Program Closing Ceremony (Part 1)

March 31st, 2011 marks the last day of classes for the Pimooteewin students...

In recognition of our three semesters together with over 50 students this past year, Pimooteewin held a huge celebration tonight (March 30th). Dozens of people from the aboriginal community attended the event, sharing in the singing, dancing, and feasting to help close the program in a special Closing Ceremony. The five Elders who taught traditional teachings to the students throughout the year were also present to share their wisdom and reflections on the program.

Here was the agenda for the night:

(Part 2 will include videos and pictures from tonight's event.)

In the meantime, please watch our highlights < VIDEO CLIP > shown at the event, which includes many of the fun and exciting activities the students participated in over the course of the year.

Posted by Karen Craigs

Making Drums

In March, special guest and local drummaker Steve Teagan came in to Centennial to teach our class how to make drums.


We used special wood and deerskin materials as a base, and Steve taught us the traditional teachings behind the story of the drum.


Check out our < VIDEO LINK > on YouTube from the day!

Posted by Karen Craigs

Star Bundles

In early February, quilting expert Lynda Shapiro flew in from Manitoba to help students design and sew together their own star bundles.

Everyone worked diligently during this three day project, sewing together diamond-shaped fabrics into an eight-pointed geometric pattern.

These star bundles display the colours of the medicine wheel: red, yellow, white, and black.

Star bundles are typically used to keep together traditional and sacred pieces collected over a lifetime.

Check out our < VIDEO LINK > on YouTube to see how it all turned out!

Posted by Karen

Invitation to the Closing Ceremony

Your presence is being requested for a special celebration.

Please mark you calendars for Wednesday, March 30th to come and join us in celebrating the completion of the first year of our ground breaking

Pimooteewin Aboriginal Academic Upgrading Program at Centennial College

In this Celebration we will be honouring the students who took the brave step to get back into school and re-dedicate themselves to their educational journey as a means to meaningfully contribute to their personal, familial and communal success.

In unison we will also be honouring the 5 Elders who have worked with our students throughout the program to offer Traditional First Nations teachings helping to bridge the divide for our students and wider Centennial College community between traditional and mainstream education.

Posted by Rachel

Introduction to Algebra

Are there similarities between algebra and Native war record robes?

War Record Robe

This morning we looked at pictures and learned more about the counting coup concept. These war robes and coup sticks were worn by Native warriors (especially from the Plains) as badges of honour, showing the history of their prior battle actions. The more dangerous the action, the more prestigious the coup.

Counting Coup Stick

If you think about it, the robe and the stick are just story-telling devices that group together: a) different symbols representing the elements of the story, b) the actions taken, and c) the consequences of those actions. We found that we can relate these ideas specifically to: a) numbers in a math equation, b) the operators, and c) the results. (This idea was modified from an Australian aboriginal study.)

In class, students drew up several stories using their own meaningful symbols. For example, one student recounted the events of last week's full moon ceremony using just a simple addition story. It contained people coming in from different communities, a full moon and stars, as well as items needed in the ceremony (for example the water and drum). Another student commented how similar these picture stories are to the ancient Egyptian tombs, recounting the histories of the kings with hieroglyphs.

From a mathematical perspective, these stories are important for us to analyze. You might recognize that taking away an element from the story will change the story's consequences -- much like in a math equation. We explored different ways of compensating for making a change, much like you would do in algebra.

For example, if we have the equation 3 + 4 = 7 and we change the 4 to a 2, we tried to find different ways in which we could do something to the story to compensate for the change. (We came up with four ways -- how many ways can you come up with?)

Joke: What kind of clothing does a mermaid wear? ... An algae-bra! 

After the break, we played a counting game with 12-sided dice and Monopoly money. Everyone started with $20 and we took turns rolling the dodecahedra. Integers between -6 and +6 are on each die: a negative roll meant we had to give away that amount; a positive roll, we were given it. Rolling two together meant we had to solve the overall value first!

Dodecahedron: a polyhedron with 12 flat faces

 After a few rounds, we had to start keeping track of IOU's, a perfect example of how negative numbers work in business. We found that negative numbers and subtracting are similar concepts (but they don't always lead you into the hole!).

Tomorrow we'll continue our algebra introduction with some more activities...

Posted by Karen

Frieze and Fractal Fun

This morning in math class we started a new topic: Geometry!

Rather than just keep to the typical "What-is-a-point? What-is-a-midpoint? What-is-a-coplanar-line?" geometry introduction, we took a step further to look at the Native American friezes in clothing and quilting works. It turns out that there are just seven ways to manipulate a tile into a border pattern.

(Seven is a happy number that shows up everywhere: 7 Grandfather teachings, 7 ages of man, 7 days of the week, 7 classical planets, 7 musical notes, 7 pillars of wisdom, 7 chakras, and seven also represents the Universe with the 3 of heaven combined with 4 of the world.)

After that, we started making our own friezes and patterns.

For inspiration, we watched a video from NOVA, "Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension". A fractal is just a repeating pattern where the smaller parts actually look like the bigger parts when you zoom in all the way -- happening over and over again, forever!

