Course:EDUC440/Media Resources/Pedagogical Approaches

Distant Voices, Thunder Words [60mins]
GR 72.3 D6 1990 - Okanagan Library

A documentary on Native American (and some African and Polynesian) storytelling traditions. Through interviews with Native American and African storytellers, poets, and writers, explores initiation into the calling of storyteller, the influence of story in the Native American sense of kinship and right relationship with nature, and compares and contrasts oral storytelling with the writing of poetry and novels.

Expressions of Aboriginal Youth [23mins]
E77 P43 2003[VHS] - Education Library

"Focusing on the visions and views of three emerging First Nations artists, this piece explores the role video is playing in helping Native youth tell their stories, recover their culture and develop their voices."

How People Got Fire [16mins]
E98 F6 H68 2009 - Education Library

How people got fire centres on Grandma Kay (based on elder Kitty Smith) and the connection she forges with the village children through the oral tradition of their culture. Twelve-year-old Tish is one of those children - an introspective, talented girl who feels particularly drawn to Grandma Kay's kitchen. Here, past and present blend, myth and reality meet, and the metaphor of fire infuses all in a location that lies at the heart of the community's spiritual and cultural memory.

Ilot Islet [7mins]
E99 E7 I38 2004[VHS] - Education Library

Inspired by his voyage in the Far North, Nicolas Brault combines stark images reminiscent of Inuit art with his own special whimsy to depict a world in which whales fall out of the sky and fish turn into balloons. An ode to the Arctic, which each year is disappearing a little farther into the ocean.

Indigenous Voice [24mins]
DVD YM S76 v.39 pt.3 2009 - Xwi7xwa Library

This final program in the series dives headfirst into the views of the Next Wave of Indigenous storytelling. Unlike stereotypical Canadian, these storytellers are unapologetic. They are primarily young and their experiences differ distinctly from the first wave of storytellers, many of whom addressed issues of colonization, dispossession of language and culture and land issues. These contemporary artists are primarily concerned with idenity. Their works will come to define whether the Indigenous voice can thrive as a distinct kind of cinema, or whether it will become another facet of mainstream movie making where we see The Next Wave subside at sea.

Inuit Games [24mins]
E99 E7 I5845 2006 - Education Library

Eric, a young athlete from Montreal, excels at soccer, hockey and cycling, but when he sets out for the Arctic to take part in the traditional Inuit Games, he discovers that his skills for kunckle-jumping and high-kicking are minimal. After a week of training in Kangiqsualujjuaq. Eric learns a lot more than Inuit sports. He brings back to Montreal a whole new perspective on life, sports and freindship.

Mi'kmaq Storyteller [24mins]
DVD YM S76 v.15 2008 - Xwi7xwa Library

When Catherine Martin began making films, she already had a long history of storytelling. After a short drama and documentary on Maliseet artist Shirley Bear, Martin directed The spirit of Annie Mae, examining the execution-style slaying of Nova Scotia's Annie Mae Pictou-Aquash in South Dakota in 1975.

Reds, Whites and the Blues [60mins]
E96.2 R42 2006 - Education Library
DVD ECA R66 R43 2006 - Xwi7xwa Library

Reporter Duncan McCue investigates why Native kids continue to fall behind in high school. Four teenagers, Kiki, Chelsey, Jordan and Marcus, live on the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, an urban Indian Reserve in the shadow of Vancouver. The odds of finishing high school are against them, even though they live in a middle class environment and attend a good school. Statistics show that only 4 out of 10 Native teenagers who live on Reserves complete their high school education."In this CBC Newsworld documentary, also known as Reading, Writing and the Rez, four teenagers take us to their white high schools and show us why most Native kids from reserves don't graduate." --CBC website

Our Ways, Our Children [15-20mins each]
LB1139.3 C2 O97 2000 v.4-6[VHS] - Education Library
VID ETA C453 U73 2000[VHS] - Xwi7xwa Library

v.4.: In this video, children and adults celebrate the music and dance traditions of their communities as well as enjoy contemporary music activities. v.5.: Elders and caregivers tell stories and use books - both purchased and homemade, to share the magic of storytelling with children. As well, children's emerging literacy is supported by their activity at writing centres and computers. v.6.: Shows children involved in a wide variety of open-ended art activities as well as learning some traditional art forms. The program also looks at how some centres have incorporated art into the environment, making it both beautiful and culturally relevant.

White Archer [50mins]
E99 E7 W44 2010 - Education Library

"An Inuit youth trains to become a great archer in hopes of avenging the killing of his family - but the First Nations attackers were punishing a previous Inuit wrongdoing. Who will end the cycle of violence?" ...Container