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This section is dedicated to the senior levels of Secondary school. The activities below are opportunities to be able to explore the Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen through their personal experience while connecting concepts of gratitude and responsibility to their own developments of land acknowledgement. Feel free to use one or all of the following activities using the guidance and teachings of two of our elders in the videos below.
This section is dedicated to the senior levels of Secondary school. The activities below are opportunities to be able to explore the Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen through their personal experience while connecting concepts of gratitude and responsibility to their own developments of land acknowledgement. Feel free to use one or all of the following activities using the guidance and teachings of two of our elders in the videos below.
Videos to Consider for Activities
Videos to Consider for Activities
Understanding Land and the Original Caretakers
Understanding Land and the Original Caretakers
The Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen is tailored very specifically to the territory with which the Haudenosaunee people have inhabitated. The plant and animal life are specific to the regions where we live. However, boundaries as we understand them in a western context didn't truly exist as can be explored in this map of traditional territories across Turtle Island and the world.
In order for us to be able to properly acknowledge the land we are now living on, it's important to first identify who's territory this once was.
Discussion Questions:
Who are the Indigenous people who once lived where I live, and where are they now?
Why do you think the territories changed, ended and blended in the ways they did prior to European influence?
What happens when people are displaced from the territory that they know? How does culture reflect environment for Indigenous peoples?
Tom Porter's 4 Directions Lessons
Tom Porter's 4 Directions Lessons
Tom Porter is one of our respected elders in the Kanienké:haka nation. He shares the teachings that he has heard growing up through many videos and even books to ensure that they continue to thrive and be passed on to our future generations. The video above gives a very beautiful understanding of Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen from his learning, and he also has worked to create these indepth lessons that can be used in our classrooms. AVAILABLE IN FRENCH AND ENGLISH.
Writing your own Land Acknowledgement
Writing your own Land Acknowledgement
Activity: Students can consider the following questions to be able to write their own land acknowledgements:
1) Who am I? Who are my relations and what parts of my identity are most important to me?
2) Who took care of the land before me? What can I learn about the Indigenous people whose territory I now live on?
3) What actions can I take/ do I already do to be accountable to the history of this land? What are important histories that everyone should know about and how do they shape my actions?
4) How am I responsible for the environment and the natural world around me? What are the things that I am most grateful for, and why is it important to sustain them?
Activity: Have students read and critique different land acknowledgements. Ask if they respond to the questions above and let us know who is giving the acknowledgement, whose land they're on now, how they are being accountable and responsible as the live, work and play on the land.
Activity: Compare and contrast land acknowledgements and the Ohénton Karihwatéhkwen; how are the similar and how are they different? Using the knowlege we gain from our elders, what can we learn from the teachings of the Ohénton Karihwatéhkwen in order to create our own forms of acknowledgement?
Art interpretations of Ohénton Karihwatéhkwen
Art interpretations of Ohénton Karihwatéhkwen
There are so many ways in which you can decide to honor each of the parts of the Ohénton Karihwatéhkwen visually. Art teachers are amazing at taking a concept and reimagining it in a visual way. So feel free to work with the pieces of this through various media.
An example that I absolutely cannot take any credit for is the example of making a quilt which teachers within the LBPSB have done in the past. There was even one donated to the Cultural Centre in my community, where I now attend school. I get to see it's beauty hanging on the wall every day when I walk in my classroom
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