Friction in Forest Pedagogies: common worlds in settler colonial spaces


Friction in Forest Pedagogies: common worlds in settler colonial spaces
In terms of the environment, I do believe that individuals should participate voluntarily in actions that preserve the environment, to the best of their abilities. However, this should not impede the progress of the individual without diminishing the basic needs of the individual.
However, I do agree that individuals, in this day and age, are much more wasteful and partake in impulsive consumption, which typically pollutes the environment. Tsing (2012) reiterates this claim by stating, “this is a time of global surprise about the losses the world has suffered in the name of human progress and widespread human disregard for our interdependence with other speicies.” If individuals can participate in an exercise that demonstrates how wasteful you (the individual) can be and presents an emotional connection at the same time, then I’m optimistic individuals will realize they can make a less wasteful and polluted world. As a result, individuals most likely will become more conscious of their decisions that affect the sustainability of the earth. The underlying way I would try to explain to a child why we should take care of the environment (slight variations depending on the child’s intelligence and age) would be in relationship to the classroom.
An example in the classroom where students could utilize this technique, would be if students were asked, “What are some impacts we have on the planet?” Students will construct a brainstorm web on the smart board, facilitated by the teacher. This activity will activate prior knowledge and new knowledge which will give the student a foundation in which to work. Students will be separated into two cohorts: positive impacts and negative impacts. Next students will be further separated into 3 groups in their original two groups. In those groups, students will read their evidence to form an opinion about a topic. Afterwards, students will collaborate within their group for either arguments that present positive and negative impacts humans have on the planet. Later, students will present their findings in a debate-like format and be able to do an ending rebuttal. At the end, the teacher will bring back the students and facilitate a discussion/consolidation: (a) “What did you learn?”; (b) “What do you still want to learn?”; (c) “How did it make you feel?”; (d) “What is the public’s or main stream media view on it?”; (e) “Are they right?”; (f) “Has anything changed from your previous thought?” and; (e) “What will I do next time?” The teacher should not demonstrate what position he or she stands for and moderate the debate. Teachers can formulate prompt questions, that will challenge or further question students’ thinking. Therefore, students will not be swayed into standing for a certain position because the teacher perspective on the ‘right’ side on a position or they will receive a better grade if they stand on the same side as the teachers’.   
I believe better alternatives to focus on are through the principles of conservation and preservation of our environment. Braun (1997) states that through conservation stories, forests are sustained through arguments of ‘rational management’ aimed at preserving the ‘natural’ forest. We are able to take action when we see animals behaving differently in the world. For example, introducing read aloud which portrays wildlife found in the ocean dealing with plastic are physical indicators that we must change our actions towards the earth.
One aspect that I do not agree with in this article is negative insinuation of children forming names on physical landmarks. For example: the waiting log, monster place, moss house, worm river and forest house (Pacini-Ketchabaw, 2013). I believe that the authors failed to realize the mere simplicity of what children and humans do. From the very beginning when a child is born, it is constantly creating schemas and heuristics through out the child’s development. The Kindergarten Program (2016) outlines that exploring the world through natural curiosity, in ways that engage the mind, the sense and the body are a part of what children naturally do. After interpretation of the text (which may be wrong), demonstrates that the authors did a superficial analysis of the topic and presented an ideological interpretation.
Nevertheless, the author does present the friction between us humans and the land we live on occurs. It is our roles, as educators, to role model our behaviour and how we should treat the planet we live on. They also key on the importance of not dismissing Indigenous knowledge about the land we currently inhabit and to engage in conversations with the land in a physical, social and spiritual sense (Wildcat, McDonald, Irlbacher-Fox, & Coulthard, 2014).


References

Braun, B. (1997). Buried Epistemologies: the politics of nature in (post)colonial British
Columbia, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 87(1), 3-31.
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2016). The Kindergarten Program. Retrieved from Government
of Ontario: 
https://files.ontario.ca/books/edu_the_kindergarten_program_english_aoda_web_oct7.pdf
Pacini-Ketchabaw, V. (2013). Frictions in forest pedagogies: Common worlds in settler colonial
spaces. Global Studies of Childhood, 3(4), 355-365.
Tsing, A. 2012) On Nonscalability: the living world is not amenable to precision-nested scales,
Common Knowledge, 18(3), 505-524.
Wildcat, M., McDonald, M., Irlbacher-Fox, S., & Coulthard, G. (2014). Learning from the land:
Indigenous land based pedagogy and decolonization. Decolonization: Indigeneity,
Education & Society, 3(3), 1-15.


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