May 20, 2011 - The Department of Education, Culture and Employment, District Education Councils and Regional Aboriginal Governments will launch Dene Kede: Trails to Becoming CD-ROM on Tuesday evening, May 24, 2011. The disc is a teacher orientation tool for Northwest Territories’ (NWT) educators on the Dene Kede curricula and rolls out to all NWT schools in the fall.

“This new tool further prepares teachers for their role as culture-based educators and enhances the quality of teacher training on Dene Kede as the foundation of learning for students in the NWT,” says Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Jackson Lafferty. “In keeping with the 21st Century’s advancement of technology, we must adapt our teaching methods to ensure the survival of our languages, culture and identity.”

Based on the Dene Kede Kindergarten to Grade 6 curriculum, Dene Kede: Trails to Becoming follows the ‘Seven Steps to Dene Kede’ as outlined in the Teacher Resource Manual. This interactive approach is broken down into eight sections:
• The first four sections transport the user into the past, before contact with European explorers and settlers. Users assume the roles of children and journey on the land where they learn traditional Dene ways.
• The next three sections allow users to reflect on what they learned about Dene ways and apply it to teaching Dene Kede.
• The last section reviews Dene Kede and provides tools for thinking about Dene ways of knowing.

For more information, please contact:
Ashley Green
Public Affairs Officer
Education, Culture and Employment
Phone: (867) 920-3059