Re-Storying Education: Decolonizing Your Practice Using a Critical Lens

by Carolyn Roberts

Overview

GLOBE & MAIL NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"A well-presented consideration of a generations-long problem in education." Kirkus Reviews

An invaluable resource for educators looking to actively participate in reshaping education to include historically silenced voices in the classroom.

Re-Storying Education is a process of dismantling old narratives taught in education and rebuilding new narratives that include all the voices that have created this place known as Canada today. This vital and timely book outlines how colonialism has shaped both the country and the public school system. Re-Storying Education uses an Indigenous lens, offering ways to put Indigenous education, history, and pedagogy into practice. It invites readers into an open dialogue in the pursuit of a more inclusive and just educational landscape.

Drawing from her own experiences as an Indigenous student, educator, and administrator, in public and band-operated school systems, Indigenous academic Carolyn Roberts offers a deep understanding of how to support educators with Indigenous education and to create a nurturing and inclusive environment for all students. Re-Storying Education brings wider perspectives, connections to the land and the people of this land, and a deeper understanding of how relationships to these can change the educational experience for all students.

Re-Storying Education contains valuable lesson and assessment ideas, fostering the development of a critical lens in education. Roberts offers questions for self-reflection, suggestions for professional action, recommended resources for further learning, personal stories and anecdotes, insights from her own decolonizing teaching practices, and playlists that reflect the spirit of the work and that uplift Indigenous voices.

This is a must-have resource for all educators and change-makers in education today!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781774584965
Publisher:	Page Two Books, Inc.
Publication date:	09/10/2024
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	1,064,054
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.45(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

Carolyn Roberts is St'át'imc and Stó:lō from N’Quat’qua and Tzeachten Nations, and a member of the Squamish Nation. She is a faculty member in the teacher education department at the University of British Columbia. An educator and administrator for over twenty years in the K-12 and post-secondary school system, Roberts works with school districts, educators, administrators, and pre-service educators to build their understanding of Indigenous pedagogy, education, and history. She is a gifted storyteller and keynote speaker. Roberts lives on the unsurrendered lands of the Kwantlen, Katzie, and Semiahmoo Peoples (Surrey, British Columbia).

Editorial Reviews

09/02/2024

“Re-Storying education,” Roberts writes, “is a process of dismantling old narratives to rebuild and re-story new narratives to include historically silenced voices in education.” This compelling guidebook on decolonizing Canada’s educational system draws upon her own personal experiences as an Indigenous person within Canadian classrooms, both as teacher and student–she recalls the low expectations some teachers had of her, and her feelings of not quite belonging in school, all at a time when Indigenous students were dropping out of school at “a much higher rate than all other students.” Roberts has devoted her career to helping students feel they belong, and here she presents the tools and resources designed to “re-story” or decolonize western pedagogies, while creating culturally responsive learning environments that “connect students to the society they live in.”

Roberts begins by revealing some harsh truths about the current state of Canada’s educational system—“built by one of the key designers of the Indian Residential School System”—and the genocidal laws and policies upon which it was founded. “My children are the first children in my family that have not been stolen from their parents by the government,” she notes, before explaining the numerous ways this system, along with others, attempted to eradicate Indigenous people and their way of life. Roberts urges educators to “unlearn the colonial framework of education” to better support the needs of Indigenous students.

From cultural appropriation to racial-spotlighting and hidden biases, Roberts dives into the multitude of factors that create educational disparities in marginalized communities, while providing readers with sample lesson plans, suggested readings and playlists, and thought-provoking questions at the end of every chapter to encourage the deconstruction of deeply rooted Eurocentric mindsets and the cultivation of culturally responsive classrooms. This impassioned guide serves as a call-to-action for administrators and educators to develop a strong critical lens and actively decolonize the classroom. Written in relatable, inclusive language, Roberts encourages readers to reconnect with one another, the land, waterways, and community.

