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• Inclusive Classrooms

  September 18, 2019 6:00 AM Comments Off on Inclusive Classrooms

  We can all agree that the classroom should be a place where students feel included and equal, so how can you approach disability and inclusivity in your classroom? Read on for some useful strategies to ensure all your students feel included.

  Emily, a young adult from Richmond, B.C., looks back on her high school sewing class with relief that it’s over—not because she didn’t like sewing, but because she wasn’t allowed to. Despite being ready, willing, and able, her teacher told her that she couldn’t because she was in a wheelchair. This caused confusion for Emily and her friends “My legs are disabled, not my hands,” she says. Cooking class took on a similar form. While she was perfectly capable of putting on an apron herself, her teacher insisted on doing it for her.

  We can all agree that the classroom should be a place where students feel included and equal, so how do we equip ourselves to avoid situations like the above? And how should you approach disability and inclusivity in your classroom? Below are some useful strategies to ensure all your students feel included.

  Don’t assume

  The mistake that Emily’s home economics teachers made was that they believed they knew her abilities better than she did. It’s important to trust that your student knows their limitations, or if a younger student, their parents do. Let them gauge where they’re comfortable rather than prescribing what they can or cannot do.

  Ask what their needs are

  If you have a student in your class with a disability, come up with a list of questions at the beginning of the year to help you understand their specific needs. This will help determine if your lessons will be inclusive or not, and give you ample time to adapt your lessons to their requirements. And make sure it is an ongoing conversation.

  “Adapting lessons day to day, and even minute to minute, is crucial to meeting the needs of all students in the inclusive classroom,” says Aja Coe, a Grade 7 Social Studies and Language Arts teacher with Rocky View Schools in Alberta. Coe is a contributor to Flexible Pathways to Success – a project that identified factors that contributed to the implementation of technology in classrooms to support students with diverse cognitive abilities. “It is important to level the playing field by removing barriers so every student has the opportunity to be successful and gain confidence at school,” she adds.

  Equal treatment when possible

  Emily’s woodworking teacher provided excellent support. He not only had a conversation with her after class about her abilities, he also went through each woodworking machine to see if she could use it and made sure they could adjust it to her needs.

  There were many times in other classes that Emily would receive no penalty for handing something in late. While dodging late marks is the dream of many students, Emily just wanted to have the same rules and consequences as her classmates. In woodworking, Emily had to do all the assignments just like everyone else, and she would receive late marks if a project was past the due date.

  Any student, regardless of physical ability, may require adjustments to their assignments, but having a disability doesn’t automatically make this so. “I do a lot of reading and writing pre-assessments at the beginning of the year so I have a clear understanding of each student’s individual strengths, as well as the areas of growth,” says Coe. “These assessments help inform my instruction so I can ensure I am teaching to each student’ individual needs, regardless of whether they are at, below, or above grade level.”

  Do a resource audit

  We’re all familiar with the educational videos available to warn students against unsafe work conditions or impaired driving. Many of them are comically outdated, with bad effects to boot. While an 80s soundtrack is harmless, older resources could be sending the wrong message.

  Emily had to watch a video like this in one of her classes. In the main story, a victim of a driving accident was injured, leaving them to rely on a wheelchair to get around. The video portrayed using a wheelchair as the worst thing that could happen to you. Many people who use wheelchairs don’t feel this way, and messages such as this can create unwanted pity.

  Whether you have a child with a disability in your class or not, it is important to take stock of your resources before the school year commences. If resources are portraying people with disabilities as the “other,” this will further alienate students who may already feel different.

  Tools for teaching inclusion

  While you don’t want to single out an individual student, having discussions and lessons about disability, inclusivity, and equality can help foster a more compassionate and inclusive environment.

  The Rick Hansen Foundation School Program (RHFSP) is a great place to start when it comes to incorporating these conversations into your lesson plans. All resources are available for free in both French and English, with age-appropriate lesson plans for Kindergarten to grade 12. Each toolkit has a variety of lessons and activities to get your students thinking about inclusion, and each one is designed by educators and align to provincial curriculum.

  It’s a learning process

  An openness to tailoring lessons, changing the layout of your classroom, and ongoing conversations will ensure your classroom environment includes all students and ensures their success. And don’t forget you’re not alone: there are endless resources out there to support you as you foster compassionate behaviour and leadership among your students.

  Register with RHFSP to become a part of a Canada-wide community of educators committed to inclusive teaching, and download the latest resources today.

   

  Universal Design for Learning: Quick tips

  There are many simple things you can do to ensure the physical features of your classrooms and resources support students of all abilities. Here is a sample of tips from RHFSP’s Teaching Strategies for the Inclusive Classroom Toolkit. To download the full toolkit, visit RickHansen.com/Schools

  Teaching Students Who Are Deaf

  • Support verbal instructions with print and/or visual aids.
  • Provide lesson materials, such as vocabulary lists, in advance.

  Teaching Students Who Are Blind

  • During discussions practice having speakers identify themselves. Address students by name so a student who is blind knows who is speaking.
  • Understand orientation and mobility needs for navigating the classroom and common rooms.

  Teaching Students Who Have a Physical Disability

  • Provide enough space for a wheelchair between desks and tables and ensure there is enough room for knee clearance under tables and desks.
  • Ensure resources are visible and within reach. For example, books, school materials, coat hooks and cubbies should be no higher than 103.6 cm.

   

  First published in Education Canada, September 2019

  Image: iStock

• Cultivating Community

  6:00 AM Comments Off on Cultivating Community

  When two First Nations visual artists collaborated with students to design and paint three mural-sized banners, they portrayed a journey rich with history, tradition, and courage, and fostered profound story-sharing and dialoguing.

  For three days in November, my classroom was transformed into an artist’s studio. Three 11′ x 3′ blank canvas banners hung from the ceiling along the back wall. Chairs and desks were arranged in a wide circle around the perimeter of the classroom, and up along the blackboard perched a rainbow of acrylic paint jars awaiting the stroke of a brush. Soon, these banners would be painted by 55 Grade 11 students and two local First Nations artists in a collaborative art project that would portray a journey rich with history, tradition, and courage, and would foster profound story-sharing and dialoguing.

  In my recent years teaching the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Studies courses at James Cardinal McGuigan (JCM) high school in Toronto, I have reflected upon the question: How do I take on the responsibility of making space for Indigenous voices and get my students to engage meaningfully in a primarily non-Indigenous, Catholic, multicultural classroom? This was the challenge I set for myself as a settler-educator, recognizing the importance of my positionality and accountability in the context of Reconciliation. I wanted to develop a positive and inclusive activity that would both amplify Indigenous voices and enable my students to have an authentic, respectful, in-person dialogue with Indigenous people while contributing to a larger project.

  Gathering both qualitative and quantitative data to assess students’ learning and transformation was one of the goals of this project, so they completed a survey before we started the art project and a second one afterwards. The results were encouraging: to this day, students describe this learning experience as one where they were able to “learn from two perspectives instead of one.” One eager participant attested, “We can learn from people who have a better understanding of current issues and take part in creating a better community.”

  Preparation

  After reading about collaborative mural painting initiatives in various school boards and universities across Ontario, I was inspired to facilitate one at my school. Research indicates that an extraordinary experience with art enables educators and participants to examine multiple, shifting meanings of culture and communities.¹ I decided on a banner project because banners (more so than murals) are easy to move around and rotate between different locations in the school for students and guests to appreciate.

  Acquiring funding from the Ontario Ministry of Education was essential, so I applied for a Teacher Learning and Leadership grant and received the necessary capital to commission this art project. I want to thank my school’s administration, office staff, and art department for their pivotal involvement and support throughout the project.

  Inspired by an article titled “New Mural: A first step toward reconciliation for Indigenous youth,”² I invited the artists Chief Lady Bird and Aura to come share their culture, history, and perspectives with the students, and to collaborate with them on an artistic piece that could be showcased for years to come. Chief Lady Bird is Chippewa and Potawatomi from Rama and Moose Deer Point First Nations, and her sister, Aura, is Haudenosaunee Onyota’a:ka (Oneida Nation of the Thames). I taught my students greetings in Anishinaabek and Oneida, and posted them on our classroom door to make the artists feel welcomed and acknowledged.

  My students had been learning about Indigenous histories, identities and cultural ways of knowing, and I reviewed the specific themes we had examined in class with the artists beforehand so that we could connect them to the project.

  In the pre-project survey, the students’ ratings of their level of knowledge about Indigenous teachings (e.g. Medicine Wheel, The Seven Grandfather Teachings) was split evenly between feeling moderately, fairly, and highly knowledgeable. Some students felt a bit daunted by the task of collaborating with Indigenous people on an art project, but most were comfortable or even looking forward to it.

  Collaboration

  After the land acknowledgement, the artists began by introducing themselves in their languages and sharing with the students their backgrounds, the importance of reclaiming their languages, and their work with young people of all backgrounds in communal spaces to promote mutual respect, care, and knowledge-sharing.

  They explored many themes with the students through the artwork, including: Creation Stories, Ceremony & Medicines, Water is Life, Intergenerational Healing, Heart Work & Heart Berries, and the Saskatchewan Lily.

  One student said, “Art helps me understand Indigenous concepts because it is where the artists share and express their rich heritage and stories.”

  Over three days, I witnessed immense growth in my students. Each had a chance to contribute to the painting – either by picking up a brush, suggesting an image to add or a colour to use. They produced three beautiful banners depicting a Grandmother in traditional dress, illuminated by a full moon; a powerful, resilient female beneath a traditional fish fence, encircled by the Fish Totem; and a young, hopeful girl, looking ahead, firmly rooted to her ancestry and to her Creation story. The three figures stand connected to one another in a symbiotic relationship.

  Furthermore, the inquiry that came out of this project was noteworthy. Students asked the artists questions about the symbolic images (e.g. the meaning of the red dress worn by the girl, or the significance of the water being passed on through generations). This spurred further student engagement in the form of independent research, or connecting these meanings to texts studied in class. For one lucky group, this experience inspired a cross-cultural youth exchange with Thunderchild First Nation in Saskatchewan in May 2019, to further strengthen their own cultural competence.

  One of the main messages communicated through this banner is “We are here.” It is imperative for all of us to share this message, and to hold space for the often under-represented voices in our society.

  When asked why she does this work, Aura stated, “For me it’s about sharing who I am, learning with the youth and creating spaces for them to share who they are too. I believe collaborating between cultures and communities builds unity.” She affirmed the importance of creating positive work in the school system, and her critical role as a facilitator who is “in these spaces sharing my own truth. It is really impactful.”

  Chief Lady Bird said that her goal is to “create a safer, kinder, more loving environment that captures the spirit of people, the true spirit of our teachings.” While working with youth, she added, she is “honouring the creative process of everyone. We don’t do things in one cookie-cutter way – we just let it flow; there’s not a lot of room for that in many institutions, so we disrupt with kindness.”

  Learnings

  In the post-project survey, 82 percent of students rated the experience as being either highly or fairly meaningful and engaging. In terms of lessons learned, 82 percent said they had learned about relationship building and 68 percent felt more knowledgeable about Reconciliation. All students found that this activity enabled them to learn more about Indigenous stories and traditional teachings.

  One student said, “The best thing about this experience was the opportunity to collaborate with the First Nations artists and share moments with them and learn about them and their backgrounds.”

  Another student – who, thanks to this project, now self-identifies as part Mi’kmaq – found a sense of belonging and acquired greater knowledge of her history. She observed, “It is important for us to take part in a collaborative art project with First Nations artists because it is important for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to show that they can work together and move forward from what happened in the past.”

  This work contributes to a growing body of work on “teacher-allyship”³ and aims to inform teachers who seek respectful and relevant ways of incorporating Indigenous approaches into their pedagogies. I encourage teachers to explore the plethora of Indigenous-written and -produced resources available to them for K–post-secondary, and to be in touch with their school board liaisons; I am grateful to the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s department of Indigenous Education for their support throughout my journey.

  This project also is anchored in inter-cultural understanding and respect for alternative ways of knowing. By inviting artists from marginalized groups to share their knowledge and talents with students, we give voice to often-silenced speakers, lend greater legitimacy to the curriculum, and offer students and teachers opportunities for genuine discourse and practice regarding art, creativity, and social transformation.

  Conclusion

  We came such a long way in just three days. The transformations and mutual sharing that we experienced in that “artist’s studio” were remarkable, equally for the students, the artists, and myself as a settler-educator. The experience invited students to become culturally conscious in an authentic, respectful and engaging way, to understand the concept of reciprocity, to celebrate unity, and to look at storytelling through an artistic medium. Not only do these banners represent Indigenous narratives, but they tell a living story: one of history, reclamation, and relationship.

  We hope that all students feel invited to tell their own stories of identity, and understand how much their heritage plays a pivotal role in shaping who they are. I hope this important work will inspire, educate, and transform educational communities across Turtle Island.

   

  Photo: courtesy Laryssa Gorecki

  First published in Education Canada, September 2019

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  Notes

  1 M. Greene, Releasing the Imagination: Essay on education, the arts, and social change (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1995).

  2 Justin Skinner, “New Mural: A first step toward reconciliation for Indigenous youth,” Toronto.com (Aug. 28, 2017).

  3 Pamela Rose Toulouse, “K-12 Truth and Reconciliation: Becoming a teacher ally,” Education Canada 58, No. 2 (2018). www.edcan.ca/articles/truth-reconciliation-k-12

• Teaching with (and not about) students’ diverse cultures

  6:00 AM Comments Off on Teaching with (and not about) students’ diverse cultures

  In reference to the article (Trans-multi)culturally Responsive Education: A critical framework for responding to student diversity

  By Dr. Latika Raisinghani

  ASK OUR EXPERTS (5 MINUTES)

  AIM: TO ENCOURAGE INTERACTION WITH RESEARCHERS

  Does your group still have burning questions or comments? Encourage them to send their questions to Dr. Latika Raisinghani, lead author for this article.

  Or, send us your message and we’ll make sure one of our experts gets in touch.

  Find more resources about well at work

• (Trans-multi)culturally Responsive Education

  6:00 AM Comments Off on (Trans-multi)culturally Responsive Education

  A (trans-multi)culturally responsive education calls for beginning with what the students have, including their cultural ways of knowing, the diversity of their learning experiences, and their self-identified cultural identities. It asks teachers to (re)think: What do we need to “undo” and “unlearn” to (re)create curriculum that is responsive to the multiple needs of today’s diverse students?

  “It’s students’ cultural diversity that makes it enjoyable to teach. I can’t imagine teaching in a monocultural classroom… cultural diversity is a gift.”

  Canadian teachers in general recognize and value student diversity. Then why, in many Canadian classrooms, do culturally diverse students find themselves “lacking” and “lagging behind”? Why is there a dissatisfaction among parents that schools are not effectively tapping into the potential of their children? For example, a teacher in my recently completed doctoral research shared: “The parents of certain cultural backgrounds complain that I am teaching ‘baby math’ and that their children can do a higher math. I tell them that I am teaching a Canadian curriculum in Canadian style!” Another teacher justified her teaching by claiming: “It makes sense that if they [culturally diverse students] have come to Canada, they need to adapt to our Canadian style of teaching.” Yet another teacher, who felt that only a third of students understand what is being taught in their urban Canadian classroom, confessed: “Sometimes, I wish that I had all Canadian children in my classroom.”

