What I learned and took away from the Indigenous Professional Development Day was how deeply rooted racial injustice is in our society, especially in regards to our Indigenous population. I also realize how far we have come just recently in addressing these injustices. It is nice to know that progress is being made. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done and we should not stop but at the same time we should be proud of the effort already and what has been accomplished towards bringing awareness of the issue to the forefront of our educational system. The inclusion of Standard 9 to the BC teaching standards is one step in the journey.

This is important because we need to do much more as educators to address racial injustice in the classroom and realize that Western Eurocentric thinking is not the most correct or right way to teach. We need to be more multicultural in our teaching and welcome all kinds of knowing into the classroom. This will result in a more diverse and inclusive environment for everyone.

This was eye opening to me to see how Eurocentric our education system is. I have a long ways to go to becoming more diverse in my thinking but this day was an excellent push in the right direction. As I walk along this path of education I hope to glean from others ways of creating a dynamic and welcoming classroom to students from all backgrounds and cultures. These pieces of learning will stay with me and inform my practice as I work towards creating unity and equal opportunities for learning. Also, I will work hard to incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing and learning and teaching into my teaching practice.