The Seven Grandfather’s Teachings is a philosophy of education regarding the importance of character. It is a cultural teaching found in Ojibwe and Anishinaabe culture, and this is a part of the world where I have no background, heritage, or training; however, out of every Indigenous pedagogy, philosophy, or principle, it is the one that I feel the most connection towards. Character is important to me. At the end of the day I would rather work with and interact with three average people of good character than a hundred of the world’s smartest, but cruellest and amorphous people. Character is the ‘extra’ factor that distinguishes right from wrong and the good from the bad.
While I recognize the fact that this culture is far removed from where I will be teaching, I hope that I am able to respectfully find a way to incorporate the topic into my personal teaching pedagogy.
The following is a small section from the Assessment Portfolio that I worked on for my EDTL 3200 class. These are some initial thoughts on the topic and should be understood as such. With time and educational resources, I will more properly introduce the philosophy (if I am able to do so from a distance in a non-appropriative matter) into my own practice.
You can find a link to a small section of my portfolio that deals with this philosophy here: link.