  Looking at these statements, one may wonder, what do we mean by a “Canadian style” of teaching in a contemporary, diversity-rich classroom of Canada – a country that takes pride in its multicultural national identity? Who are the students in these classrooms? What do we mean when we wish for a classroom with all “Canadian children”? What could be a curriculum of initiation for these “Canadian children” who are increasingly becoming more and more diverse – culturally, ethnically, linguistically, religiously, geographically, and also in terms of gender(ed) sexual identities, exceptionalities or dis/abilities? No teacher enters in a classroom with the intentions of making learning difficult or incomprehensible for their students. So, why do teachers in these Canadian classrooms continue to teach in a prescribed style of teaching that is trapped within the boundaries of official curricula?

  The Canadian context

  Contemporary Canadian classrooms mirror the growing cultural diversity that is inherent in every aspect of Canadian life. Recent population projections suggest that immigrants, embracing the diversity of more than 200 ethnic origins, will account for 25-30 percent of Canada’s population by the year 2036.¹ The Indigenous populations of the country add to this cultural diversity. This exponential increase in the number of students that have come from diverse cultural backgrounds makes multicultural education an essential requirement in contemporary Canadian classrooms.

  In the Canadian Teachers’ Federation’s 2012 national teacher survey, the teachers identified student diversity as one of the greatest challenges.² This concern was reaffirmed by the ten K-12 participating teachers of my doctoral research, who were teaching in public schools in a large urban city in Western Canada. These teachers felt that cultural diversity makes it hard for them to reach their students.

  One may take pride in the fact that Canada was the first country that recognized the multicultural nature of its population by establishing a national Multicultural Policy. Since the inception of this policy in 1971, education has been considered the key to address the challenges posed by various dimensions of cultural diversity.³ However, lack of federal control and multiple interpretations of multiculturalism and cultural diversity in various Canadian provinces has resulted in a mosaic fabric of multicultural education that is fragmented and incomplete.⁴

  Often culturally diverse students feel uprooted and unwanted, as their cultural ways of knowing remain unacknowledged and their voices unheard in many Canadian classrooms. Despite claims of multiculturalizing education, the contemporary education system in Canada still privileges Eurocentric, masculine, “white” modes of knowledge as the norm, which only widens the achievement gap for diverse students. Although school policies speak of valuing diversity, the realities of classrooms are often limited to mere “celebration” of cultural ways of knowing in the form of 4Ds: Dance, Dialect, Diet and Dress. Can Canadian teachers, who themselves constantly feel challenged by the growing student diversity, be blamed? How could we change this inequitable landscape of Canadian education, which continues to label “difference” with a deficit-based perspective? Whose responsibility is it?

  Education is a collective responsibility. We may hope for a top-down change at the policy level. However, rather than waiting for others, we may begin with ourselves, and think how as educators, we might empower ourselves and our diverse students. One way to do so is by inviting education that is (trans-multi)culturally responsive.

  What is (trans-multi)culturally responsive education?

  A (trans-multi)culturally responsive education critically examines current practices of multicultural education to unravel the inequities that are embedded in everyday modes of schooling. Guided by critical and transformational multicultural education perspectives⁵ and Gay’s notion of culturally responsive teaching,⁶ this education invites teachers to inquire into their own teaching practices and transform these by espousing culturally responsive teaching. Figure 1 illustrates this education framework.

  

  Inviting us to embrace culture as a way of life and cultural diversity as an encompassing aspect of life, a (trans-multi)culturally responsive education calls for beginning with what the students have: their prior knowledges, which may include their cultural ways of knowing, the diversity of their learning experiences, and their self-identified cultural identities. It asks teachers to (re)think: What do we need to “undo” and “unlearn” to (re)create curriculum that is responsive to the multiple needs of today’s diverse students? How might we bring education that educates the heart, mind, body and spirit?⁷

  Envisioning Canadian multiculturalism as jazz,⁸ where diverse cultural groups’ unique rhythms are recognized as they all come together to create music, this (trans-multi)culturally responsive education invites teachers to think about their students’ culture and cultural identities as continually evolving. Considering the harmony that is crucial to play jazz, it encourages teachers to design their classrooms as (trans-multi)culturally responsive cultural spaces where “difference” among their culturally diverse students is not only tolerated, accepted or respected but valued with affirmation, solidarity and critique.⁹

  Embracing anti-racist, equity pedagogy at its core, this education encourages teachers to become change agents – the cultural brokers and cross-cultural counsellors who are continually working toward dismantling systemic prejudices and establishing an empowering school culture by initiating transcultural dialogues and teaching all students codes of power.¹⁰ To translate all these understandings into a reality, it urges teachers to become (trans-multi)culturally responsive educators.

  Becoming (trans-multi)culturally responsive educators

  Becoming a (trans-multi)culturally responsive educator is an ideological and pedagogical commitment that requires a teacher to first become a (trans-multi)culturally responsive person. There are three main components to this process:

  1. Embrace comprehensive understandings of culture and cultural diversity and acknowledge our identity as (trans-multi)cultural human beings. It is essential to acknowledge that culture is a dynamic way of life. Comprised of consciously and unconsciously learned patterns of verbal and non-verbal behaviours, language, values, beliefs, modes of thinking, norms, and socio-political elements of identity, culture continually evolves throughout our lives. It simultaneously constructs us and is constructed by temporal politics and distributions of social power in society. Moreover, each one of us holds multiple cultural identities as we socialize differently into various modes of life. A (trans-multi)culturally responsive education invites us to transcend our individualized cultural identities to relate with each other as (trans-multi)cultural members of one human kin. Hence, when talking about cultural diversity, teachers need to understand that culture does not simply mean differences based on race, ethnicity, nationality or any other fixed identifications, but includes all dynamic cultural experiences that students bring into school.

  2. Educate the (w)hole child intellectually, emotionally, socially, and politically by building a community of learners: By utilizing 6Cs: choice, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity and care, teachers can create welcoming, safe and inclusive classroom environments that support (w)holistic learning of all students. Drawing upon Indigenous ways of knowing, they can foster relational connectedness and affirming attitudes, which value cultural differences as potential resources rather than hurdles in learning. By differentiating their instruction and assessments, the teachers can give students choices to learn through multiple sensory modes. To empower students in collaborative co-construction of knowledge, they can begin by strengthening their own and students’ cultural knowledge base. They may do so by inviting students, parents and community members to share their cultural ways of knowing. Thus, by integrating both historical and contemporary cultural resources into classroom learning experiences, teachers can promote creativity, inter-generational learning and cross-cultural communication. They can develop critical thinking and cultural consciousness by deliberately engaging students in transcultural dialogues, which could enable students to critically analyze the information presented and see and understand the differences in their own and other people’s cultures in a respectful, relational manner. In all these processes of learning, it is crucial that teachers embody authentic caring,¹¹ which emphasizes treating others how they wish to be treated, not how we would like to be treated in a similar situation (i.e. realizing that we cannot truly “put ourselves in another’s shoes”).

  3. Engage in critical self-reflective inquiries and complicated conversations to co-construct (trans-multi)culturally responsive curricula: Guided by the method of currere,¹² teachers can engage in critical self-reflective inquiry about their own biases and prejudices. They can examine how their pre-held assumptions about specific subjects and students’ diversity might lead them to hold misconceptions and take prejudiced actions towards diverse students. For example, often teachers consider science and math as culture-free, neutral subjects. They may also have stereotypical understandings about student diversity such as: All students of a particular culture are good in math. Beginning with themselves as reflective practitioners, teachers can work toward identifying and dismantling the systemic inequities embedded in contemporary modes of schooling. They can initiate complicated conversations to: 1) interrogate what cultural knowledges are missing in the curriculum that is being taught, 2) identify what is being taught as hidden curriculum (such as through bulletin boards, posters and textbooks), and 3) utilize this information to co-construct curricula that is (trans-multi)culturally responsive.

  Some examples of (trans-multi)culturally responsive education

  How can teachers enact these theoretical understandings with(in) moments of teaching and learning? (Trans-multi)culturally responsive education requires teachers to reflect on their own intentions of teaching and constantly inquire into their pedagogical actions and see how these might have contributed to either perpetuating or preventing the systemic inequities. One such inequity emerged during my doctoral research. The participating teachers claimed that they see their students only as “individuals” and treat all students the “same.” They took pride in acknowledging that that they do not consider students’ culture while teaching.

  By contrast, a (trans-multi)culturally responsive educator is cognizant of the fact that seeing students only as “individuals” does not acknowledge their cultural backgrounds. In their efforts to treat all students, the “same,” the teachers may actually perpetuate systemic discrimination by ignoring the difference. For example, when certain female students expressed their discomfort in learning about sexually transmitted diseases and artificial reproductive technologies in a whole-class, mixed-gender Grade 10 setting, the teacher in this case, justified their teaching approach as per the “Canadian curriculum” and with the insistence that they treat all students the “same” as “this is Canada” where most students are fine with discussing such topics.

  Many may agree with this teacher’s views, but a (trans-multi)culturally responsive education invites teachers to think and act differently: Would it hurt to consider seeking students’ opinion in advance and to involve them in making certain classroom decisions, such as giving them choices and autonomy to learn about certain topics in individual or group settings? Rather than expecting all students to participate in whole-class discussions and respond to questions verbally, which they may find discomfiting, teachers may consider using online platforms for discussing and assessing students’ learning of these topics. They may also collaborate with community organizations to create opportunities for students to engage with people in a community context and learn these sensitive topics in an authentic, cross-cultural manner.

  Differences in students’ socio-economic status (SES) is another characteristic that teachers often do not consider. Again, one may see it as a positive thing. But the issue of ignoring the SES of students becomes problematic when it creates social hierarchies and causes stigma among certain students. For example, it is still a customary practice in many Canadian public schools to send and collect hot lunch and field trip forms through students. Are the teachers aware that students can read their forms and that those whose parents have checked the option requesting financial help, may perceive themselves as inferior compared to the students who are able to pay full cost? This stigma may affect these students’ participation and engagement in learning. Some schools have established online systems where parents can make direct payments. However, the problem persists when teachers give reminders by announcing the names of students who have not paid and/or brought these forms back. This is a structural issue within the school system, and the teachers may not want to communicate with parents about payments or permission slips individually, but they may begin the conversation within their schools and ask: Could there be a way of approaching these parents directly?

  Teacher expectations of parental participation in parent-teacher conferences and volunteering may also put certain students on the margins. One may not admit it directly, but often the students whose parents are able to show up for these conferences and volunteer at the school, are regarded with much appreciation by the teachers and school administrators. These students are also reported to have higher self-esteem compared to students whose parents are not able to make it to these events. The teachers may just deal with the matter at the superficial level by sending occasional invitations to these “absent” parents or they may take the challenge to reach out to them on a routine basis. It may sound daunting, but a (trans-multi)culturally responsive education encourages teachers to develop their understandings of different family structures and the diversity of responsibilities that students and their parents may have. It encourages teachers to establish connections with their students and their families, beyond the boundaries of their classrooms. One way to begin might be to hold individual conferences with two or three students each week and to communicate with their families in person or through emails, rotating as needed. Teachers may also approach their school’s multicultural worker and/or parent-teacher association to establish a group where parents of diverse cultural groups may support each other in meeting the needs of their children.

  The bottom line is that to reach each and every student in a (trans-multi)culturally responsive manner, it is crucial that teachers make every effort to grow personally, professionally and communally and learn with (and not about) the diverse cultures that they may have in their contemporary diversity-rich classrooms. Further, rather than merely teaching the “prescribed curriculum,” teachers need to engage in a critical self-reflective inquiry by asking: What is missing and/or hidden in the curriculum that we teach in our schools? Why do we need to teach and learn particular concepts? Whose knowledge are we privileging and why? How could we bring diverse cultural knowledges into our contemporary diversity-rich classrooms and co-create knowledge that is (trans-multi)culturally responsive?

  Thus, (trans-multi)culturally responsive education is a way of being that involves teaching, learning and living as a (trans-multi)culturally responsive educator. By doing so, we can greet each and every student’s voice with 6 Rs: respect, relevance, reciprocity, responsibility, relationality and reverence for diverse cultures!

   

  Photo: iStock

  First published in Education Canada, September 2019

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  Notes

  1 J. Morency, É. C. Malenfant, and S. MacIsaac, Immigration and Diversity: Population projections for Canada and its regions, 2011 to 2036. (Catalogue no. 91-551-X, Minister of Industry, Statistics Canada: January 25, 2017).

  2 B. McGahey, “National teacher survey shows diversity as a key challenge in Canadian classrooms,” (news release, Canadian Teachers’ Federation: Jan. 31, 2012). www.ctf-fce.ca/en/news/Pages/default.aspx?newsid=1983984744&year=2012

  3 R. Joshee, C. Peck, L. A. Thompson, et al., (2016). “Multicultural Education, Diversity, and Citizenship in Canada,” in J. Lo Bianco, & A. Bal (Eds.), Learning from Difference: Comparative accounts of multicultural education (Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2016), 35-50.

  4 R. Ghosh and A. A. Abdi, Education and the Politics of Difference: Select Canadian perspectives (Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc., 2013).

  5 J. A. Banks and C. A. M. Banks, Multicultural Education: Issues and perspectives (Hoboken, NJ: 2010); A. Keating, Teaching Transformation: Transcultural classroom dialogues (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007); S. Nieto, Affirming Diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education (New York: Longman, 2000).

  6 G. Gay, Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, research, and practice (2nd edition) (New York: Teachers College, 2010.)

  7 J. Archibald, Indigenous Storywork: Educating the heart, mind, body and spirit (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2008).

  8 G. Ladson-Billings, New Directions in Multicultural Education: Complexities, boundaries, and critical race theory, in J. A. Banks and C. A. M. Banks (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004), 50-65.

  9 Nieto, Affirming Diversity.

  10 Banks and Banks, Multicultural Education; Gay, Culturally Responsive Teaching; Keating, Teaching Transformation.

  11 N. Noddings, “The Language of Care Ethics,” Knowledge Quest 40, no. 5 (2012): 52-56.

  12 W. F. Pinar, The Method of “Currere” (paper presented at the Annual meeting of the American Research Association, Washington, D. C.: April 1975).

• Going Green in K-12 Education

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  Schools can play a crucial role in fostering environmental citizenship among students, but also in mitigating their own substantial carbon footprint.

  Imagine a world where the highest paid job is salvaging treasures from once coastal cities now submerged beneath the expanding oceans. No, this isn’t a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie. It’s one of many possible futures our planet faces if we don’t take serious action on climate change.

  There’s simply no denying it. Poll after poll has shown that Canadians are increasingly concerned about climate change. This is especially true among young Canadians.