Here are some colourful examples of fractals -- sometimes fractals are used to show naturally occuring examples in nature, like mountains and cauliflower and tree branches. Sometimes they're just amazing patterns:

Notice how the smaller parts look like miniature versions of the overal picture? That's what makes the pattern a "fractal". Check out how the following simple geometric shapes gradually turn into complex fractals -- see if you can come up with your own pattern:

Posted by Karen

The Final Semester Begins!

Pimooteewin Pathways has reached the third semester of the year-long pilot program at Centennial College.

Tuesday started with quite an energetic classroom, full of both new and returning students. Nearly 20 students joined in for the day's agenda of traditional ceremonies and activities to open up the term. The guest Elders told us stories from the grandfather teachings, the four medicines and directions, and the medicine wheel throughout the day.

Wanda sang traditional songs while beating her drum, and told us stories about the strawberry and other life lessons. Joseph later shared his stories of the 6 eagle feathers and 4 turtle rattles entrusted to him, and couldn't stress enough the importance of getting -- and maintaining! -- a useful education in life. 

Wednesday found all the students in the first classes: English in the morning and Math in the afternoon. Students also attended their first Self Direction, Self Management class on Thursday morning.

On Friday morning, Ronald shared his knowledge of the sacred medicine tobacco during the morning class. He showed us how he lays out items to the four directions with colour, medicine, and special rocks. We heard him play two different wooden flutes (which later led to an impromptu jam session with frogs and a drum, during the break) and he helped guide us on our own journeys through the music.

Hint for next week?
We're creating an important item for our own bundles...

Posted by Karen

The Royal Ontario Museum Trip

Our Pimooteewin class took a field trip downtown to the Royal Ontario Museum last semester in December.

We spent the day visiting different galleries at the ROM, including the Canadian First Peoples section and special exhibition of Chinese Terracotta Warriors. We also spent some time roaming through rooms filled with million-year old dinosaur bones, experienced the Bat Cave, viewed live fish and bugs, compared bird sizes, and discovered hundreds of beautiful gemstones...

Check out this < VIDEO LINK > for highlights of the day.

One class assignment for the ROM asked students to interview each other about any interesting findings in the galleries. This < VIDEO LINK > is a compilation of those interviews from our "Nongo News" correspondents... ("Nongo" means "today" in Ojibwe.)

Posted by Karen

Sweat Lodge Ceremony

Last Friday's Sweat Lodge ceremony was incredible.

Rachel hugs a tree!

The day started at 9:30am.


We met up at the House of Geishig in the morning and all drove over to the Glen Rouge Campground to spend the day there, setting up the fires and preparing the lodge and area for ceremony. The genders went off to tend their tasks for the ceremony and regrouped later around the fire.

Kyle tends to the woodpile

It was the first ceremony for a couple people and we were humbly honoured to be present when they received Spirit Names from the Elder during the ceremony.


The preparation processes were really interesting to see unfold throughout the day. After lunch, everyone chatted around the campfire and told stories while the stones were heating. The ceremony itself took about an hour, with four sessions of Grandfathers invited into the lodge. It was getting dark and very cold by the time we emerged, steaming and cleansed.

Kelly gathers cedar

To read more about what goes on during the day of a Sweat Lodge ceremony, Richard Wagamese has written a beautiful book called "For Joshua: An Ojibway Father Teaches His Son" in which he tells many tales from his lifetime, one of which is about his first Sweat Lodge ceremony when he was a young man. Here's an excerpt (p.150):

The Lodges, before preparations

Then, when it seemed like the heat and the energy in the lodge could climb no higher, Walter called for the Fire Keeper to open the door.

This was the coming of the Light.

Parisa relaxes by the campfire.

From the darkness, heat, and discomfort, I was instantly transported to a world of light, cool air, and ease. The burdens, so cumbersome in the darkness, were light-ened. I sat there, breathing deeply, drinking the cool air into the very depths of my spirit. All I could think and feel was gratitude. The only thoughts I could hold onto were those concerned with the difficulty of the ceremony, of this ritual journey, and how the light represented the easing of that difficulty. We laughed now as we relaxed in the coolness and the light... My heart felt alive inside my chest. My mind was clear.
 
(Richard Wagemese has written several wonderful books about Native life and lives in Ontario.)

The view of the river behind the lodges

Just Another Friday?

This morning an Elder came into our classroom to talk about the sweat lodge and associated traditional teachings. Next Friday our class will be going on a field trip to a sweat lodge ceremony.

Traditional sweat lodge ceremonies were used to cleanse, purify and renew old energies. They involved a ritual process of a physical cleanse or "sweat" as well as a spiritual, emotional, and mental cleanse. It was considered a ritual rebirth or renewal of the self, though participants often joined family and friends as a community event.

This afternoon in Math class, we listened to Native music from Danny Beaton, Eagle & Hawk, and Crystal Shawanda. The newest math assignment (due next week) is on Cryptograms, those puzzles where each letter is replaced by a corresponding number. We also watched the end of Part 2 of the movie, "The History of Mathematics".