| Oki, DDS staff spent time together on our last professional learning day, reflecting on our current school year and planning next steps. Using the Holistic Learning Framework, we celebrated the learning that we have all engaged in, in support of Truth and Reconciliation:
Spirit – To Be: DDS students and staff committed to deepening our understanding of and practice of Acknowledging the Land. These first steps were reflective of committing to a Call to Action that was a part of our way of learning and being together on a regular basis, and not something we do only on special occasions. We believe that each person needed to see themselves in this commitment, and for personal connection to be at the heart of our shared Call to Action.
Heart – To Belong: Learning and activities DDS engaged in to work towards achieving our TRC Commitment to Action included: - Staff sharing personal land acknowledgments and students writing their own connect statements about how they connect to the land, through Gratitude Journals, morning announcements and at gatherings
- Staff and students using the Holistic Learning Framework to deepen understanding of how our Spirit, Heart, Body and Mind are connected to our learning across all subject areas
- Classes engaged in Ridge Walks and Sharing Circles
- Inquiry into story and reciprocity through music, art, science, history, and literature
Body – To Do: This work has impacted our whole school community. Students’ shared language has transformed into a natural deepened understanding of what it feels like to connect to their Spirit, Heart, Body and Mind. Parents have shared stories where their children have expressed their connections at home using the same language. Staff are more aware of and purposeful in our shared intentions. This is evident within Google Classrooms, Gratitude Journals, shared stories and listening when DDS staff and students speak.
Mind – To Know: As we considered renewal of our Truth and Reconciliation and our Commitment to Action for the 2022-23 school year, our next step is to take up Call To Action #63, committing to building student capacity for intellectual understanding, empathy and mutual respect. We will do this through Indigenous Storywork, to educate our spirit, heart, mind and bodies. Stories will act as our windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors. We will continue to reflect through connect statements across the curriculum, use gratitude journals, join in circle, learning on and from the Land, as well as seek public and private stories we can learn in and through, to make meaning of and act in pursuit of Truth and Reconciliation.
We know we have much more to learn and do around The Truth and Reconcilation of Canada's Calls to Action. For 2022-23, we plan to: 
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