  Inspired by passionate young activists like 16-year-old Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg and the #FridaysForFuture movement, our youth are eager to see substantial action on climate change in their daily lives – including at school. The average student will spend at least 15,000 hours in the classroom from Kindergarten to Grade 12. During that time, they not only want to engage in activities and initiatives that promote environmental sustainability, but they also want to be immersed in an atmosphere where they live it. Today, John Paul II Catholic Secondary School in London, Ontario seeks to become Canada’s first carbon neutral school by 2021 through reducing greenhouse gas emissions to near zero. This is just the start.

  The EdCan Network acknowledges the crucial role that schools can play in fostering environmental citizenship among students, but also in mitigating their own substantial carbon footprint. Once students and teachers become engaged, their heightened environmental awareness broadens to other issues, and spreads into their family lives and communities. Already, we have seen schools and school districts make great strides as trailblazers in this area.

  Consequently, the EdCan Network is excited to announce that our March 2020 issue will focus on “Greening Our Schools” to tie in with Global Recycling Day on March 18, 2020. We’ll address topics like food waste in schools, energy reduction, how climate change is taught in classrooms, environmental leadership, and Indigenous approaches to environmentalism. But that’s not all. In the coming months, we will lead a national conversation on how the key players in K-12 education – students, parents, educators and other stakeholders – can be the catalyst to real, impactful action on climate change.

  Today, talk and inaction can only take us so far in addressing climate change. If we desire a future that is closer to Star Trek than Terminator 2: Judgment Day, it’s time to go green on education.

   

  Support Our Work!

  The Edcan Network is a nonprofit organization that bridges research and practice by including voices from across the entire spectrum of K-12 education.

  Become a Donor: Help us expand the reach of timely educational resources to improve education policies and support “deeper learning.”

  Visit www.edcan.ca/donate to make a donation today.

   

  First published in Education Canada, September 2019

• Classroom Resources by Young Authors

  6:00 AM Comments Off on Classroom Resources by Young Authors

  Two resources of interest to teachers: The Canadian Science Fair Journal and UNESCO’s Voices of Future Generations books written by young authors.

  VOICES OF FUTURE GENERATIONS CHILDREN’S BOOK SERIES

  By Aleena Naseem

  By now most of us have heard  about the Sustainable Development Goals (also referred to as Agenda 2030), adopted in 2015 by nations across the globe to help achieve peaceful and prosperous living both now and in the future. Children have a very important role to play in achieving these goals; therefore to encourage children to think and get involved in helping to achieve them, Voices of Future Generations (a UNESCO project) was launched. Children aged 8-12 were invited to write stories related to the Sustainable Development Goals and submitted them to a rigorous competition, after which selected stories were chosen for publication and professionally illustrated. The books are meant to make children think about their surroundings and their roles, and to empower them, which is a key principle of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

  The child authors come from different parts of the globe and share their own personal experiences and perspectives linked to the environment and the social issues addressed by the SDGs. The beautiful illustrations help readers visualize the setting the children are describing. For example, the story “A Tree of Hope” is set in the desert and talks about drought, while “Fireflies After the Typhoon”  takes place on a small island and describes the causes and aftermath of typhoons, including the importance of children’s perceptions on the changing climate. Other small island experiences are mentioned in “The Voice of an Island,” which describes beautiful scenery from the author’s grandmother’s time, while the book “A Path to Life” highlights the importance of co-existence with the animal kingdom (especially tigers), in times when our cities have become concrete jungles. The Epic Eco Inventions, The Mechanical Chess Invention and The Great Green Vine Invention provide a first-world perspective on using science to tackle environmental issues.

  Going beyond environmental issues, “Forward and Backward City” takes the readers through the varied experiences of people living in different parts of the same city (in Africa), whereas “The Visible Girls” highlights the need for girl/women empowerment. “The Sister’s Mind Connection” tells a story on learning disabilities and how other children perceive and treat children with learning disabilities.

  These simply but effectively written stories describe real-life issues and also offer solutions and suggestions as to how children can become involved and play a role in their future. Written for children age six and above who wish to learn about the environment, climate, human (particularly children’s) rights and other compelling issues, these books can be used to invite dialogue and sharing experiences, especially about the Sustainable Development Goals.

  Where to find them

  For educators wanting to use these books as teaching material, Bloomsbury has consolidated and published an anthology (Voices of the Future: Stories from around the world) along with a teaching guide, available for purchase on Amazon (e-book and hardcover) and Indigo (e-book only). Individual stories can be downloaded free of cost from the Voices of Future Generations website: www.vofg.org/books ; hard copies can be purchased from Amazon (search Voices of Future Generations).

  THE CANADIAN SCIENCE FAIR JOURNAL

  By Kira Slivitzky and Kirti Vyas

   

  Kalie Bennett loves science.

  At the age of 12, Kalie used her personal experience as motivation to create a science fair project that explored whether coloured overlays could improve the reading ability of individuals with dyslexia, like herself.

  In May 2018, she won a bronze medal and a scholarship at the Canada-Wide Science Fair. For many young scientists, this would be the end of their projects’ journey… forgotten after the fair. Fortunately for Kalie, this was not the case. In September, she had the opportunity to publish her project with us, the Canadian Science Fair Journal (CSFJ).

  With the help of our editors, Kalie was able to successfully publish her work. Most students, however, do not get this opportunity. Despite the vast number of high-level science fair projects completed by Canadian youth annually, hardly any are ever published. There are over 30,000 academic journals in which adults can publish their research, yet virtually none available to youth. According to a 2018 survey conducted by summer research students working at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, only 6 percent of National Science Fair competitors published their work in an academic journal.¹

  Figure 1: Publication status of Canada-Wide Science Fair participants (2005-2017)

  

  Often, youth are not exposed to scientific writing until late high school or post-secondary school. Founding journal members recognized the need for an open-access platform where youth could publish their scientific research and receive constructive mentorship. This need birthed the creation of the CSFJ: a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes scientific research by youth ages 6-17 years old. The CSFJ helps develop an early understanding of the publication process and the scientific method.

  The journal provides young authors with a unique personalized mentorship experience. Members of our editorial board (undergraduate and graduate science students) are paired with young authors and help guide them throughout the editorial and publication process.

  To increase the journal’s value as a resource for teachers, we also offer online lesson guides. Teachers can educate their students on the peer-review process, review our published articles for critical reflection and use them as teaching points for scientific concepts.

  Cindy Bennell, a Grade 3 teacher from Ottawa, Ontario, regularly uses the CSFJ with her students. “I use it to show my students how to conduct and present their research,” she says. In fact, one of her students was inspired to submit his own science fair project to us.

  We released three issues in our first year of publishing (2018-2019) after receiving over 50 submissions by students across eight provinces and the three territories. In the upcoming year, we plan to add discussion points and companion guides with each article for an enhanced learning experience. Additionally, we plan to develop formalized lesson plans to further strengthen our journal as an important resource for educators.

  KALIE BENNETT received recognition for her work when Dr. Cherisse Du Preez, a marine ecologist who is also dyslexic, came across her article on our website. Dr. Du Preez was moved to present Kalie’s project during a lecture at the Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa and invited her for a private tour of the Institute for Ocean Sciences in B.C. Through the CSFJ, Kalie created an important connection and was exposed to unique scientific opportunities.

  Find It

  Print copies of the Canadian Science Fair Journal can be purchased as a subscription. Articles are also available free of charge online at www.csfjournal.com. Send any inquires or comments to: editors@csfjournal.com.

    

  Photo: Courtesy Voices of Future Generations

  First published in Education Canada, September 2019

  ---

  Notes

  ¹ N. Acharya, R. Ng, K. O’Hearn, and D. McNally (2018) Unpublished.

• How can we reduce stress and increase support for teachers?

  September 4, 2019 10:17 AM Comments Off on How can we reduce stress and increase support for teachers?

  Well-being happens by making our physical, emotional, social, and mental health a priority. When this isn’t a priority in the workplace, staff can develop chronic stress that impacts their lives both at work and at home. As teaching is considered one of the most stressful professions, teachers who support the well-being and learning of students are more likely to experience the following types of chronic stress:
  

  • Burnout: High work-related stress piled up over months or years including mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion that leads to not being able to cope with demands (e.g. from parents, students, policies, curriculum) 
  • Compassion fatigue: Feeling helpless when constantly exposed to students who you can’t help and who are suffering (e.g. from poverty, homelessness, racism, violence) 
  • Emotional labour: Feeling you must suppress your emotions daily (e.g. by keeping a smile on) when your personal values don’t match up with work expectations (e.g. wanting more time to support every student but needing to meet curriculum demands)

  School communities that promote well-being are supportive, allow teachers autonomy, and promote healthy relationships. Part of achieving this means identifying the root causes of teacher stress.

  Here are three sources of teacher stress and tips to cope with and reduce it:

  1.  Job Stress: Job demands (e.g. unrealistic deadlines) and lack of resources (e.g. time, materials to do the job)

          Tips for school district leaders:

  • • Ensure long-term, well-resourced PD that allows teachers to continuously learn and be supported in their roles 
    • Provide autonomy in pedagogy and curriculum decisions to allow teachers to feel respected and in control 
    • Develop policies and plans to increase self-efficacy and reduce job stress (e.g. shared decision-making, employee benefits, mental health toolkits)

  2. Personal Stress: Need for more social-emotional competencies (e.g. self-awareness) and more self-efficacy (confidence in one’s ability to succeed at tasks)
  
           Tips for teachers: 

  • • • Develop time management strategies that meet your needs
      • Prioritize your own well-being and learn about healthy strategies to cope with stress
      • Share with and learn from colleagues and supervisors who can help you cope
      • Find ways to live out the values that brought you to teaching (e.g. taking time to get to know your students)
        

  3. Workplace Stress: Unclear boundaries between personal and work life (e.g. lack of work-life balance, job insecurity)
  
             Tips for principals: 

  • • Lead activities that model healthy habits at work (e.g. healthy eating, fitness challenges)
    • Promote working “smart,” not working “long,” and limit after hours work 
    • Ask teachers what they need help with – don’t wait for them to come to you
    • Create and share resources to streamline administrative tasks at busy times of the year

  While stress is a normal part of everyday life, stress over a long-term period negatively impacts the health and well-being of teachers. Research demonstrates that teacher well-being has a direct impact on student learning; therefore, investing in supports and resources to prevent teachers from burning out creates a healthy and supportive environment where both teachers and students can flourish. 

   

  Additional Resource Information

  Centre for School Mental Health at Western University 

  Teach Resiliency

  WellAhead

  Teacher Stress and health (2016). Robert Wood Foundation. 

  Edutopia: Teacher Wellness

  Friedman, A. & Reynolds, L. (2011). Burned in: Fueling the Fire to Teach. Teachers College Press. 

  References

  Koenig, A., Rodger, S., & Specht, J. (2018). Educator Burnout and Compassion Fatigue: A Pilot Study. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 33(4), 259–278. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573516685017

  McCallum, F., Price, D., Graham, A. & Morrison, A. (2017). Teacher Wellbeing: A review of the literature . Association of Independent Schools of NSW. Accessed at: https://apo.org.au/node/201816

  
  

• Developing Intercultural Competence

  August 28, 2019 8:16 AM Comments Off on Developing Intercultural Competence

  What is intercultural competence and why is it important? Intercultural competence is the ability to communicative effectively and appropriately with students who are linguistically and culturally different from ourselves. It’s an important skill for teachers who want to more deeply support and affirm the diverse students in their classes.

  “Two of my students from Somalia are about to be expelled from school for chronic absences, in keeping with our school’s policy. But I believe we need to talk with the families who may be most responsible, not the students themselves. How do I convince the principal that ‘some school’ is better than ‘no school’ for these kids? How do I find out what is really going on in their lives? What can I do to better understand their behaviour and in turn find a more viable solution?”¹

  The concern above is not uncommon. Indeed, as a long-time instructor and designer of Teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) courses for Ontario K-12 teachers, I have become all too familiar with many such cases. The thing is, they most often involve a lack of communication among teachers, diverse students and their families. Professional challenges commonly relate to our misconceptions, misunderstandings, and culturally ingrained assumptions about teaching, learning and classroom management that are based on our own cultural backgrounds, education, and socialization. This article addresses the fact that to effectively and more deeply support and affirm diverse students and engage in culturally responsive teaching, educators need to develop intercultural competence, that is, the ability to communicative effectively and appropriately with students who are linguistically and culturally different from ourselves. We need to ask ourselves the questions: Do I meet students where they are at, or do I have other expectations of their behaviour based on feelings I have about my own culture? How adaptable am I? How culturally appropriate have I been with my students when I interact with them? What can I do to shift my thinking?

  Affirming different cultural orientations through culturally responsive teaching is not just about “show and tell,” the so-called food, festival, folklore and fashion mantra. Teachers take into consideration a variety of school protocols, such as how and what students are learning, styles of communication, assessment practices, and activities related to inclusiveness.² However, I argue that infusing appropriate cultural material into curriculum and policy is only one component; most importantly, as educators in diverse classrooms, we need to develop effective intercultural competence, which requires the following attributes:

  • respect for and appreciation of other cultures, worldviews and communication styles
  • an understanding of other people’s behaviours, cultural customs and ways of thinking regardless of how unusual or strange they may appear
  • the ability and willingness to acknowledge and accept different behaviours and ideas in a nonjudgmental way, especially opinions and perspectives with which we do not necessarily agree
  • awareness of our own biases and behaviours in order to respond in a culturally appropriate manner
  • curiosity, flexibility and the willingness to adapt and be open to different ways of thinking and behaving.

  Understanding different cultural behaviours begins with knowledge – an awareness of what motivates people to think the way they think and do what they do. We need to recognize that the expectations we have as classroom teachers and those of our diverse students may not always align because our respective beliefs about and attitudes toward family, social life, work and education are shaped by our respective backgrounds. For example, the education system in Canada has primarily been based on a Eurocentric, Western model which affirms individualism. As a guideline, individualistic cultures tend to focus on independence, personal achievement and assertiveness, as opposed to collectivist cultures, which focus on loyalty to the group and allegiance to family.³ Differences in values, such as obedience to authority figures, which in a collectivist culture is often exhibited in teacher-centered forms of instruction, can significantly affect students’ ways of thinking and behaviour. As a result, students from cultures with a predominant collectivist orientation, such as Japan, may find self-guided, discovery-oriented activities more challenging than ones that are more teacher-directed and predictable. They may also seem restrained on the emotional level, avoid eye contact with teachers and be reluctant to volunteer answers in class.

  Research has also shown that with regard to seeking social support, let’s say, help from a school counsellor, students from individualistic cultures may be more willing because they share the cultural assumption that people should be proactive and talk openly about stressful events. Conversely, students coming from more collectivistic cultures may be relatively more cautious about getting help and disclosing personal problems because they share the cultural assumption that individuals should not burden others, even close family, with their issues. They feel they might disrupt group harmony and receive criticism from others.⁴ Considering we have students in our schools who have experienced post-traumatic stress, bullying and acculturation challenges, it important to be aware of the latter attitude toward counselling. They may be reluctant to tell their story.

  It is also important to recognize that factors such as context and personality can influence cultural dynamics like individualism/collectivism, so even individuals within a particular culture can exhibit different cultural behaviours. Indeed, as we learn about our students’ cultures, it is best not to make assumptions based on experiences we have had with other students from similar backgrounds. Culturally responsive teaching requires teachers to keep an open, non-judgmental mindset.

