Notes:
Many adults with personal problems have a need to heal from hurtful past or present experiences. Learners may use terms such as “healing journey,” “healing path,” “healing the inner child,” or “facing the past” to explain cultural approaches to this process. Perspectives on healing encompass mind, spirit, body, and heart. Aboriginal people on healing journeys learn to recognize the historical roots of their feelings of cultural loss and negative identity, to embrace their cultural differences and to share this knowledge with others, to take responsibility for their own mental and physical behaviours, and to develop positive behaviours that nurture healthy relationships with family, friends, and other community members. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal practitioners and learners can learn to apply these holistic principles to their own lives and learning challenges. Aboriginal learners may also be willing to share stories of their healing journeys in their learning activities and portfolios. More information about these healing practices may be found in the Saskatchewan’s Level Three Social Sciences Curriculum Guide. + (available from Advanced Education and Employment - see the Annotated Bibliography in Appendix G)
Of the many different strategies and approaches that can be used in instruction, theme-based learning most clearly addresses learners’ needs for personal relevance and problem-solving. In theme-based learning, specific sub-tasks are identified that need to be accomplished in order to proceed to the desired outcome. Theme-based learning limits the overwhelming amount of learning that needs to take place, and puts it into manageable chunks to work on for a common goal. It helps in skills integration because learners see how all skills fit together and overlap.
Theme-based planning means organizing lessons around the general idea or theme that learners identify as being most important.
Themes identified will represent all avenues of the learners’ lives and can potentially correspond to a variety of social, cultural, political, and economic issues that learners experience. There is no end to the possibilities that can emerge. Getting a job, family responsibilities, abusive relationships, childcare, and dealing with government agencies are just a few examples of themes that could be generated by adult learners. (Saskatchewan Learning, 2004, pp. 92-93)