“A Place of Being”: Helping “students with exceptionalities” find their place using Indigenous ways of knowing.

Abstract

Throughout my teaching career, I have worked closely with students with exceptionalities and have observed, time and time again, the need for change within our special education system. My students often struggle academically and socially as they lack both a sense of self and sense of place. It is this lack of self and place that my students experience that has made me worked tirelessly to address this issue in both my classroom and as an academic. The purpose of this project is to highlight my learning process during a camp unit plan that I created for students with exceptionalities and its transformation from land to classroom. It is also about explaining how traditional Indigenous pedagogy can contribute to the special education field.