  In many respects, one of the biggest challenges for teachers in any grade is communicating with parents, some of whom may have minimal ability to communicate in English. Like their children, they too are learning to understand an unfamiliar social and school context, which includes their role in relation to teachers and school administrators. Taking the everyday example of a parent-teacher conference, teachers can use a number of strategies to aid parents’ comprehension.⁵ Before the conference, a list of educational terms and definitions (e.g. learning centres, hands-on activities, critical thinking, task-based learning, goal setting) can be provided. When answering parents’ questions, paraphrasing and then articulating points in succession helps parents understand what is coming. So in reply to the question, “How is my daughter doing compared to other students in the class?” the teacher can say: “You asked about how your daughter compares to other children in the class. First, I am going to talk about her progress, and then I will talk about how she compares with her classmates.” Teachers can also politely ask parents to summarize important components to make sure they are clear, especially if they need to take action such as scheduling time for homework or nightly reading.

  Parents may have culturally rooted perceptions about discipline, standardized testing, and other educational practices as well as their role in their child’s schooling. They may have had little, if any, involvement with their children’s school in their home country. Parents may also view teachers as experts and so may not feel comfortable questioning their authority or offering suggestions. When we send notes or emails home with information, we expect (or at least hope) that parents read all the information and will respond to requests, such as providing permission for their child to attend a field trip. We may also make the assumption that if parents do not understand a note from school, they will contact the teacher and ask for clarification. However, misunderstandings can occur and teachers may never be aware of them because the parents haven’t communicated with the school directly. The signal may be that the child is absent from school, which is an indirect way (albeit possibly culturally acceptable from their perspective) of them showing their disapproval or confusion about an activity or event. Or they might write the school an email or send a note with the child expressing their concerns, as opposed to showing up in person. The concept of saving face comes to play in this regard.⁶ As a social construct related to preserving dignity and self-respect, saving face plays an important role in many cultures. Threats to face are likely to arise, possibly for both parties, when problems related to school protocols are pointed out too directly. Consequently, it is often a good idea to minimize these threats when confronting parents about the fact that they (and their children) have not understood, for example, homework instructions or, as in the scenario above, informing the school of absences and reasons for them.

  Parents often have great respect for teachers; however, it is important to establish trust with the family by, for example, meeting with family members in a place they feel safe, such as home or a local community center. Parents should have the opportunity to ask questions they may have about school culture, and expectations for their involvement. They can also share preferred ways to communicate with teachers. For example, if they are more comfortable writing notes and email messages (and using translators or online translation software), as opposed to meeting in person, then their choices should be acknowledged and utilized. Indeed, and especially for parents of ELLs, affirming their home languages and cultures, and showing respect for what they know and what they can offer, are critical factors in helping them become more involved in their children’s education. What’s more, looking at and valuing different cultural orientations may help to identify ways to foster the kinds of relationships between school personnel and parents that will improve student outcomes.

  Developing intercultural competence involves systematically observing and critically reflecting on our own, our students’ (and their parents’) behaviours. Although there are several models of intercultural competence, fundamental components comprise three basic elements: attitudes, knowledge and skills. Based on Deardorff’s (2006) Model of Intercultural Competence,⁷ we can ask ourselves the following questions:

  • Attitudes: Do I pre-judge my students? Am I curious, open and eager to learn from them? How do I react when I don’t understand what my students are doing or saying?
  • Knowledge: Am I aware of my own cultural behaviour and why I think and act the way I do? Am I aware of how my students wish to be treated? Which rules, customs and values influence my own and my students’ thinking, actions and communication?
  • Skills: How much do I really listen to my students? Do I respond in a culturally appropriate manner? How can I change my mindset to describe behaviours before evaluating them?

  The Mindful Reflection Protocol is helpful in providing educators with a method to foster effective intercultural communication.8Teachers are encouraged to distinguish objective descriptions of behaviour from those which are subjective and emotionally laden reactions. The protocol is as follows:

  • Describe: What is the student doing or saying?
  • Interpret or Analyze: Why is this happening?
  • Evaluate: How do I feel about it?

  It is grounded in the notion that we often respond to unfamiliar people or situations with subjective evaluations, projecting our judgments onto what we think we see (or hear or feel or perceive). So we reverse the usual order of response by first making observations and withholding our reactions with words such as “weird” or “unacceptable” – and in the process become more aware of how easily and unconsciously we immediately judge a situation according to our own cultural mindset.

  Learning about different cultural orientations, along with on-going self-reflection, allows us to develop intercultural competence and effective culturally responsive teaching. Shunnarah, a kindergarten teacher in a culturally and linguistically diverse school, explains that “developing cultural competence is a process of inner growth. In order for me to be as effective as possible with the students I work with, I must continuously engage in a process of self-reflection. To be able to know others, especially diverse others, one must know the self. So, the growth of a culturally competent educator starts there. We must look within for a deeper understanding of who we are before we can adequately address the needs of our students.”⁹

  Developing intercultural competence involves a transformation in thinking; it is an ongoing, highly rewarding process. Indeed, honest and open communication is key and highly relevant to teaching diverse students who need and deserve to be welcomed, supported and heard.

   

  Photo: iStock

  First published in Education Canada, September 2019

  EXPLORE THE LATEST EDITION OF EDUCATION CANADA, POWERED BY VOICED RADIO (MARCH 2022)

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  Notes

  1 Johanne Myles, Beyond Methodology: English Language Learners K-12. (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2015), vii.

  2 Calvin Meyer and Elizabeth Kelley Rhoades, “Multiculturalism: Beyond food, festival, folklore and fashion,” Kappa Delta Pi Record 42, no. 2 (2006): 82-87.

  3 Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede, and Michael Minkov, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind. (New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2010).

  4 Heejung Kim, David Sherman and Shelley Taylor, “Culture and Social Support,” American Psychologist 63, no. 6 (2008): 516-526.

  5 Gregory Cheatham and Ellie Yeonsun, “A Linguistic Perspective on Communication with Parents who Speak English as a Second Language: Phonology, morphology and syntax,” Early Child Development and Care 181, no. 9 (2011): 1247-1260.

  6 Stella Ting-Toomey, Communicating Across Cultures (New York, NY: Guilford Press, 1999), 38, 120.

  7 Darla Deardorff, “Intercultural Competence: A Definition, Model and Implications for Education Abroad,” in Developing Intercultural Competence and Transformation, ed. Victor Savicki (Sterling, Virginia: Stylus, 2008), 32-52.

  8 Barbara Dray and Debora Wisneski, “Mindful Reflection as a Process for Developing Culturally Responsive Practices,” Teaching Exceptional Children 44, no. 1 (2011): 28-36.

  9 Christina Shunnarah, “The Cross-cultural Classroom,” New York Times (September 25, 2008). https://lessonplans.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/the-cross-cultural-classroom/?mcubz=0

• Cannexus, Canada’s National Career Development Conference

  August 23, 2019 3:05 PM Comments Off on Cannexus, Canada’s National Career Development Conference

  Cannexus, Canada’s largest bilingual National Career Development Conference, returns to Ottawa, Jan. 27-29, 2020, to help educators prepare students for the future of work.
  Bringing together more than 1,200 career development professionals from K-12, post-secondary, community, government and private sectors, the conference will provide insights on:
  •Youth career education and career exploration
  •Integrating career into curriculum and experiental learning

  The 3-day conference is presented by CERIC, a charitable organization advancing career development research and education in Canada.

• The 3 R’s of Diversifying Your Classroom Booklist

  August 12, 2019 9:23 AM Comments Off on The 3 R’s of Diversifying Your Classroom Booklist

  Five years ago, I was assigned to teach Grade 12 English for the first time in years. Eager to prepare, I visited our school book room, but came away feeling uninspired by the options: 1984, Animal Farm, Fifth Business, and lots of Shakespeare. 

  Having just taught Ontario’s Grade 11 Gender Studies course, which had opened my mind to intersectional ways of thinking, I couldn’t help but notice that the writers populating the shelves presented a very narrow demographic: they were mostly Western, white, male, and long dead. 

  Thoughts rattled around in my brain. What messages was I sending to students with my book choices? Whose voices were missing? What if I changed everything and sought out texts that better represented my students and community? 

  That year I made a bold choice to ditch the Bard and privilege the voices of women and contemporary writers of colour. I designed an independent study focusing on under-represented voices in literature, film, and art. These decisions not only opened the door to a new literary world, but delighted my students and re-energized my teaching.

  No matter what age range you teach, you too can diversify your teaching library. Wondering why you should, and where to begin? Start with the 3 ‘R’s.

  Representation

  Representation matters. Our curricula and book choices should reflect our students’ diverse identities and experiences. 

  The Canadian literary scene has recently exploded with LGBTQ+ authors, Indigenous artists, and diverse writers making waves. Think of Vivek Shraya’s beautifully inclusive picture book The Boy and the Bindi or Cherie Dimaline’s dystopian tale The Marrow Thieves. These stories may not yet be part of the traditional canon, but they offer unique and compelling tales worth sharing with young people.

  Understand that the book choices we make send implicit messages to students. When we present a narrow selection of artists, we make value judgements about those whose works are ‘important’ and worthy of study, and those whose aren’t.

  I often ask my students about the books they’ve studied in school. What were the backgrounds of the writers? How long ago were the books written? Have they encountered protagonists who reflected their own identities? The responses are telling. Young women are often asked to place themselves in the position of male protagonists, but young men rarely get asked to see the world from a female point of view.

  This invisibility is a common experience for many, including Indigenous peoples, Québécois, LGBTQ+ folks, and differently-abled people, all of whom are rarely represented in school literature. It is as if we are saying that their experiences are not considered ‘universal’ enough to understand, and that perception needs to change. 

  By choosing books that reflect a multitude of identities, teachers can affirm the backgrounds of students and open up their worldview. We can help them to see themselves and their own stories as important and worthy of attention. 

  Relevancy

  Another reason to diversify our booklists? There are so many fantastic books out there waiting to be discovered! Look for works of literature that are relevant because they speak to the world we live in today, or illuminate areas of life to which we may not have access.  

  My students loved Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which tells the tale of a young black girl who comes of age in an abusive home during the Nigerian war. Though Kambili’s experiences were far from our own in downtown Toronto, the book opened up rich discussions about parent-child relationships and the enduring impact of colonization in Africa.

  For those of us who teach in less diverse communities, it is even more important to expose students to multiple points of view. It helps to engender empathy and understanding and combat harmful stereotypes. Reading diverse works can create opportunities for critical literacy, as we deconstruct power and privilege and engage in courageous conversations about racism, sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia.  

  Research

  To find diverse writers for my classroom, I made a pledge to research and read books by female writers, LGBTQ+ artists, Indigenous writers, and authors of colour. In my search I have discovered many contemporary masterpieces, and I haven’t looked back since. 

  Here’s how you can get started on your own reading journey.

  Award Winners

  Check out award winner lists, especially those that recognize artists from under-represented groups, such as the Lambda Literary Awards for LGBTQ+ writers or the Caldecott Medal, which awards a wide range of children’s literature.

  Book Stores

  Find forward-thinking bookstores that celebrate diversity, such as Good Minds, which stocks over 3,000 titles of Indigenous works from Preschool to Adult. Other fantastic stores include Another Story Bookshop and A Different Booklist in Toronto. You can find a children’s bookstore near you using the online database from the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.

  The Internet

  Great literature is literally at your fingertips—an internet search can connect you to useful websites, blogs, and booklists. Some of my favourites include A Mighty Girl, ‘the world’s largest collection of books and movies for smart, confident, and courageous girls’; beloved educator Dr. Larry Swartz’s ‘Larry Recommends’ blog; and @loveyolibrary, an Instagram account featuring up-and-coming books for children, curated by Toronto-area teacher Brendon Allen.

  Other Useful Links 

  Edutopia’s 22 Diverse Book Choices for All Grade Levels

  The American Indians in Children’s Literature Blog, which deconstructs and evaluates representations of Indigenous peoples in children’s books

  Pinterest’s Diversity in Children’s Books collection

  We Need Diverse Books

  A Beginning Book List for Educators

  Kindergarten-Primary (ages 4-7)

  French Toast by Kari-Lynn Winters and François Thisdale

  The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

  Under My Hijab by Hena Khan and Aaliya Jaleel

  The Can Man by Laura E. Williams and Craig Orback

  Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima

  The Boy in the Bindi by Vivek Shraya

  The Sissy Duckling by Harvey Fierstein

  I am Jazz by Jazz Jennings 

  Don’t Touch My Hair! by Sharee Miller

  Not My Girl by Christy Jordan-Fenton

  Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty

  I am Josephine by Jan Thornhill and Jacqui Lee

  A Family is a Family is a Family by Sara O’Leary and Qin Leng

  Junior (8-13)

  Sky Sisters by Jan Waboose Bourdeau

  Morning on the Lake by Jan Waboose Bourdeau

  Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan and Sophie Blackall

  Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold 

  Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold 

  Nappy Hair by Caroliva Herron

  The Arrival by Shaun Tan

  Flight Explorer by Kazu Kibuishi 

  A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story by Linda Sue Park

  The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake

  Riding the Tiger by Eve Bunting and David Frampton 

  The Outlaw by Nancy Vo 

  I Am Malala and I Am Malala Young Readers Edition by Malala Yousafzai,  Christina Lamb

  The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis 

  Refugee by Alan Kratz 

  Shannen and the Dream for a School by Janet Wilson

  Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

  Blended by Sharon Draper

  Rad American Women by Katie Schatz 

  Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham

  Intermediate (12-15)

  Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson 

  Ask Me No Questions by Marina Tamar Budhos

  The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

  Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

  Monster by Walter Dean Myers 

  Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, edited by Hope Nicholson

  Daughter of War by Marsha Skrypuch

  Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

  American Street by Ibi Zoboi

  Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

  The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabrina Khan

  Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan

  Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

  George by Alex Gino

  Ghost by Jason Reynolds

  Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed

  No Fixed Address by Susin Nielson

  Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart

  Kimchi & Calamari by Rose Kent

  Senior (15-17)

  I Am an Emotional Creature: the Secret Life of Girls around the World by Eve Ensler 

  The Mi’kmaq Anthology, Volume 2: In Celebration of the Life of Rita Joe by Lesley Choyce et al. 

  Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah  

  Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai

  A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

  The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

  Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

  Brother by David Chariandy

  Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

  She Walks for Days Inside a Thousand Eyes: A Two-Spirit Journey by Sharron Proulx-Turner

  Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

  Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

  The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

  Beloved by Toni Morrison

  Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez

  Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote

  Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson

  That Time I Loved You by Carrianne Leung

• Ottawa Visible Learning plus Institute

  July 31, 2019 3:56 PM Comments Off on Ottawa Visible Learning plus Institute

  This two-day event is the first step that will help educators create Visible Learning Schools that systematically examine effective instructional practice and equip them with practical solutions and proper tools to transform their practice and focus on influences that have the greatest impact on student learning. The Institute features workshops and sessions focused on Visible Learning, Collaborative Leadership, and Visible Learning for Mathematics led by John Hattie, Jenni Donohoo, and Connie Hamilton.

