Page 11 - Exploring the Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession through Anishinaabe Art

ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS
They are the representation of water, the current and the flow of life.
In the Anishinaabe culture, there is a legend about a boy on the moon. An elderly woman conceived a son from a stranger. They lived in a wigwam. As the boy grew, the woman had strange dreams about her son and the light emanating from the moon. One evening in the wintertime, when the moon was full, the woman became very sick and developed a fever. The woman noticed that they were out of water and asked her son to fetch the water from the lake. As the boy prepared to go she told him not to stare at the moon. The boy questioned this. The mother told him that if he did, he would be dragged to the moon by its rays. He left to fetch the water with his pail and ladle, promising that he would not stare at the moon.
As he was making a hole in the ice for water, he couldn’t resist taking quick and frequent glances at the moon out of the corner of his eye, to see what would happen. Eventually, when he noticed that nothing was happening to him, he decided to stare at the moon for a long time.
Time passed and the boy did not return so the mother decided to search for him. She could see her son’s footprints leading to the lake and around the ice hole. The boy had simply disappeared. The mother looked at the moon and there she could see a figure of a boy standing on the moon holding a pail and a ladle. The Anishinaabe people see the boy holding his pail and ladle at every full moon. The boy on the moon, in the painting, is a reminder that all must respect the Anishinaabe teachings with complete honesty and truth. The students in the painting are learning the Anishinaabe teachings, and must practice these teachings with honesty and truth for a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
Professional Inquiry
1. Identify new insights and ethical understandings you gained from exploring this artist’s reflection related to Commitment to Students and Student Learning.
2. Explore the significance of the artist’s description of Anishinaabe teaching associated with the standard of practice, Commitment to Students and Student Learning, for your own professional practice.
3. Identify new insights and understandings gained about professional practice from engaging with the artist’s written descriptions of the standard and the associated Anishinaabe teaching.
EXPLORING THE STANDARDS OF PRACTICE FOR THE TEACHING PROFESSION THROUGH ANISHINAABE ART 5