Restitution as aboriginal worldview for elementary classrooms.

The author of this study designed and implemented lessons integrating Restitution (Gossen, 1992) and a locally developed curriculum of Indigenous stories to employ an Aboriginal worldview to support students' positive identity and self-management. The professional inquiry method merged the practical and the critical traditions of action research to improve teaching practices in response to a specific problem and to improve life conditions for a marginalized group. The inquiry had two stages: (a) curriculum design and (b) reflective implementation of the curriculum in a grade one and two classroom. The new curriculum and the author's reflections may be helpful to teachers who wish to incorporate an Aboriginal worldview in their own classrooms but lack the knowledge, confidence, or resources to do so. The author illustrated teachers' journeys from an emphasis on controlling students to supporting their self-management and toward finding confidence as an ally for Aboriginal people. --Leaf ii.