• 2019 Healthy School Communities National Forum

  3:56 PM Comments Off on 2019 Healthy School Communities National Forum

  This biennial National event is a must-attend for community leaders working in health, education, research, government, and active living sectors to:
  – Connect with school health champions, and district and government leaders that have made healthy schools a priority goal in their community;
  – Explore best practice that supports the healthy development of all children;
  – Be inspired and equipped to affect positive change in your school community.

  Creating a healthy school community is a shared responsibility. Join us at #HSCForum2019!

• Creative Caring for Teachers

  July 5, 2019 12:41 PM Comments Off on Creative Caring for Teachers

  

  The wellness of teachers is critical to the education, behaviour and mental health of young people. Teachers who are doing well are able to establish and maintain positive relationships, have an engaging curriculum delivery and contribute to a supportive culture. Wise school leaders who want all students to flourish will find ways to cherish their teachers within a whole-school, well-being framework. When well-being is at the heart of school values and practice, then other things follow in a virtuous cycle – better mental health and resilience, student engagement, academic outcomes and pro-social behaviour.¹

  The impact of stress

  A limited amount of stress can be energizing, stimulate creative responses and improve focus. Chronic ongoing stress, on the other hand, is literally toxic. It can weaken the immune system and cause high blood pressure, fatigue, depression, anxiety and even heart disease. Over time it leads to degradation of the hippocampus – the part of the brain most active in memory.

  Students whose behaviour is challenging are often struggling with adversity. These young people at risk need adults in their lives who are able to maintain the relational quality that builds resilience.² Educators are usually caring individuals, keen to make such a difference, but when they are over-stretched their responses may become self-protective, with little understanding or empathy. School life for vulnerable pupils then becomes a mirror of what is happening for them elsewhere, undermining both learning and mental health.

  Teaching can be a stressful occupation but also a meaningful, stimulating and rewarding one. In aiming for the latter, we need to either reduce demands or increase resources. Rather than devote precious energy to things we cannot change, such as student backgrounds or government directives, let’s be creative about what is possible.

  Looking after each other

  So what does it mean to be doing well and what can schools put in place to make sure this happens? Whole school well-being is not a set of programs, but “how things happen around here.” A culture with high levels of social capital and creativity benefits everyone. So, rather than just remind teachers to look after themselves, here we explore whole-school values, priorities and innovations that put well-being centre stage.

  Physical well-being

  Most teachers say there isn’t enough time to do everything. For teachers under stress, the first thing to go may be behaviours that maintain good health such as sufficient sleep, regular exercise and healthy eating. Schools can help teachers stay well by ensuring that expectations are manageable and by thinking outside the box to create opportunities within the school day.

  Both teachers and students need to keep active – brains slow down when the body stops moving! Having students get out of their seats and move around during lessons makes sense, but how about taking this one step further? Many teachers see lunchtime as an opportunity to finalize lesson planning, mark work or have meetings. But perhaps once or twice a week it could be a space for doing something physical alongside students? Not just traditional sports but aikido, dance, Zumba, kick-boxing or tai chi. Sharing the learning, making mistakes and laughing together also increases connectedness and stimulates positive relationships.

  Overworked teachers can be up half the night planning lessons, marking and doing admin. When this happens routinely rather than occasionally, it impacts on all aspects of psycho-social functioning. No one can do everything to the best of their ability all the time and stay sane, especially when they are exhausted. Something has to give. Working “smarter” rather than harder requires school management to be clear about priorities, what constitutes “good enough” and how best to share resources so individuals do not spend time re-inventing the wheel. Encouraging staff to set limits on after-hours emailing can be helpful and school leaders who model good practice give staff permission to also switch off. Another time-saving strategy is to tighten up on meetings. What is a meeting for, who actually needs to be there, is there a more time-efficient way of getting things done?

  Most teachers are highly conscientious. They often go to work when unwell and then take much longer to recover. A whole-school agreement about when to call in sick and stay at home can be valuable. One principal actively promoted positivity across his school and his budget for sick cover was always underspent, leaving more funds for other things. He was convinced that his staff stayed well because they were working in a happy school. The evidence suggests he was probably right.

  Social well-being

  Michie and Cockcroft³ found that more serious dangers to health from toxic stress were moderated by strong social networks and support. How we relate to each other matters a great deal.

  I have asked teachers in various educational jurisdictions around the world to identify what others do and say that makes them feel they belong at school – and overwhelmingly they report that it is the simple things that make the difference: “People greet me with a smile, remember my name, show an interest in me as a person and ask follow-up questions. They check how things are going, invite my opinion, show appreciation for my efforts.” They also talk about how good it is to be with people they can share a joke with. If you ask students what they value in teachers, they come up with a very similar list.⁴

  When teachers have opportunities to get to know each other out of role, this facilitates more relational interaction and mutual support. In one large all-age school in Melbourne, a member of staff has been designated “social secretary” and organizes an event once a term where everyone is invited, sometimes including families. This has resulted in fewer cliques, less judgment, more mutual interest, increased cross-departmental support, more willingness to sort out differences and a warmer atmosphere all round. One teacher commented, “I can’t always attend, but what is important is that everyone gets invited, not just a select few – it has made a real impact on the feeling of collegiality in the school.” This teacher had been at home with young children for five years and talked about how everyone was much happier and kinder than before. She put this down to the active development of a more supportive culture throughout the school and said that now “everyone is on the same side, looking out for each other.”

  There are schools operating a buddy system, not just for new teachers but for everyone. A large special school in Victoria (Australia) has “secret angels.” Everyone who wants to participate puts their name in a hat and takes another out. They are that person’s secret angel for the term. They keep an eye on their colleague, make the occasional cup of tea, perhaps take a duty for them or organize a small birthday celebration.

  The quality of the teacher-student relationship is not only the most critical factor in effective education,⁵ it also links to feelings of teacher efficacy and well-being. One way to develop stronger relationships is to get to know students as people with ideas, feelings and experiences. Circle Solutions⁶ is a strengths- and solution-focused framework for social and emotional learning (and whole-school well-being) based on the ASPIRE principles of Agency, Safety, Positivity, Inclusion, Respect and Equity. Teachers join in as equal participants and take part in all the activities. Over the course of the term, everyone interacts with everyone else. This breaks down barriers and changes perspectives. Teachers have been very positive about the difference Circles has made to the atmosphere in their classes. One teacher said, “It will totally change your relationship with your students and their relationships with each other.”

  Emotional well-being

  Positive emotions underpin creativity, problem-solving and cooperation.⁷ These include feeling comfortable, safe, interested, joyful, excited, valued, engaged, thankful and loved. By contrast, feelings of fear, anxiety or anger shut down learning and impair relationships, so what can schools do to promote positivity?

  Simple recognition goes a long way. In a conference on teacher well-being in Darwin, some educators talked about going over and above for their students, often to the detriment of time spent with their own family. Yet it was only when they stopped working so hard that school leaders noticed and then commented negatively. The teachers’ frustration, despair and fury were palpable. There is no need for fulsome praise, but when efforts are noticed and openly valued this feels good, strengthens motivation and increases well-being. A card or note saying “thank you for…” or “I noticed that… ” takes little time but reaps great benefits, fitting with three of the five ways to well-being⁸ (Connect, Notice and Give; the others are Stay Active and Keep Learning) that the National Economics Foundation have developed.

  In a primary school just outside Sydney, the front page of the weekly newsletter is a thank you – not just for orchestrating major events but for everyday good work. The recipient could be an admin person, support staff or school custodian as well as educators. Teachers told me it was the first thing they looked for every Friday – who had been recognized that week.

  Feelings of trust and safety develop when people speak positively about each other, share fairly, demonstrate reliability by only offering what they can deliver, and communicate openly. One primary school in New South Wales has “This is a No Put Down Zone” posters everywhere – classrooms, offices and staffroom. This has proved to be surprisingly powerful. Everyone could tell me what it meant and how it impacted on school climate. One student said, “We don’t have any bullying here because of this no put down thing!” It made overt what is often hidden and brought good practice to the foreground.

  A positive school environment is not a Pollyanna place where there is a denial of real-life struggles. Grief, depression and anxiety can be overwhelming at times. Where there is high social capital, teachers are able to have supportive conversations with each other. They will also be better able to respond effectively to students in crisis.

  Cognitive well-being

  Conversations create culture and culture determines how people think and feel about things. Teacher perspectives on their job, the students and their families are influenced at least to some extent by how people talk about these things in the staffroom.

  Culture is best addressed as part of a wider well-being framework for the whole school. A first step is to identify a vision for the school, how far this had already been realized and agree on next steps. Although it is invariably the school executive that initiates whole-school well-being, it needs to be owned by all stakeholders. Once everyone has the bigger picture in mind it is easier to keep the small stuff in perspective.

  Focusing on what is going well and how to get more of it also raises appreciation of how much there is to be thankful for. One large independent school in Sydney introduced a “random acts of kindness” board in the staffroom where staff placed post-it notes thanking colleagues for small acts of support. This got people talking – and initiated a different staffroom conversation!

  Psychological well-being

  Dan Pink summarises the three things that motivate people to do their best. These are autonomy, mastery and purpose. For many educators, psychological well-being is maintained by being able to teach according to their values, having some autonomy and being creative in responding to student interest and need. If they can do this they increase the personal and professional integrity that makes coming to work a joy.

  Educating the next generation is a meaningful occupation, but the benefits can evaporate when life gets out of balance and teachers struggle with innovation overload or having to meet endless targets. A leader who is focusing on whole-school well-being will involve staff in developing a clear direction for the school, but will trust teachers to get on with the job and not micro-manage.

  A last word about the importance of having fun. Oxytocin is the neurotransmitter critical in reproductive processes, but there is evidence for its involvement in connectedness, trust and cooperation throughout life. Oxytocin can be produced in the body by events taking place in the environment. One head teacher in England organizes head and shoulder massages for staff once a month on a Friday afternoon. This not only raises their oxytocin levels but makes them feel valued. Laughing together does the same thing. Where and when in your school are there opportunities to raise resilience by having fun?

  Teachers have a responsibility to do what they can to look after their own well-being, of course, but for every school leader wanting the best for their school, students and staff, making whole-school well-being a core priority is a no-brainer!

   

  For more information about the EdCan Network’s Educator Well-Being: A Key To Student Success Symposium

   

  Photo: Rob Newell, courtesy West Vancouver Schools

  First published in Education Canada, September 2017

  ---

  Notes

  1 T. Noble, H. McGrath, S. Roffey, and L. Rowling, A Scoping Study on Student Well-being (Canberra, ACT: Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations, 2008).

  2 S. Roffey, “Ordinary Magic Needs Ordinary Magicians: The power and practice of positive relationships for building youth resilience and well-being,” Kognition & Paedagogik 103 (2017): 38-57.

  3 S. Michie and A. Cockcroft, “Overwork Can Kill,” British Journal of Medicine 312 (1996): 921- 922.

  4 B. Johnson, “Teacher-Student Relationships that Enhance Resilience at School: A micro-level analysis of students’ views,” British Journal of Guidance and Counselling 36, No. 4 (2008): 385-398.

  5 J. Hattie, Making Learning Visible: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement (London: Routledge, 2009).

  6 www.circlesolutionsnetwork.com

  7 B. Fredrickson, Positivity: Ground-breaking research to release your inner optimist and thrive (Oxford: OneWorld Publications, 2009).

  8 www.rcpch.ac.uk/system/files/protected/page/Five_ways_to_well-being-postcards.pdf

• Overcoming Barriers

  May 17, 2019 2:07 PM Comments Off on Overcoming Barriers

  The great majority of Canadian teachers support LGBTQ+ education. Considerably fewer have actually addressed LGBTQ+ issues in their classrooms. The authors explore what is holding teachers back, and what will help them move forward.

  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, Two-Spirit, queer, questioning and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ2+) youth are steadily gaining visibility in schools. For years, the prevailing wisdom encouraged silence on topics of sexual and gender diversity, but a profound cultural shift is underway that helps to ensure LGBTQ2+ youth receive the support they need to flourish in schools. The silence has broken and there is reason to be hopeful.

  We now have good advice and resources about how to help LGBTQ2+ youth. For instance, in his EdCan Network Fact Sheet¹ from October 2018, Dr. Kristopher Wells identifies four key factors that can make a positive difference for LGBTQ2+ students: inclusive curriculum, supportive teachers and school staff, comprehensive policies, and increasing visibility and inclusion across school communities.

  We’ve come a long way in the ten years since the First National Climate Survey² found little evidence of LGBTQ2+ education in Canadian schools, but there is still a lot to be done. Even with strong advocates providing research-based evidence and resources that embody best practices about providing safe and accepting schools for LGBTQ2+ students, we find educators are sometimes still hesitant to engage in LGBTQ2+-inclusive practices in schools.

  When we surveyed 3,400 K-12 educators for the Every Teacher Project on LGBTQ-Inclusive Education in Canadian Schools in 2013,³ we found that the majority showed strong support personally and professionally for LGBTQ2+ topics and education, but that fewer were actually engaging with them in their classrooms. (See Figure 1.)

  

  The question is why? Why the difference between educators’ values and their practices?

  Every Teacher Project participants identified five main types of barriers that kept them from including LGBTQ2+ related content at all, or integrating it more fully into their teaching practice. By naming the misconceptions and fears educators identify, we want to validate that these feelings and thoughts do exist for many of us and are very real barriers inhibiting our practice. Some fears and apprehensions are well founded. In talking through the fears that educators have expressed, we also have an opportunity to develop a way to move forward.

  BARRIER 1: Perceived need for more training, information and/or resources

  Fearing that they lacked appropriate training, information, or resources was the most common reason educators provided (33% indicated this held them back from addressing LGBTQ2+ issues). In many ways, this is good news, as it is a barrier that can be readily addressed. With administrative support and prioritization, professional development (PD) training opportunities can be provided, curriculum can be adapted to include LGBTQ2+ content, and resources can be developed and integrated into course materials and school culture. Stakeholders from across the school system, from teacher education programs to departments/ministries and teacher organizations, can all take a role in providing training opportunities and resources. Further, administration can support LGBTQ2+-inclusive education by ensuring that all educators and all staff members in their districts/divisions, schools or regions are provided with training.

  Providing training, information and resources also clearly communicates to educators and staff that LGBTQ2+-inclusive education is important. This has the potential to address any concerns educators may have that their administration or school community does not support LGBTQ2+-inclusive education – which we discuss in further detail below.

  BARRIER 2: Fear of impact on students

  One in three educators (31%) identified student-based reasons for not addressing LGBTQ2+ topics, such as “my students are too young” (20%) and “I don’t want to embarrass LGBTQ2+ students” (10%). Again, this is a concern that can be readily addressed through training, information and resources. There is age-appropriate content at all levels, from discussions of different kinds of families in early years to discussions of healthy sexuality and sex education in upper years. Again, PD training opportunities and curriculum resources can clearly address these apprehensions and communicate support for LGBTQ2+-inclusive education.

