Indigenous Intervention in Education:
A Professional Learning Intensive

This Professional Learning Intensive is a hands-on, Indigenous-led course focused on how educators and facilitators design learning in real, constrained systems. Participants will work throughout the day, speak publicly about their practice, and engage in structured design activities. The session emphasizes making thinking visible, examining real examples from practice, and producing work that can be used beyond the room.

The day is structured to move participants from diagnosis to design. Rather than discussing Indigenous education in abstract terms, participants will actively build and test learning structures relevant to their own contexts.

Participants will leave with a completed learning artefact developed during the session, practical tools and language they can apply immediately, and a Certificate of Completion documenting five hours of professional learning.

This course is intended for educators, facilitators, and program designers working across Primary, Junior, Intermediate, and Senior contexts who are seeking applied Indigenous approaches grounded in responsibility and accountability.

Primary and Junior Focus

This portion of the professional learning intensive focuses on how Indigenous intervention in education operates in Primary and Junior learning environments through structure, responsibility, and design, not activities or content add-ons.

Participants will speak, work collaboratively, and design learning in real time.

Participants will:

Publicly articulate barriers they are facing in Primary or Junior contexts
Engage in collective analysis to identify shared structural constraints
Participate in a systems-mapping exercise that reframes classroom practice
Examine concrete exemplars drawn from Indigenous-led Primary and Junior work
Design a Primary or Junior lesson or learning structure during the session

All work is completed collaboratively and made visible during the day.

Participants will leave with:

At least one completed Primary or Junior lesson or learning artefact they can use or adapt immediately
Clear language for explaining Indigenous approaches to students, colleagues, and families
A practical understanding of where Indigenous intervention can occur in early years classrooms
A certificate of completion documenting five hours of professional learning

This section is designed for educators who want to move beyond awareness and into applied Indigenous practice in Primary and Junior settings, without simplifying the work or relying on symbolic inclusion.

Intermediate and Senior Focus

This portion of the professional learning intensive focuses on Indigenous intervention in Intermediate and Senior learning environments, where curriculum demands, assessment practices, and institutional pressure often limit how Indigenous approaches are applied.

This is not a lecture. Participants will speak, analyze, and design learning that addresses real secondary-level constraints.

Participants will:

Publicly articulate barriers they are facing in Intermediate or Senior contexts
Identify shared challenges related to curriculum, assessment, and institutional expectations
Participate in a systems-mapping exercise that reframes authority and responsibility in secondary classrooms
Examine concrete exemplars drawn from Indigenous-led Intermediate and Senior practice
Design an Intermediate or Senior lesson, unit component, or learning structure during the session

All work is completed collaboratively and made visible during the day.

Participants will leave with:

At least one completed Intermediate or Senior lesson, unit element, or learning artefact aligned with Indigenous responsibility and accountability
Language for addressing Indigenous education with students and colleagues without defaulting to performative or guilt-based approaches
A clearer understanding of how Indigenous intervention can operate within secondary curriculum and assessment structures
A certificate of completion documenting five hours of professional learning

This section is designed for educators who want practical ways to implement Indigenous approaches in secondary settings without diluting the work or avoiding institutional realities.

Meet the Facilitator

Sha’tekayèn:ton Brant is an Ontario Certified Teacher with over fifteen years of experience working across Indigenous education, land based learning, curriculum design, and professional learning.

He holds a Bachelor of Education through the Indigenous Teacher Education Program at Queen’s University and a Diploma in Kanyen’keha from Trent University. His work bridges Indigenous knowledge systems and provincial education structures, with a specific focus on accountability, instructional design, and practical implementation within real classroom and community contexts.

Sha’tekayèn:ton is the founder and director of One Dish Project, an Indigenous led grassroots organization working across education, theatre, media, food sovereignty, and land based programming. Through this work, he has designed and delivered land based learning experiences for youth in Ontario schools and in Prince Edward County, and has led community focused initiatives grounded in Indigenous governance, responsibility, and continuity.

He is also a local actor and the founding Producer and Artistic Director of Sewatokwà:tshera’ Theatre, where he is currently producing and directing Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth, a nationally recognized Indigenous play by Drew Hayden Taylor. His theatre work centres Indigenous stories, governance, and lived experience, and is produced in direct relationship with community rather than institutional abstraction.

His work extends beyond the classroom into cultural production and organizational leadership. He develops long form educational media through podcasting, operates Tow Row Coffee and Tea Company that supports Indigenous led work through One Dish Project, and has successfully secured and stewarded significant public and private funding in support of education and cultural initiatives.

Sha’tekayèn:ton brings lived experience, classroom practice, and systems level leadership into professional learning spaces. His facilitation is grounded in real constraints, applied design, and the expectation that learning results in work that holds beyond the room.

Details and Location

Address

Details

Canoe Landing Community Recreation Centre
45 Fort York Blvd
Toronto, Ontario M5V 3Y2

Five hours of in person professional learning
All session materials
A completed learning artefact developed during the session
A Certificate of Completion documenting five hours of professional learning

Payment is required in advance to confirm registration. Space is limited to ensure meaningful participation and collaborative work.

onedishproject@gmail.com

Indigenous Intervention in Education: A Professional Learning Intensive