More Learning Opportunities & Resources for Educators

Here you will find free educational resources you can use with your students to participate in the Caring Society’s campaigns and initiatives, so you can take pawsitive actions towards reconciliation and social justice! 

This site is also home to a dedicated video series that interviews teachers, researchers, and professionals engaged in social justice and reconciliation-based educational practices. These videos will support teachers taking up the Caring Society’s campaigns and resources in their classrooms and beyond.


 

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Spirit Bear reading a book

My Voice Matters

In this film, young people who participated in the Caring Society’s social-justice based reconciliation campaigns in elementary and secondary school look back on how their experiences of standing up for equity for First Nations children impacted them. They speak brilliantly to how practicing loving justice for First Nations children can change all our lives for the better.

One reviewer called the film “beautiful,“ “unbelievingly wonderful," “captivating and meaningful.” Another wrote, “[the film] took my breath away. Those former students are SO articulate.” 

My Voice Matters is not to be missed!

Spirit Bear Virtual School Launch

Join Dr. Cindy Blackstock, Spirit Bear, Jennifer King, Dr. Lisa Howell, and Dr. Nicholas Ng-A-Fook as they introduce the Spirit Bear Virtual School, including Spirit Bear's Beary Caring Curriculum and the Jordan's Principle Learning Guide.

Just because we're small doesn't mean we can't stand tall

University of Ottawa researcher Dr. Lisa Howell gives a brief update on the research findings informing the Spirit Bear Virtual School website and resources.

The SSHRC-funded research project "Just because we're small doesn't mean we can't stand tall": Reconciliation Education in the Elementary Classroom was a collaboration between the University of Ottawa and the Caring Society, with a dedicated team of education researchers from across Canada.

Getting Started with Spirit Bear: Michelle McKay on Reconciliation in the Kindergarten Classroom

In this video, Dr. Lisa Howell interviews Michelle McKay, early years educator and PhD candidate, about her use of Spirit Bear resources in the kindergarten classroom and the amazing capacity younger children have to understand issues of social justice, equity, and fairness. The insights shared in the video will support teachers taking up the Caring Society's campaigns and resources in their classrooms and beyond. 

Stories from Practice: Spirit Bear and the Kindergarten Classroom

In this video, Dr. Lisa Howell interviews early years educators Klara Redford and Michelle McKay about the huge capacity young children have to understand love, fairness, and justice, and how learning about historical and ongoing injustices must must start in Kindergarten. They also discuss ways they have engaged kindergarten students in the Caring Society's campaigns and how reconciliation and social justice learning is not "in addition to" the other work teachers do, but should rather be integrated into everything they teach.

Teaching for Reconciliation

Educators Danielle Fontaine and Lynn Rainboth share their experiences participating in the Caring Society’s reconciliation-based campaigns with their students and offer helpful advice to teachers.

Spirit Bear Podcast

Listen to the Caring Society’s Spirit Bear paw’d-cast!

Tune in for informative episodes that feature guest appearances from community members, advocates, and experts leading on a number of matters affecting First Nations children, youth, and families.

The Caring Society is bear-y grateful to our friends in Dr. Veldon Coburn’s “Indigenous Politics in Canada” course at the University of Ottawa, who produced Season 1 from January to April of 2022.