  BARRIER 3: Fear of parent/guardian, community or religious opposition

  Many teachers and educators have heard stories about parent/guardian, community, or religious groups staging protests or objecting vocally and publicly about LGBTQ2+ inclusion. While we do not want to deny that these complaints or moments of opposition occur, we do want to provide some perspective. Looking to the research, we see that of those educators who have included LGBTQ2+ content, only one in five (19%) received any complaints, and of those who did receive complaints, 72% reported that they had been supported by their principal or administration. Only about one in 20 educators who included LGBTQ2+ content had received a complaint without experiencing the support of school officials.

  Religious school contexts make the situation more challenging, but not dramatically so: educators in Catholic schools were only slightly more likely to receive complaints than those in non-religious schools (22% Catholic vs. 18% secular), and educators were only slightly less likely to support LGBTQ2+-inclusive education (83% Catholic vs. 85% secular). However, educators in Catholic schools were much more likely to report that a lack of training prevented them from practicing LGBTQ2+-inclusive education (29% Catholic vs. 17% secular).

  Community opposition can be a very real barrier, and “reading” one’s community climate is important. But there are also supportive individuals, both within the school and outside it. There are allies among students, parents/guardians, community members, colleagues and administration – particularly when backed by legislation, policy, training or clearly communicated messages of support from your school or district/division.

  BARRIER 4: Fear of career repercussions

  One in five educators (21%) agreed with the statement, “Discussing LGBTQ issues with my students would jeopardize my job.” (This was exacerbated for LGBTQ2+ educators, with 34% agreeing their job would be in jeopardy). Job status also affected educators’ readiness to address LGBTQ2+ topics (e.g. 28% of those on term contracts reported that their lack of a permanent contract prevented them). Fear of career repercussions can be a very real barrier, but it is one that principals, superintendents and policy-makers or legislators can address by clearly communicating support for LGBTQ2+-inclusive education throughout the school system.

  For example, legislation exists in some provinces/territories and ministry/department of education policy exists in others that provides guidelines about what is expected of educators regarding LGBTQ2+ protections and inclusions. However, legislation and policy may not be enough to assuage the fears or anxieties of all employees. There is a clear need for school system administration to articulate and endorse LGBTQ2+ inclusion to create a culture of support throughout the system. With the backing of integrated supports, such as clear policies, PD opportunities, and availability of resources, administration can dispel fears that educators may be disciplined for engaging in LGBTQ2+-inclusive practices.

  BARRIER 5: Fear of opposition from within the school community

  A barrier reported by a smaller number of participants was opposition from within their school community (14%), such as opposition from school administration (6%), school trustees (4%) and/or colleagues (4%). The easiest way for educators and administrators to address these apprehensions among their colleagues is to find opportunities to make their own support for LGBTQ2+ people and LGBTQ2+-inclusive education clear. Some school districts/divisions and some teacher organizations have organized GSA-style support networks or groups for educators. Teacher organizations offer support for all teachers in many ways – from PD opportunities and training to resources and employment protections – not least of which is informational. They can certainly tell educators what legislative supports exist in their province/territory and what policies are in place (either at the local level of your school board/district/division or at the provincial/territorial level), and can offer advice about resources or LGBTQ2+ practices.

  

  Although these fears are sometimes groundless, whether well-founded or not they can act as real barriers to providing the supports that LGBTQ2+ students need. But it is worth reminding ourselves that virtually all LGBTQ2+ youth experience apprehension and fear when they think about coming out or when they enter unsafe spaces: they aren’t sure how their friends, families, classmates and communities will react or how disclosing their identity might change their lives. Despite their fears, many LGBTQ2+ youth make that leap – and we need to support their courage by summoning it in ourselves.

  Educators should know that there is more support for this work than they may think. The long history of silence surrounding gender and sexual diversity in schools leaves the impression that many people do not support LGBTQ2+ inclusion in schools. In fact, the actual support for LGBTQ2+-inclusive education is higher than is often assumed. For instance, when asked about how confident they were that colleagues would support them if they wanted to address LGBTQ topics in the classroom, 67% of educators felt their colleagues would support them; comparatively, 85% of educators approved of LGBTQ2+-inclusive education. It is, of course, true that some people do not support it and will object, but they are in the minority. This is also true among students; in the First National Climate Survey, 58% of non-LGBTQ2+ students reported that they too were distressed when they witnessed homophobic harassment.⁵ These and other findings from our research suggest that there is unrealized and untapped support within the school community, among both colleagues and students.

  Getting started

  There are some relatively low-risk ways for educators and school officials to build a culture of support for LGBTQ2+-inclusive education.

  • Find or create opportunities to find support for and discuss LGBTQ2+-inclusive practices and visibility in schools. Establishing dialogue and finding ways to identify allies who are supportive of LGBTQ2+-inclusive education is an important step and can establish useful connections. Whether these are formal events or informal staff-room conversations, the result can be the same: finding supportive people and those who are interested in developing LGBTQ2+ practices in schools.

  • Provide professional development. PD opportunities are vital not only for developing capacity and confidence in LGBTQ2+-inclusive education, practices and advocacy, but to provide opportunities to clearly communicate support. Through PD opportunities, administration and educators working throughout the school system have an opportunity to establish themselves as allies and to identify LGBTQ2+-inclusive education as a priority in their schools. PD provides useful information, but more than this it communicates that LGBTQ2+ inclusion is a priority, authorizing educators to take action on these issues.

  • Listen to educators. When asked about what was needed in schools to help them do this work, teachers indicated a range of interventions would be helpful to them – from establishing safe spaces in their schools and identifying allies for LGBTQ2+ students, to having actively supportive administrators, access to training, and strategies for respectful inclusion of LGBTQ2+ topics and persons in curriculum and in school events/activities. (See Figure 3.) Looking back over the barriers that educators identified, we can see that this wish list of supports aligns with teachers’ fears and misconceptions and provides useful paths forward.
  • Use the available research. Research helps to tell us about what climate is like in schools and ways to engage effectively in LGBTQ2+-inclusive education. It is extremely helpful to find ways to support research on both a national level – such as in Egale Canada’s Second National Student Climate Survey on Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (currently in preparation; see https://egale.ca for more details) – and at a local level, such as within one’s own school district/division. Research from students and teachers provides clear evidence that can support advocacy efforts, policy development and legislation, and resource development.

  AS LGBTQ2+ STUDENTS gain visibility in schools, educators are increasingly recognizing the importance of providing safe, respectful and accepting schools and classrooms. The Every Teacher Project was conducted with the active support of every teacher organization in the publicly-funded school systems of Canada, which led to participation by thousands of teachers and made it the largest study on teachers’ perspectives on LGBTQ2+-inclusive education to date worldwide. While many teachers expressed apprehensions about how best to do this work, educators clearly support LGBTQ2+-inclusive education and they have identified what they need from their colleagues and administrators to do it well: support for those who are engaged in the work, encouragement through PD and capacity-building training, resources that support LGBTQ2+ inclusion, and clearly communicated support for the work at all levels of the school system.

  

   

    

  Photo: Dave Donald

  First published in Education Canada, May 2019

  ---

  Notes

  1 www.edcan.ca/articles/how-can-schools-support-lgbtq2-students

  2 C. Taylor, T. Peter, T., et al., Every Class in Every School: The first national climate survey on homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in Canadian schools. Final report (Toronto, ON: Egale Canada Human Rights Trust, 2011). www.uwinnipeg.ca/rise

  3 C. Taylor, T. Peter, C. Campbell, E. Meyer, J. Ristock, and D. Short, D. The Every Teacher Project on LGBTQ Inclusive Education in Canada’s K-12 Schools: Final report (Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Teachers’ Society, 2015). www.uwinnipeg.ca/rise

  4 While LGBTQ2+ is Education Canada’s “house style,” LGBTQ was used in the survey.

  5 Every Class in Every School: The first national climate survey, 2011.

• 5 Common Myths about LGBTQ2 Youth in Schools

  12:44 PM Comments Off on 5 Common Myths about LGBTQ2 Youth in Schools

  This infographic aims to provide the straight facts on LGBTQ2 youth by addressing the 5 most common myths and misconceptions that surround sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in schools.

  This infographic was inspired by a feature article by Dr. Kristopher Wells that recently appeared in Education Canada Magazine.

  The EdCan Network has also released a new Facts on Education fact sheet authored by renowned expert Dr. Kristopher Wells, entitled How can schools support LGBTQ2 students?, which offers evidence-based strategies on how we can make a positive difference for LGBTQ2 students in K-12 schools.

  In addition to the downloadable copy of the infographic, which can be posted in staff rooms and classrooms,  here are several practical resources available to support teachers in building their knowledge and confidence on this subject matter.

  Education Canada Magazine summer 2019 issue

  • Gender & Sexuality in our Schools

  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RESOURCES

  • To learn more about LGBTQ2 terms and definitions, please see EGALE Canada’s Glossary
  • Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports – Creating Inclusive Environments for Trans Participants in Canadian Sport: Guidance for Sport Organizations
  • Canadian National Trans Youth Health Survey
  • Canadian Teachers’ Federation – Diversity and Human Rights
  • Egale Canada
  • Gay-Straight Alliances
  • Gender Creative Kids
  • Journal of LGBT Youth
  • NoHomophobes.com
  • PFLAG Canada (for parents, families, and friends)
  • Pride Tape
  • RISE: Respect, Inclusion, Safety, Equity
  • SOGI 123
  • Teaching Sexual Health

  GOVERNMENT

  • National Apology to LGBTQ2 Canadians
  • Federal Government of Canada – Free To Be Me
  • Alberta – Guidelines for Best Practices: Creating Learning Environments That Respect Diverse Sexual Orientations, Gender Identities, and Gender Expressions
  • Manitoba – Supporting Transgender and Gender Diverse Students in Manitoba Schools
  • Newfoundland & Labrador – Guidelines for LGBTQ Inclusive Practices
  • Nova Scotia – Guidelines for Supporting Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students
  • Quebec – Mesures d’ouverture et de soutienenverslesjeunes trans et lesjeunesnonbinaires
  • Saskatchewan – Deepening the Discussion: Gender and Sexual Diversity

   

  iF INTERESTED IN PLACING A BULK ORDER (20 OR MORE) OF THE BILINGUAL INFOGRAPHIC PLEASE CONTACT PUBLICATIONS@EDCAN.CA FOR MORE INFORMATION.

  • Non-member rate: $3.75/each plus shipping and taxes.
  • Member rate: $2.75/each plus shipping and taxes.

• The Gender-Friendly Classroom

  11:26 AM Comments Off on The Gender-Friendly Classroom

  How can teachers welcome gender diversity every day? Lee Airton discusses how to establish classrooms where all of the ways that your students “do gender” are welcomed and expected, where no one is called out for their gender expression, and where no one is told by others that they are not who they are.

  Among researchers and educators focused on gender diversity in Canadian schools, there is certainly much to celebrate. We have a growing body of Canadian studies on how gender diversity is playing out in our contexts of practice. This is an incredible achievement, and a tool in successful advocacy for policy, curricular and legislative changes that stand to improve the lives of gender-diverse students in K-12 schools.

  As someone who is active this area, however, I have noticed that school boards tend to interpret their responsibilities in relation to gender diversity as a set of actions triggered by the presence of an out or openly self-identifying transgender student who is in an exceptional situation, usually either crisis or transition. By crisis, I mean experiencing harassment, violence or other situations in which the student is at risk. By transition, I mean beginning to live publicly as a person of their gender. When I review broadly-titled guideline documents for supporting gender-diverse students in public schools, I often find that they only instruct teachers, administrators and others on how to respond to these exceptional moments in the life of an out transgender student.

  Risks of “exceptionalizing” transgender students

  Of course, there are compelling reasons to devote time and energy to supporting out and openly self-identifying K-12 transgender students through exceptional situations, and a growing body of research shows what happens when we don’t. But I am concerned about the effects of constructing a school’s responsibility regarding gender diversity as only or mostly responding to exceptional situations. I think that this happens at the school level and filters up to the level of board-wide policymaking because exceptional situations are, by definition, outside of the school’s structures, routines and curricula. Responding to the exceptional doesn’t require changing business as usual or acknowledging that the status quo may contribute to the problems facing transgender and gender-diverse students.

  If school responsibility is thought to lie primarily in exceptional situations…

  Schools may realize that their climate does not welcome gender diversity only when a transgender student makes their presence known.

  I’ve read and heard many moving accounts from teachers about changing their practice once they realized they had a transgender student. These changes are vitally important, but I worry about the transgender and gender-diverse students who are already present in every single school, but whose transness isn’t apparent to the adults entrusted with their care. This is a vicious cycle, because if no visible efforts have been made to make a school climate more welcoming of gender diversity, it is unlikely that these students will voice who they are and access supports that they need in order to be and remain well at school. I’ll return to this problem momentarily.

  School administrators might see their responsibility as only applying to “binary” transgender students.

  A pathway of beginning to understand one’s self as transgender, pursuing social transition, beginning to live publicly in one’s gender at school and elsewhere, and then pursuing medical transition aligns with only some transgender peoples’ experiences: those who are often referred to as “binary,” i.e., who were assigned to one side of the sex/gender binary at birth but who are actually on the other side. This is a very common transgender pathway, but it is not at all the only one. Many transgender people do not fit neatly into one or the other of the binary boxes, including a growing number of transgender people who are nonbinary. If a school understands its responsibility to kick in only when a student comes out and experiences harassment or begins a gender transition (commonly assumed to bring someone from “one side” of the binary to the “other side”), then gender-diverse students whose experiences don’t fit these familiar patterns are less likely to have their needs recognized and met by school staff.

  Transgender-spectrum youth might be presumed to be necessarily at-risk.

  There is, in fact, tremendous diversity among transgender-spectrum people, including youth. We know, for example, that the life chances of transgender women of colour and Indigenous transgender women are drastically lower than those of transgender people who are white, middle-class, and masculine and/or men. Schools ought to be sensitive to these different degrees of risk. There is also a world of difference between the experiences of trans youth with family support and material privilege, versus trans youth with neither of these things. Furthermore, presuming trans students to be in crisis can be pathologizing.

  If there are no out transgender students at your school, it doesn’t mean they are not there. Rather, it means that they cannot come out and live who they are at school.

  For these reasons, I am committed to helping schools shift toward an everyday practice mindset in this area. How can teachers welcome gender diversity every day in classrooms, when there is no situation of crisis or transition? There is, thankfully, an abundance of resources on integrating gender diversity content into your curriculum.¹ There is also a wealth of experience in schools and school boards on supporting extracurricular activities like gender and sexuality alliances, or gender-inclusive athletics. In what follows, however, I go beyond the curricular and the extra-curricular to what you can do in the course of your everyday teaching to foster a gender-friendly classroom: where all of the ways that your students “do gender” are welcomed and expected, where no one is called out for their gender expression, and where no one is told by others that they are not who they are (i.e. their gender identity). Gender-friendliness is a practice that I discuss in my recent book, Gender: Your Guide – A gender-friendly primer on what to know, what to say and what to do in the new gender culture.

