During my time as an intern at the Department of Evaluations at Facing History and Ourselves in spring 2021, I became interested in understanding more about the curriculum authors. I learned the organization’s Canada branch was an anomaly of sorts because they partnered directly with Indigenous people and co-created all of their curricular materials from pre-implementation to post-implementation. I wanted to know why the organization in Canada is particularly successful and why this isn’t replicated outside of the Canada office. I wondered if this type of partnership could be replicated in other spaces within the organization or even outside in the broader educational community where even more political actors come into play.

In May 2021, I was introduced to Jasmine Wong, senior programs associate, Facing History and Ourselves Canada. One of our conversations central to the development of this project came from a reflection of Jasmine, "Canada continues to grapple with the truth of our history and legacies of colonialism and racism, we want to understand how we can most powerfully inspire change in educators’ mindset, practice and students’ outcomes. While we have conducted exit surveys on various dimensions of the course we offer on the history and legacy of Residential Schools, we have yet to establish longitudinal data on important questions of our efficacy." This conversation sparked the idea to pursue how Facing History Canada can continue to uplift the voices of their educational partners and work in the line of justice - which includes both sovereignty and justice.

I met Andrew McConnell at the beginning of the summer need date where we discussed our personal values in relation to education. We got to know one another just by talking and understanding our own position in this type of work. He explained how the tribal people of Hodinoshoni and Toowoomba codified their agreement through a visual wampum belt - a beaded with two purple lines and against a white beaded background. This belt signified the concept of sharing, but also the idea of "staying in your own lane." We work towards a common goal but on different paths. This analogy was representative of Andrew and my relationship as an Indigenous man working to decolonize education spaces with me, a non-Indigenous woman reconciling with history. Andrew became a thought partner and confidant throughout the entire process and helped guide me with my interview questions and introduction to participants in my study.

My conversations continued with Jasmine and Andrew with regular check-ins throughout the process of my study formation. We discussed the sense of urgency this project had in light of the thousands of children’s remains that were found at shuttered residential schools recently. This discovery sparked worldwide attention and deep reflection across Canada. A lot of journaling also took place during this period. You can see my "field notes here." I thought a lot about my position within this project and what form my research would ultimately take. I did a lot of reading between the summer and fall of 2021, situating myself in stories and scholarship to understand best practices for methodology and inform my literature review. Before my interviews, I was required to get approval from the Institutional Review Board. I learned that funding for participants was a must so that I could provide honorariums for each of the people I interviewed. Creating the semi-structured interview questions and having pre-interview conversations was also an integral part of this pre-production process.

How can knowledge be democratized in teaching communities to (re)build a society where humanity is centered? My questions were divided into four categories:

1. Creation of Facing History and Ourselves Curricula

2. Co-Constructing, Co-Teaching, & Teamwork

3. Ideas of Justice, Individual & Communal Values

4. Justice & Facing History and Ourselves Canada

Many conversations with the community partners took place before they were interviewed. I introduced them to the questions and invited their feedback and edits. Once the interviews were held, they lasted anywhere from one to two hours. A lot of journaling took place throughout this process as transcriptions were made.

Throughout my thesis project, I kept a blush-colored journal with me which became a safe space to reflect and speak candidly. I feel a great emotional attachment to this project and have deep respect and admiration for the community partners I interviewed. While being in the world of academia taking courses, it is easy to stay in your head. Writing is a way to speak from the heart. I feel grateful and hopeful because of the people I have gotten to know throughout this process. I think a lot about my place leaving college; formal education seeing comfort in the informal education spaces and how this project has affirmed my passion for joining the education sector. My hope is that this site reaches at least one person. And that the lessons learned, the lessons I learned, can transcend limitations or inaccessibility when it comes to gaining teacher resources.

Research methodologies that create long-term partnerships are critical for this process as my initial research questions were co-constructed with relationships built over time with FH and educational partners. Due to the participatory nature of the project, I chose to utilize Community Based Research and Participatory Action Research methods. Both methodologies in a perfect would include the partners in every step of the project, participating in democratic decision making, however, this wasn’t feasible given the distance and other obligations such as work. While I was in regular consultation with Jasmine and Andrew, there were decisions I inevitably made on my own. The main decision was to curate the podcast videos and the website design and content. Another limitation is making sure I didn’t get out of scope. Due to the limited time, and being a full-time student, it was easy to deviate from the questions at hand.

Rather than a traditional paper using the framework of qualitative research to unpack the interviews, I chose to create a website. The primary reason was for accessibility. People inside and outside academia can access this website as a resource for their teaching and learning. The visitors have complete autonomy in choosing their viewing journey. The website was built from the ground up; choosing an easy layout and form that is user-friendly. I had never done this before. The key highlights of the site are the “people” tab that includes the community partners’ full interviews, and the conversations which operate as four audio episodes that are thematic: (In)Justice, Honoring Legacies and Indigenous Futurities, Introspection and Building Relationships and Trust.