Takeaway: Compelling guide to dismantling outdated pedagogies to better serve Indigenous students.

Comparable Titles: Marie Battiste’s Decolonizing Education, Jo Chrona’s Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies.

Production grades Cover: B+ Design and typography: A Illustrations: A Editing: A Marketing copy: A

BookLife Reviews

A gentle yet thorough overview and introduction, Re-Storying Education is packed with history and context to help educators decolonize their practices. Carolyn Roberts has written an excellent resource for navigating often-fraught waters, turning potential struggle into a hopeful journey of discovery and reconciliation.” —Eden Robinson, bestselling author of the Trickster trilogy

“Woven in these pages is a masterful contribution to the field of education and to those who work in educating hearts, minds and spirits. I found myself lit up, excited, eager to turn each page and also inspired to slow down, reflect and let all the beauty in the pages find their rightful place in my own learning. Carolyn invites us to go on a journey with her, to be in relationship with her as we learn, unlearn, relearn and ignite our excitement in the joy of education. Re-Storying Education is full of knowledge, wisdom, truths and stories and will influence education for generations to come.” —Monique Gray Smith, bestselling author of I Hope

“Re-Storying Education is a paradigm-shifting educator’s manifesto with guidance for including Indigenous knowledge, culture, and history in classrooms.” —Lynne Jensen Lampe, Foreword Clarion Reviews

“This impassioned guide serves as a call-to-action for administrators and educators to develop a strong critical lens and actively decolonize the classroom. Written in relatable, inclusive language, Roberts encourages readers to reconnect with one another, the land, waterways, and community.” —Booklife, Publisher's Weekly

“A well-presented consideration of a generations-long problem in education.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Re-Storying Education is a practical guide for how to support educators in decolonizing their practice. Through storytelling, Carolyn Roberts weaves her own personal experiences and learnings into her writing, providing strategies on how to disrupt and (un)learn stereotypical narratives and ‘ways of doing’ about Indigenous Peoples by creating space to Re-Story the present and the future. Each chapter starts with a creative musical playlist to uniquely connect each of the chapters’ learnings and ends with critical reflective questions and a resource list. I highly recommend this important resource for all educators but in particular those teaching in the K–12 system. What a wonderful book!” —Sheila Cote-Meek, PhD, author of Colonized Classrooms: Racism, Trauma and Resistance in Post-Secondary Education

From the Publisher

2024-08-01
A manual for educators to decolonize their classrooms and put the focus on Indigenous cultures.

The author—a direct descendant of Chief Hunter Jack of the N’Quat’qua Nation and a former elementary school principal for the Squamish nation—is a proponent of re-storying education in Canada, which she describes as “a process of dismantling old narratives to rebuild and re-story new narratives to include historically silenced voices in education, to make space for all stories of this place to be told.” Her book is aimed at educators, encouraging them to teach Indigenous history and interact with Indigenous students more authentically. To do this, she argues, educators need to unlearn the colonial framework of education. The book’s eight chapters include a history of how the public education system has failed the Indigenous people (and how to correct that failing), a discussion of how colonialism is manifested in the classroom, and a plan for assessing how these changes are being implemented. The chapter titled “Journey through Education,” in particular, is full of useful information from the author’s personal memories of an education that served to reinforce the colonial point of view to arguments for more Indigenous representation in school curricula to ways in which the grade-school curricula need to be revamped and updated. (This chapter also tackles weighty topics about representation and racism in the classroom.) This is all very heavy material, but the author doesn’t get bogged down. The structure of each chapter—including musical playlists to listen to as you read, a handful of questions for reflection, and a handy list of resources—makes for an easy read, one that not only explores the problems it raises but also offers a range of solutions. All of this combines to give the reader a thorough look at what the author finds lacking in the Canadian education system and the steps that can be taken to help correct it.

A well-presented consideration of a generations-long problem in education.

Kirkus Reviews