  Two axioms for the gender-friendly classroom

  When I work with teachers, I like to offer two axioms to help us get out of an “exceptional situation” mindset and into an everyday practice mindset. These axioms are:

  1. Teach like it’s a given that all of your students’ relationships with gender are ambivalent and will change over time.

  This axiom is important because gender norms and expectations are a source of anxiety for all students, including cisgender (non-transgender) boys and girls. It is common for young cisgender people to live or express their gender differently from parent or community standards, or to question whether and how they want to participate in their community’s gendered milestones or traditions. Every girl or woman’s degree and experience of femininity will fluctuate across time, and the same is true of boys and men in terms of masculinity. How each of us does gender also changes as we move between the gym, faith-based congregations, formal events, and the workplace, etc. Keeping this first axiom in mind can help teachers to broaden the focus of their gender-inclusive practice in a way that does not predetermine which students need this support and which don’t; if you are teaching as if every student (cisgender and transgender alike) will bump up against rigid expectations, then you are taking care of everyone and also not making assumptions about who a transgender student will be. This is important because the transgender spectrum will continue to expand (reflecting what has always been there but in recent centuries was driven underground), and our transgender-spectrum students’ needs will also continue to change and evolve.

  2. Teach like you already have transgender-spectrum students, or students with transgender-spectrum friends, family or loved ones, in your classroom.

  This second axiom speaks to a common assumption that if there are transgender students in a school or class, teachers and administrators already know. In reality, not every transgender-spectrum student is out or apparent to others around them as transgender.

  If there are no out transgender students at your school, it doesn’t mean they are not there. Rather, it means that they cannot come out and live who they are at school. We know they can’t because they don’t. Not being open in who we are isn’t very liveable for transgender people; if we can come out, we generally do. In fact, when I work with teachers and administrators who have students who have come out as transgender in their schools, I ask them to cultivate a well-deserved feeling of honour and pride: they have been given a tremendous gift of trust because the transgender students there have come out at all. There may also be students who will come to realize that they are somewhere on the transgender spectrum later on, but were questioning or uncomfortable about their assigned gender when they were in your classroom or school.

  How can you follow through on these axioms in your classroom? The four practices on the following pages can be integrated into your teaching right away and with minimal preparation. Each practice aims to help transgender and/or gender non-conforming (TG) students – even if you do not know they are there – to feel expected and therefore respected, not invisible.

  Four everyday practices

  Practice 1: Creating moments of dissonance

  By creating moments of dissonance, you are helping all of your students get used to having their gendered expectations countered. This can help them get ready to welcome everyone’s changes in how they do gender over time, including peers who are markedly gender non-conforming or who come out as transgender, but also including their own changes.

  • Use questioning and gentle skepticism to disrupt normative claims. For example:

  “I don’t understand. Why would that be weird if she did that?”

  “Hmm. Can you explain to me why he can’t play with you? I don’t understand.”

  • Apply unexpected pronouns to characters in books or images of people in curriculum resources; question students who correct you or who apply a binary gender pronoun (he or she). For example:

  “Why are we saying she/her for that person? Couldn’t that person have he/him or they/them pronouns?”

  “Why are we saying he/him for someone in that role? Can’t women also be [principals, firefighters, CEOs]?”

  “Sometimes our assumptions about a person’s pronouns are incorrect; it can be a better idea to say ‘they’ until we know.”

  • Help your students rethink their rigid gender generalizations on the spot by sharing a fact that you know to be real and true for many people. For example:

  “I don’t know if getting married in a big frilly wedding dress is for me.”

  “I don’t think we can generalize about men’s and women’s parenting roles. When my friend Peter and his wife had their first baby, Peter stayed home when his wife went back to work and he really enjoyed it.”

  Practice 2: Making and modeling good mistakes

  By publicly correcting your mistakes, you are helping your students learn to expect gender diversity as the norm, not the exception. Don’t let your mistakes go by, as these can contribute to the hidden curriculum of gender – that is, add to all of the messages children and youth receive that gender is necessarily binary and rigid, for everyone. Rather, make your mistakes visible and teach a more accurate lesson about the many different ways people live gender.

  • Draw attention to your own assumptions about peoples’ pronouns, in a way that models a gentle correction (not a big deal): “Oops. I shouldn’t have assumed that she/her are this author’s pronouns. Can anyone find a source to help me get it right?”
  • If you say the wrong pronoun for someone whose pronoun you do know or who is known to your students, say sorry, re-phrase, and move on, neutrally. Model this on purpose with a character in a book or a public figure.
  • Draw attention to when you have put someone in a gender box, and talk about why that wasn’t a good thing to do: “Uh oh! I should have directed that person to all of the different washrooms we have, including the accessible gender-neutral one, and not just the men’s washroom. It’s not my place to assume what other people need.”

  Practice 3: Owning your gender-unfriendly content

  By owning your own gender-unfriendly content, or drawing attention to your own curriculum resources, etc. that do notwelcome gender diversity, you are helping your students to develop this critical eye. They might even come to correct you! You can introduce a gender-unfriendly resource on purpose to allow this conversation to happen. In my courses at Queen’s, I focus on teaching pre-service teachers not just how to use resources about transgender people or that are explicitly critical of gender stereotypes, but to use any resource to do this work. Here is what gender-unfriendly content can look like:

  • Elementary: Your resource shows only gender-conforming girls and boys, or genders characters (like teapots and candles) unnecessarily. Here are examples for read-alouds:

  “Why do you think the author wants us to say ‘he/him’ for that monster? I’m not sure it makes sense for a monster to be called ‘him’! Why can’t they use they/them instead?”

  “These are good books, but they don’t include everyone. And they make us think that there are only two ways to do gender. I’m going to work hard to find other books that correct this mistake.”

  “Did you notice that this book only has the boys carrying heavy boxes on moving day? Hmm. I might not read that again. Let’s see if I can find a book where gender doesn’t stop people from helping out.”

  • Secondary: Your subject’s essential content excludes transgender lives and experiences, or you have to share data that makes transgender people invisible or even unthinkable. Here are some ways that a secondary biology teacher might own their gender un-friendly content:

  Good: “We’re going to learn about cancer today, focusing on breast and cervical cancers as examples. But the research on this generally isn’t inclusive of transgender people, some of whom have breasts or a cervix but are not women. This means that many people who may be at risk for these cancers aren’t included in this research.”

  Better: Say the above, and lead a discussion –“How might excluding transgender people from research in this area put them at risk?” – or add resources: “If you’re interested, I’ve put two studies in our online folder looking at cervical cancer rates in transgender men.”

  Best: Re-write your lesson so that it incorporates transgender-related content (including barriers to accessing care) alongside mainstream content, in a tone that says “this is part of learning about this topic” and is not exceptionalizing.

  Practice 4: Coming out yourself as a person with a gender

  By coming out as a person with a gender, you are helping your students to see gender as something that is a process for everyone across our lives, including someone they respect and look to for guidance: you. Here I am speaking particularly to cisgender (non-transgender) teachers. Transgender teachers are very often objects of learning and discussion for students, whether we choose to leverage our stories or not. If you are cisgender and/or gender-conforming, you can make your own relationship with gender visible and a tool in your gender-friendly teaching toolkit.

  • Gently correct students who attribute gendered interests or life choices to you due to your gender identity (e.g. child-raising, sports-liking).
  • “Signpost” your own gender pronouns, even if no one has ever gotten them wrong. Don’t force your students to do this, as many school contexts still cannot hold safe a student who makes an unexpected pronoun disclosure. Here is a sample script for the first day of class: “Hi there, I’m [title/name] and my pronouns are [x].” Later you can say, “Earlier today, I shared my pronouns, which are [x]. I want to invite anyone who has questions about that, or who wants to speak to me about their own pronouns, to come see me.”
  • Tell your gender story in bits and pieces during everyday conversation. Model gender happiness by sharing what you do like about being your gender, or about expectations for people who share your gender identity. Model ambivalence by sharing what you don’t like so much. Model change, or what you did/liked in the past but less so now, or that you might like/do otherwise in the future.

  I’m confident that you can think of other practices to integrate into your ordinary teaching day that do the kind of work these four represent. When you set out to make gender-friendly changes, remember that you are always doing two things. First, you’re letting transgender-spectrum and gender nonconforming students know that you see us, and that you are thinking about the ways in which school can be challenging or even unsafe for us. Second, you are helping all students – transgender and cisgender – develop the capacities they need to help you create and sustain your gender-friendly climate, for everyone.

   

  NEW! Discussion Kit

  Download the pro-learning session, Welcoming Gender Diversity in Schools and Classrooms.

   

  Photo: iStock

  First published in Education Canada, June 2019

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  1 See, for example:

  • www.actioncanadashr.org/beyondthebasics
  • https://teachingsexualhealth.ca/teachers/sexual-health-education/information-by-topic/sexual-orientation-gender-identity
  • http://thegrovecommunityschool.ca/gender-splendour

• The Straight Facts

  8:44 AM Comments Off on The Straight Facts

  The time has come for educators and concerned parents to start challenging the myths and misinformation circulating about LGBTQ2 youth with facts that are based in evidence and research, to break through the fear and silence that still surrounds LGBTQ2-inclusive education in our schools.

  In 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Since that time, our nation has taken great strides towards the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and two-spirit (LGBTQ2) people in Canadian society. Despite these progressive moves forward, students in our K-12 school system still experience significant bullying, harassment, violence, and discrimination. In particular, our transgender, two-spirit, and LGBTQ2 youth of colour often face some of the most hostile and uninviting environments. Much of this discrimination and prejudice is rooted in stereotypes, fear, and misinformation that continues to be perpetuated by those opposed to LGBTQ2 equality.

  This article provides the straight facts on LGBTQ2 youth by addressing the eight most common myths and misconceptions that surround sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in schools.

  1. It’s just a phase

  Being LGBTQ2 is an identity, not a choice, lifestyle, or phase someone grows out of. Nor does someone become LGBTQ2 because they were physically or sexually abused as a child. Much of this misinformation is rooted in the belief that LGBTQ2 people are abnormal, disordered, or mentally ill. No credible medical or psychological association in the world continues to validate these harmful stereotypes. In fact, sexual orientation and gender identity are considered to be so complex that the exact origins are unknown. However, what is widely known is that any attempts to “fix,” “cure,” or “repair” a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity is not only unethical and unprofessional, it can cause great harm and lifelong damage.

  Children report being aware of their gender differences at early ages. Research shows that youth who later identified as transgender or gender diverse reported first recognizing their gender identity as different at an average age of 8.5 years old.¹ Sexual orientation is also identified early for many young people. On average, lesbian, gay, or bisexual youth become aware of their different sexual orientations around age ten, yet often do not “come out” and share this information until about age 15 or 16.

  Unfortunately, prejudice, discrimination, stigma, and fear all contribute to youth feeling they have to hide or deny who they are.

  2. You can tell who LGBTQ2 youth are

  I once had a school principal say to me, “There are no gay or lesbian youth in my school.” What this principal didn’t realize is that there were no visible LGBTQ2 youth in the school, most likely because it was not a safe place. Visibility and safety are tightly interwoven together, especially in any school-related context.

  The belief that you can tell who LGBTQ2 youth are by simply looking at or by listening to them is based in old, unfounded stereotypes and beliefs. Just as not all gay men are hairdressers, and not all lesbians are truck drivers, not all transgender kids are gender non-conforming or cross dress. These stereotypes are rooted in powerful beliefs about gender and how young people should express their gender identity in typically masculine or feminine ways. For example, little boys who like to dance or do ballet are often called “sissies” or “faggots.” Girls who like to play sports or climb trees are frequently called “lesbos” or “dykes.” In these examples, homophobic bullying is used as a weapon of sexism, targeting children who are deemed to be different from the norm. These kinds of stereotypical beliefs often keep young people trapped in “gender boxes,” which serve to regulate and limit the full expression of their identities, hopes, and dreams.

  3. LGBTQ2 youth are too flamboyant

  “Why can’t you just keep it to yourself? Why do you have to flaunt it? If you didn’t wear those clothes, this bullying wouldn’t happen to you.” These are all-too-common messages that many LGBTQ2 youth hear on a regular basis. This victim-blaming positions LGBTQ2 youth as a problem that needs to be fixed, rather than focusing on the environment of homophobia, transphobia, and heteronormativity that creates a climate where it is OK to discriminate against and target those who are perceived to be different.

  A person’s sexual orientation or gender identity is often still thought of as an invisible difference that can or should be hidden. But at what cost? The cost to LGBTQ2 youth when they feel they can’t be out and visible is well documented. Having to hide or deny who you are can lead to depression, self-harm, increased use of drugs and alcohol, and suicide ideation.

  Sadly, in Canada, the three most targeted groups for hate crimes are the Black, Jewish, and LGBTQ2 community. Here we can clearly see the impacts of racism, anti-Semitism, and homophobia and transphobia. Of all the hate crimes committed, the ones that are the most violent in nature, and often require serious medical attention, are targeted toward LGBTQ2 people. This illustrates the power of stereotypes and the processes of dehumanization that position some individuals not as people, but as objects to be hated and destroyed.

  No one should be targeted or discriminated against because of who they are, how they act, or whom they love.

  4. Parents have the right to know

  There is no doubt that parents play an extremely critical role in the health and well-being of their children. Research indicates having a supportive family is one of the most important resiliency factors in the lives of all young people. Without strong parental support, many LGBTQ2 youth experience poor psychological well-being, lower self-esteem, increased post-traumatic stress disorder, and much higher rates of suicide.

  Recently there has been significant debate about parents having the “right to know” if their child comes out as LGBTQ2 at school. Some parents suggest that they should be immediately notified, for example, if their child attends a gay-straight alliance (GSA). Others maintain that it should always be up to the child to determine who should know about their sexual orientation or gender identity.

  LGBTQ2 youth should always have the right to “come out” on their own terms and only when they are ready to share that important part of their identity. In some provinces, it is a breach of privacy legislation to disclose a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity without their direct permission. The consequences of “outing,” or unwanted disclosure, can be life-altering. For example, research indicates that between 20-40 percent of all homeless youth are LGBTQ2. In Edmonton, recent statistics indicate that more than 70 percent of youth at one emergency youth shelter identify as LGBTQ2. Sadly, parental rejection is one of the leading causes of youth homelessness. For some LGBTQ2 youth, places like GSAs may be the only safe spaces that they have in their lives.

  Ultimately, if a parent wants to know about their child’s sexual orientation or gender identity, all they have to do is ask them. If they are ready, children will gladly tell their parents. If they are not ready or don’t feel safe doing so, no child should be forced to come out. Likewise, no professional should ever share a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity without their direct permission. In fact, unwanted disclosure could be considered an act of unprofessional conduct with serious repercussions.

  5. Gender-neutral bathrooms create unsafe environments

  As the visibility of transgender youth has increased rapidly in mainstream culture, conversely, opposition to the inclusion of transgender students in schools has risen dramatically over the past several years. This opposition has been led by parental rights groups, far-right political parties, some conservative religious organizations, and even a few vocal school board trustees. One of the main arguments against trans-inclusive school policies is the creation of a perceived “loophole” for sexual predators to gain access to female-only spaces such as washrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams. The common refrain heard is that “men don’t belong in women’s bathrooms!” These opponents to trans-inclusion often frame their beliefs in opposition to what they perceive as “radical liberal political correctness,” and call for a return to traditional “family values,” which position and privilege cisgender heterosexual families as the moral bedrock of society.

