protection 16. Control flaps for wind

o Elder shows and tells students about the symbols and meanings on the Tipi Top, Middle, Bottom

Application: Build a Tipi in role with Elder

o In teams of 5 -6 Students will be grouped together to represent a Blackfoot family

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o Each student must decide on who they are in that family and what they are feeling about gathering together to lay the foundation for their family tipi

o Families/clans/teams put together the 4 poles and decide /share what values each

of the poles has Closure (5-10 minutes) Family portrait/snap shot

o Students create a family portrait using tableau and share what each of their 4

poles represent

Personal Reflection: What would I do differently? What do I need to communicate with the teacher before the next lesson?

LESSON TWO (60 minutes)

Number of Learners: 27

MATERIALS (provided by LTTA): Flute music, Tipi template/bamboo skewers (large and small) Markers, Pencil crayons,

Curricular Outcome(s) to be satisfied: When the students leave the room today, he/she will have created a mini tipi that reflects their understandings of the teachings and values shared by the Elder in-class 1.

Art Outcome(s) to be satisfied: When the students leave the room today, he/she will have created a Tipi using bamboo skewers, paper and markers

Hook (5-10 minutes):

o Different designed tepees are projected on screen

o Students are asked to identify what the different symbols and patterns represent o Hazel and Shelley show students small tipi created Mrs. Yannick (Métis Elder from Fort

McMurray)

Development (Describe the instructions you are going to provide)

o Students are given materials to design and build their tipi o Elder/Shelley ask them to choose symbols and patterns and create a tipi that reflects the

family/clans from Day 1 ‘s dramas

Application (Describe in point form your activity your students will complete)

o Clans Lay their Tipi in a circle and discuss the values (Tipi Pole teachings that are

important to them and why)

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Closure (5-10 minutes) Writing reflection:

Students are to write a first person perspective that reflects the meanings/symbols of their TIPI and what it means to them being a part of a community/clan family

(How will you check for understanding that you have accomplished your goals/ outcomes for this lesson?)

Personal Reflection: What would I do differently? What do I need to communicate with the teacher before the next lesson?