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MORNING WORKSHOP 11:00-12:30
MORNING WORKSHOP 11:00-12:30
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
What if a classroom could become more than a place to complete assignments—what if it could become a community where students discover their strengths, find their voices, and believe that graduation and future goals are within reach? In this engaging workshop, Yolonda Skelton Jackson shares the transformative vision and practices behind the First Nations Graduation Program in Victoria.
Finding Our Voices: Building a Class That Matters
Drawing on her experience as an educator, knowledge keeper, and creator of the First Nations Graduation Program, Yolonda invites participants to explore how culturally responsive education can support academic achievement, healing, belonging, and lifelong success. The workshop introduces the Circle of Courage framework, which centers four interconnected values: belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. Participants will examine how these principles can shape a classroom where students feel safe, respected, recognized, and empowered to take responsibility for their learning. Through stories, student perspectives, cultural teachings, and practical tools, participants will explore questions like a student would:
-How am I smart?
-What are my needs?
-How do I learn best?
-What is my communication style?
-What are my strengths and assets?
-How can culture, relationships, and community strengthen learning?
The First Nations Graduation Program welcomed youth and adult learners into a multi-generational community rather than simply a classroom. Students were supported through adaptable teaching practices, culturally relevant curriculum, intergenerational learning, community involvement, and opportunities to connect academic goals with cultural knowledge and lived experience.
Participants will consider the indicators of a “Class That Matters” and reflect on whether their own learning environments foster safety, achievement, autonomy, compassion, and hope. They will leave with practical classroom strategies and a collection of resources to help build more inclusive, culturally responsive programs in their own schools and communities.
This workshop is an invitation to move beyond asking, “How do we teach students?” and begin asking, “What does each student need in order to thrive?” Through respect, recognition, and cultural connection, we can create learning spaces where every student has the courage to succeed.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Yolonda Skelton Jackson is a Gitxsan knowledge keeper, high school teacher, multidisciplinary artist, and fashion and costume designer from Vancouver, British Columbia. She brings deep cultural storytelling to the stage and screen through wearable narratives rooted in water protection, keystone species, and reconciliation healing—often using animal symbolism to expand relationships with land, memory, and responsibility.
With 21 years of education experience, Yolonda began her teaching journey as a teachers assistant, then went on to get her teachers certification to become a Special Education and classroom teacher. Her teaching started in Haida Gwaii SD50 where she was a Special Education/Classroom Teacher for 8 years, then Victoria SD62 she ran the First Nations Grad Program for 12 years, and her final year was a classroom teacher at Langley Fine Arts School Langley SD35. Throughout her teaching, she grounded learning in Dr. Martin Brokenlegs The Circle of Courage ethos and teaching practices—building belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity in every learner.
As a Girls Who LEAP knowledge keeper, Yolonda continues to mentor youth through culturally grounded leadership and transformation. Her keynote presence reflects vast experience as both educator and creative practitioner, offering educators practical inspiration for community-centered, strength-based learning that honors Indigenous ways of knowing and learning.
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