In March of 2025, Elder Advisor for the Verdde Indigenous Education Network and UArctic Fellow Heather Angnatok and Co-Lead of the Verdde Indigenous Education Network and UArctic Chair in Indigenous and Northern Education Dr Sylvia Moore attended the Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2025 in Boulder, Colorado, and the Polar Educators International pre-conference works.
Spring Steering Committee Meeting
The Verdde steering committee met for its regular Spring meeting to discuss next steps for the thematic network in the coming academic year.
Final Duodji and Ilusivut as Indigenous Pedagogy Webinar with Roxanne Nochasak
We recently ran our final Duodji and Ilusivut (Arts and Crafts) as Indigenous Pedagogy Webinar on June 11th, leade by Indigenous educator and craftswoman Roxanne Nochasak from Northern Labrador. Roxanne shared her craft practice and how it has informed her work as a teacher and learning materials developer.
UArctic Assembly Meeting: networking
Co-leaders of the network Dr Sylvia Moore and Dr Marikaisa Laiti, as well as Elder Heather Angnatok attended the UArctic Assembly in Inari Finland this June (6-9), where they engaged in networking and brainstormed potential future collaborative work.
Verdde Steering Committee meeting
Dance as Indigenous Craft Education Symposium
Sean Asikłuk Topkok led an online seminar on teaching through dance as Indigenous craft education, the fourth in a series of online seminar embracing the spirit of learning through sharing and uplifting the voices of Indigenous educators.
The Indigenous Crafts of Beading and Weaving as Land-based Education
A beautiful presentation by educators Nancy Douglas and Shgen George on the cultural and environmental lessons drawn from the Indigenous crafts of beading and weaving. Based in South East Alaska, the pair shared how they incorporate their craft practices with their families and students to engage younger generations in their cultural knowledges and rituals, particularly in regard to engaging with moiety regalia. Shgen and Nancy paid further attention to how gathering and processing the raw materials is an integral part of the learning process and is where much of the cultural learning is located.
Verdde Indigenous Craft as Pedagogy Project review
This session allowed participating Verdde TN members to reflect on the current status of Verdde's current major research project exploring the value of Indigenous craft as an educational pedagogy.
Visiting lecturer from University of Alaska Fairbanks to Sámi allaskuvla
PhD student Amy Topkok from University of Alaska Fairbanks visited Sámi allaskuvla as a visiting lecturer for one week. This was part of the TN mobility program. She gave several lectures and had meetings with academic colleagues both at Sámi allaskuvla as well as at Sámi high school and reindeer husbandry school. At Sámi allaskuvla, Amy Topkok lectured for Sámi ECE students, duodji/handcraft students as well as for all Sámi allaskuvla staff.
