If you can pick one value a day and use that value, it helps you to live a good life and become a better person." -Roy Weasel Fat, Kainai, President of Red Crow College
The 11 Blackfoot Values
Attached below is a short description of the 11 Blackfoot values, in no particular order, my project has been focusing on. Ashley Hoisington, a University of Lethbridge pre-service teacher, took Don Shade's EDUC 4950: Kiipaitapisinnoni I & II course and wrote a reflection about each Blackfoot value and how they could be implemented into the classroom. I have recieved permission from Ashley to share her beautifully written reflection which explains these values! These values are all incredibly inter-related, which allows teachers to reference other values during an explicit lesson of one value! This can help students make meaningful connections between the values and also give students and teachers the opportunity to reference these values more consistently! Both Ashley and Don Shade have helped me realize the importance of Pommotsiiysinni, to transfer knowledge to others. Don was generous enough to explain each value to me in great detail and share the pronunciation of each value with me for my Grade 1/2 students to hear! Ashley was kind enough to allow me to share her written reflection about the Blackfoot values. I have also attached Ashley's website below! To be taken to her website, click the button below.
It is extremely important to note that as a non-Indigenous person I am also continuously learning about these values and learning the different ways to interpret them and teach them to students who are not Indigenous. As stated above, Don Shade has shared his knowledge and information about these values to me and I am continuously trying to understand them and learn different and appropriate ways to implement them into my daily practice personally and as an educator. These values are very sacred and my description of them should not be the only resource used when teaching them, as I am not an expert and am also still learning.