This November, the OISE Library is bringing Indigenous culture into the classroom! Stop by the book display in the OISE Library lobby to check out some of these books highlighting Indigenous people, cultures, and stories. Please ask staff for help.
Looking for ways to bring Indigenous ways of thinking into the classroom? Teaching Truly: A Curriculum to Indigenize Mainstream Education addresses the relationship between Indigenous people and the education system and provides suggestions for ways to bring Indigenous approaches to individual subject areas such as mathematics or music. Living Indigenous Leadership: Native Narratives on Building Strong Communities discusses leadership concepts appropriate to building strong Indigenous communities, written by Indigenous women from Canada, the United States, and New Zealand. We also have access to this book as an ebook. For an arts approach, Strength and Struggle: Perspectives from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples in Canada contains a wide range of short stories, essays, poetry, comics, music lyrics, and other pieces of writing and artwork by Indigenous authors and artists. Each piece includes discussion questions to prompt afterthought and aid in classroom use.
For an exploration of how Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists can build relationships and work together for Indigenous rights and self-determination, check out Alliances: Re/Envisioning Indigenous-non-Indigenous Relationships. Meanwhile, “Our Indian Princess”: Subverting the Stereotype addresses representations of Indigenous people and stereotypes in art and imagery. On the teaching side of things, Aboriginal History and Realities in Canada provides a range of teaching materials and lesson plans for grades 1-8 than can be used when teaching about Indigenous peoples and histories.
Interested in stories about the lives of Indigenous individuals? Check out the Tales from Big Spirit series, including The Poet: Pauline Johnson and The Rebel: Gabriel Dumont. This series profiles some of the great Indigenous figures from Canadian history – as short graphic novels! Another series profiling Indigenous people in North America is The First Nations Series for Young Readers. This series includes titles such as Great Women from our First Nations and Men of Courage from our First Nations. Each book in this series tells the stories of ten remarkable Indigenous people in North America. If you’re looking for a story about Indigenous youth, check out Shannen and the Dream for a School, which tells of Shannen’s campaign to get a school built in Attawapiskat First Nation in Northern Ontario.
Looking for children’s books? We have many dual-language books in several Indigenous languages! On display in the OISE library lobby are just a selection of our dual-language books, featuring 8 different Indigenous languages: Nokum is My Teacher (Cree), The Diamond Willow Walking Stick (Michif), Living in Harmony (Ojibwe), Corneille Arc-en-ciel (Ojibwe and French), Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters (Mi’kmaq), Unipkaaqtuat Arvianit: Traditional Inuit Stories from Arviat (Inuktitut), Uumajut: Learn About Arctic Wildlife (Inuktitut), Beneath Raven Moon (Kwak’wala), We are the People: A Trilogy of Okanagan Legends (Okanagan), Yamozha and his beaver wife (Dogrib), and How the Fox Got His Crossed Legs (Dogrib). Many of these books have accompanying audio CDs. More dual-language books in these and other languages may be found here.
The OISE library also has a number of Indigenous kits of activities for the classroom. The Full Circle: Ways of Knowing kit addresses important social issues that Indigenous people in Canada, such as land, residential schools, health, and matters of identity. In addition to a booklet containing teaching materials and lesson plans, this kit also contains a DVD with audiovisual materials as well as additional teaching materials. For younger audiences, try out the Northwest Coast Native Animals Matching Game or stop by one of the puppet display racks to check out some of our Northwest Coast-designed hand puppets!
You may also want to check out some the online resources available, such as the Indigenous Studies Portal from the University of Saskatchewan or the Deepening Knowledge Project, which contains links to many useful materials for both teachers and students. Additional online resources may be found is the library’s Aboriginal Perspectives library guide.
The slow professor (2016). For authors Berg and Seeber, the idyllic image of the thoughtful professor with infinite time on their hands has given way to the reality that many university professors are struggling under the pressure to do more, be faster and take on new responsibilities. The result is a massive increase in workplace stress that spills into the home lives of those in academia. After a series of private conversations on the topic, Berg and Seeber realized that their personal experiences had brought them to a little addressed, but important, topic. The result is a small monograph that provides a thoughtful exploration of the topic, which Berg and Seeber freely admit has drawn both praise and scorn from their colleagues. In viewing the problem as a problem, rather than “complaining”, the authors contribute to the literature on the mental health and well-being of Canadian professors. Students who are interested in workplace politics, counselling, academia and the management of a work-life balance will find this book to be of interest.
Handbook of social influences in school contexts: social-emotional, motivation, and cognitive outcomes. Ed. Kathryn R. Wentzel and Geetha B. Ramani (2016). This large handbook is a great resource for those interested in investigating a developing and growing research field. How children experience socialization at school with their peers, teachers and classmates can have a profound impact on their social and emotional development. The book is divided into four sections, each containing several chapters for a total of 26 different explorations of the topic. Section I, Perspectives on Peer Influence. Section II, Perspectives on Teacher Influence. Section III, Perspectives on classrooms, school, and cultural contexts. Part IV, Interventions to facilitate Social Change. The chapters cover a wide range of topics while maintaining a coherent adherence to the central methods and theoretical roots of the volume. As is the case with many of the 
The Linguistics of Sign Language: An Introduction edited by Anne Baker, Beppie van den Bogaerde, Roland Pfau and Trude Schermer, 2016. Students with a working knowledge of the basic principles of linguistics will find this book fascinating. Students without this basic knowledge can catch up as they read, as the material in the book is clearly written and makes searching for more information on key terms easier. The authors have brought together examples from several countries, which share a common signage but not a common language, to explore the ways that language manifests in a variety of Deaf Communities. Grammar, nuances, and place-specific variations are of interest to these linguists, who also seek to explore the relationship between spoken language and sign language. The book is split into 14 chapters, each with multiple sub-headings that are numbered for easier searching within the book. Illustrations and diagrams abound due to the subject matter. Two appendices provide indispensable resources for the reader: notational conventions (for recording research), and examples of manual alphabets. Students pursuing research on disabilities in education, alternative means of education and the effects of language on international education will find this work stimulating.
College Success for Students with Disabilities: A Guide to Finding and Using Resources, with Real-World Stories, Irene Ingersoll, 2016. Ingersoll addresses the often difficult transition for students with disabilities to college with the advantage of a 30-year career in counseling and disability accommodation. She makes clear the accommodations available to students with any kind of disability, whether physical or mental and provides step by step plans to help them prepare for, get into and maintain academic success in a college context. It should be noted that this book was written with the American educational system and context in mind. Nevertheless, OISE students may find ideas and inspiration for their research and professional development. Personal stories of young men and women with disabilities help to illustrate the sense that students are never alone in their struggle, and the stories also provide good examples of the practical application of policy in real life. This guide would be good reading for students interested in counseling and in creating a positive life for everyone on campus.
Elena Aguilar’s The Art of Coaching Teams: Building Resilient Communities That Transform Schools (2016) provides hands on activities for successful and sustained team building in the school context. The book is divided into thirteen chapters and a conclusion, with seven appendices. So many appendices may seem odd, but Aguilar uses them as reference and practical exercise materials, including facilitator core-competencies and activities for meetings. The book is for anyone in the education system, including administrators, teachers, Councillors and grade-level team leaders, among many others. Novice team leaders can find some direction from this book, and experienced leaders may find the practical exercises to be just that: practical. Students embarking on their practicums may find materials for building connections and support helpful, and understanding team dynamics may help them to better situate themselves in the field. The author, Elena Aguilar, has more than 20 years of experience in teaching and consulting on matters of leadership and team building. This is her second major book. Her