  Historical movements once designed to oppress and counter the advancement of lesbian and gay people have now changed tactics to focus on transgender people, especially in schools. While the focus of these oppressive movements has shifted, the tactics remain the same, with an emphasis on the potential harms of LGBTQ-inclusive policies and curriculum on vulnerable and impressionable children. The goal is to create a “gender panic,” largely fed by emotionally fueled stereotypes and sensationalized claims about transgender people. Similar tactics, for example, were used to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada with outlandish statements suggesting that legalizing gay marriage would lead to bestiality and the collapse of the family unit – none of which, naturally, have come true.

  These arguments lack empirical validity. What research does clearly tell us is that fears of increased safety and privacy violations associated with trans-inclusive laws or policies are not empirically based.² In other words, the claims of predators in girls’ bathrooms are a myth based more in transphobia and hysteria than any presumed reality.

  By not having explicit trans-inclusive policies in schools, the real risk is to transgender students.³ Many who continue to be misgendered and made to feel unsafe in their schools, are scared to go to the bathroom (which can lead to serious health complications), and/or view their schools as spaces that do not support them.

  Thankfully, every province and territory in Canada, and over 20 states in the U.S., have now passed non-discrimination laws or ordinances that explicitly include gender identity. Many Canadian provincial ministries of education have also issued best practices to support trans and gender-diverse students in schools.

  6. School policies already protect everyone

  A common argument is that LGBTQ2-specific policies are unnecessary, because anti-bullying policies already include everyone. Singling out LGBTQ2 students gives them special treatment that is not afforded to other students. This “one size fits all” approach to policy making is popular, but seldom effective in actually reducing risk and improving the safety and educational outcomes of marginalized students. For example, most school districts now have comprehensive standalone policies in place to support Indigenous students. Educators understand that because of colonization, historical trauma, the legacy of residential schools, and ongoing discrimination in society, Indigenous students have unique needs and concerns that ought to be recognized and supported by all members of the school community.

  Research demonstrates that generic or “catch all” policies are not effective when it comes to supporting LGBTQ2 youth in schools. Effective policies must be clear and comprehensive if they are going to have the desired impact. For example, how do school trustees and administrators expect policies to work effectively if they can’t even say or use the words LGBTQ2? This form of structural invisibility, or silencing, tells LGBTQ2 students that their identities do not matter.

  Thankfully, the vast majority of Canadian educators (85 percent) support LGBTQ2-inclusive education, including 83 percent of Catholic educators.⁴ However, far fewer educators (37 percent) report knowing how to create LGBTQ2-inclusive classrooms. This policy-to-practice gap shows that policies need to be supported by high-quality professional development and robust implementation plans if they are actually going to be effective in changing school culture and improving student outcomes. This is why many school districts in Canada have adopted the SOGI 123 (www.sogieducation.org) program to help equip educators with the knowledge, tools, and resources necessary to build inclusive school environments for LGBTQ2 students and families.

  7. All schools are safe spaces

  Ideally, yes, it would be great if all schools were safe spaces and all teachers were allies for LGBTQ2 students. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. The Every Teacher Project (2015) found that almost half of all Canadian educators surveyed (49 percent) heard homonegative comments (e.g. “That’s so gay”) weekly in their school.⁵ One in five (22 percent) reported that other teachers were using that same homonegative language at school. Likewise, when teachers hear homonegative comments in their classrooms, yet say nothing, their silence can signal consent to the discrimination. This silence sends a powerful message to LGBTQ2 students that their teacher may not be a safe person to reach out to for support.

  To help break this silence, some school boards now require each school to appoint a “safe contact” who acts as a public resource person on LGBTQ2 issues. Often these safe contacts serve as advisors to the school’s gay-straight alliance (GSA). Gay-straight alliances are another important way to create safe spaces and to identify trusted teachers who can serve as important allies for LGBTQ2 students. Some provinces, like Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta, have passed legislation to support a student’s legal right to start a GSA in their school. This legislation has led to a strong and growing GSA movement across Canada, which includes the creation of many new GSAs in private, Catholic, and faith-based schools.

  Research demonstrates that in schools with GSAs, students report more supportive teachers and administrators who “made a real difference in their lives.”⁶ Students also reported increased friendships and fewer physical, psychological, and behavioural health concerns. Conversely, in schools without a GSA, students reported feeling more socially isolated and having fewer friendships.

  It is clear that the more supportive practices a school has in place, such as comprehensive LGBTQ2 policies, safe contacts, and GSAs, the less homophobic bullying students experience and the more connected and supported LGBTQ2 students feel.⁷ GSAs, LGBTQ2-inclusive curriculum, and high-quality professional development all help to create a school culture that welcomes, affirms, and celebrates LGBTQ2 students as an important and valued part of the school community.

  8. Sexual health education is inclusive of all students

  In many schools, LGBTQ2 issues are completely omitted from sexual health education classes. This often happens because of personal discomfort, embarrassment, lack of training, and fear of parental backlash. There is a common misconception that by talking about sex, youth will have more of it; or that by including LGBTQ2 issues, youth will experiment and become gay. In reality, considerable research has shown that abstinence-based education actually serves to increase pregnancy and rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Likewise, no one becomes gay by talking about LGBTQ2 issues. What we do know is that sexual health education should be comprehensive (which means LGBTQ2 inclusive), age-appropriate (with key concepts and terminology differentiated by grade level), science-based (with evidence-based facts), and non-judgmental (not steeped in one person’s or culture’s beliefs).

  Unfortunately, STIs and HIV are on the rise among youth in Canada. These are only some of the critical reasons demonstrating why comprehensive sexual health education is urgently needed in today’s schools. As an example, Quebec now requires all students to take sexual health education classes and offers very few grounds for exemption, while Alberta has the opposite approach and provides parents with the legal right to opt their child out of any sexual health classes without providing any reason.

  The reality is that the vast majority of students want inclusive sexual health education, not from their parents but from their teachers. They trust their teachers to provide them with accurate information that is free from bias, prejudice, and stigma. And many schools are now approaching sexual health education as a public health imperative, with the belief that providing students with high quality, non-judgmental information is the best way to reduce risk and promote healthy relationships for all students.

  Research demonstrates that hostile school climates and school victimization can have significant negative academic and psychological impacts on LGBTQ2 students – sometimes with lifelong consequences.⁸ Sadly, suicide is still one of the leading causes of death for LGBTQ2 youth who have been taught to hate themselves or have been bullied to death. No child should have to go to school in fear.

  The time has come for all educators and concerned parents to start challenging the myths and misinformation circulating about LGBTQ2 youth with facts that are based in evidence and research. We must use these truths to break through the fear and silence that still surrounds LGBTQ2-inclusive education in our schools. Every child should have the right to be themselves fully and completely. Perhaps the greatest gift we can give our LGBTQ2 children is to tell them: we see you, we love you, and we support you.

   

  Transgender Youth: The stats

  Research estimates that between .07% to 2.7% of the youth population identifies as transgender.

  The 2015 Canadian Trans Youth Health Survey Report, which included 923 trans-identified youth from across Canada, found that:

  • Two-thirds experienced incidents of discrimination because of their gender identity
  • More than 70% were victims of sexual harassment
  • Nearly half of older transgender youth (18-24) reported cyber bullying
  • Nearly two-thirds engaged in self-harming behaviours in the past year
  • More than 1 in 3 attempted suicide
  • 70% reported their families did not understand them.

  LGBTQ2 Terms and Definitions

  Language and identities are constantly evolving, especially among youth communities. If you’re unsure what a term means, just ask!

  Cisgender: A person whose gender identity and sex assigned at birth are congruent.

  GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance or Gender-Sexuality Alliance): Student organizations found in many K-12 schools that create safe and supportive places for LGBTQ2 students and their allies.

  Gender Diverse/Gender Non-Conforming/Non-Binary: A person whose gender identity and/or gender expression do not conform to the norms and stereotypes society expects of their assigned sex. Youth may identify with neither or both genders.

  Gender Identity: A sense of one’s self as transgender, genderqueer, woman, man, or some other identity, which may or may not correspond with the sex and gender one is assigned at birth.

  Heteronormativity: A system or cultural bias that works, often unconsciously, to normalize behaviours and societal expectations that are tied to the presumption of heterosexuality and an adherence to a strict gender binary.

  Homonegativity: Negative attitudes towards lesbian, gay, and bisexual people and relationships.

  LGBTQ2: An initialism for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit. Sexual and gender minorities is a synonymous term. LGBTQ2+ adds a “plus sign” to represent other constellations of identities such as asexual, pansexual, questioning, etc.

  Misgendering: Attributing a gender to someone that is incorrect/does not align with their gender identity. Can occur when using pronouns, gendered language (e.g. “Hello ladies!” “Hey guys”), or assigning genders to people without knowing how they identify (“Well, since we’re all women in this room, we understand…”).

  Rainbow Flag: An international symbol of the LGBTQ2 movement designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978. Each of the six colours has a unique meaning. Red for life. Orange for healing. Yellow for sunlight. Green for nature. Blue for serenity. Purple for spirit.

  Sexual Orientation: Feelings of attraction, behaviour, intimacy, or identification that direct people toward intimacy with others.

  Transgender/Trans: A person whose gender identity does not align with their sex assigned at birth.

  Two-Spirit: A spiritual identity for some Indigenous people. This term implies the embodiment of both masculine and feminine spiritual qualities within the same body, and has different meanings for different Indigenous communities. Some Indigenous people use this term instead of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, etc.

   

  NEW! Discussion Kit

  Download the pro-learning session, Understanding Myths and Misconceptions about LGBTQ2 Youth at School.

   

  Photo: iStock

  First published in Education Canada, June 2019

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  1 J. Rafferty, AAP Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, AAP Committee on Adolescence, & AAP Section on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health and Wellness,“Ensuring Comprehensive Care and Support for Transgender and Gender Diverse Children and Adolescents,” Pediatrics 142, no. 4 (2018): 1-14.

  2 A. Hasenbush, A. R. Flores, and J. L. Herman, “Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Laws in Public Accommodations: A review of evidence regarding safety and privacy in public restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms,” Sexuality Research and Policy Review 16, no. 1 (2018): 70-83.

  3 J. Veale, E. Saewyc, H. Frohard-Dourlent, et al., and the Canadian Trans Youth Health Survey Research Group, Being Safe, Being Me: Results of the Canadian Trans Youth Health Survey (Vancouver, BC: Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre, School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, 2015).

  4 C. Taylor, T. Peter, C. Campbell, et al., The Every Teacher Project on LGBTQ-Inclusive Education in Canada’s K-12 Schools: Final report (Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Teachers’ Society, 2015).

  5 Taylor et. al., 2015.

  6 T. Fetner and A. Elafros, “The GSA Difference: LGBTQ and ally experiences in high schools with and without gay-straight alliances,” Social Sciences 4 (2015): 563-581.

  7 K. Wells, How Can Schools Support LGBTQ2 Students? (Fact Sheet: EdCan Network, 2018). www.edcan.ca/articles/how-can-schools-support-lgbtq2-students

  8 K. Wells, “Generation Queer: Sexual minority youth and Canadian schools,” Education Canada 48, no. 1 (Winter 2008): 18-23.

• Understanding Myths and Misconceptions about LGBTQ2 Youth at School

  8:43 AM Comments Off on Understanding Myths and Misconceptions about LGBTQ2 Youth at School

  In reference to the article The Straight Facts: Eight Common Myths and Misconceptions about LGBTQ2 Youth

  By Dr. Kristopher Wells

   

  ASK OUR EXPERTS

  AIM: TO ENCOURAGE INTERACTION WITH RESEARCHERS

  Does your group still have burning questions or comments? Encourage them to connect with Dr. Kristopher Wells, lead author for the article on which this discussion guide is based.

  Email: kristopher.wells@macewan.ca

  Or, send us your message and we’ll make sure one of our experts gets in touch.

• Welcoming Gender Diversity in Schools and Classrooms

  8:29 AM Comments Off on Welcoming Gender Diversity in Schools and Classrooms

  In reference to the article The Gender-Friendly Classroom: Practical advice for teachers on welcoming gender diversity every day

  By Dr. Lee Airton

   

  Key Definitions from the Ontario Human Rights Commission

  Gender identity: each person’s internal and individual experience of gender. It is a person’s sense of being a woman, a man, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum. A person’s gender identity may be the same as or different from their birth-assigned sex.

  For most people, their sex and gender identity align. For some, it does not. A person may be born male but identify as a woman, or born female but identify as a man. Other people may identify outside the categories of woman/man, or may see their gender identity as fluid and moving between different genders at different times in their life.

  Gender expression: how a person publicly presents or expresses their gender. This can include behaviour and outward appearance such as dress, hair, make-up, body language and voice. A person’s chosen name and pronoun are also common ways people express their gender. Others perceive a person’s gender through these attributes.

  All people, regardless of their gender identity, have a gender expression and they may express it in any number of ways. For trans people, their chosen name, preferred pronoun and apparel are common ways they express their gender. People who are trans may also take medically supportive steps to align their body with their gender identity.

  Trans or transgender: an umbrella term that describes people with diverse gender identities and gender expressions that do not conform to stereotypical ideas about what it means to be a girl/woman or boy/man in society. “Trans” can mean transcending beyond, existing between, or crossing over the gender spectrum. It includes but is not limited to people who identify as transgender, transsexual, cross dressers or gender non-conforming (gender variant or gender queer).

  “Trans” includes people whose gender identity is different from the gender associated with their birth-assigned sex. Trans people may or may not undergo medically supportive treatments, such as hormone therapy and a range of surgical procedures, to align their bodies with their internally felt gender identity.

  People who have transitioned from one gender to another may simply identify as female or male. Others may also identify as trans, as a trans woman or a trans man. Some people may identify as trans and not use the labels “female” or “male.” Others may identify as existing between male and female or in different ways beyond the binary of male/female.

  Trans people may identify their gender in many ways. There is no single or universal experience of what it means to be trans. As a result, different trans people face distinct forms of discrimination in society, and this may relate to whether they identify as male, female, a person with a trans history, a person in the process of transitioning, a trans man, trans woman, transsexual, or gender non-conforming.

   

  Source: Ontario Human Rights Commission. “Appendix B: Glossary for understanding gender identity and expression.” Accessible from http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/policy-preventing-discrimination-because-gender-identity-and-gender-expression/appendix-b-glossary-understanding-gender-identity-and-expression

   

  ASK OUR EXPERTS

  AIM: TO ENCOURAGE INTERACTION WITH RESEARCHERS

  Does your group still have burning questions or comments? Encourage them to connect with Dr. Lee Airton, lead author for the article on which this discussion guide is based: www.genderyourguide.com

  www.leeairton.com

  Email: lee.airton@queensu.ca

  Or, send us your message and we’ll make sure one of our experts gets in touch.

• Ensouling our Schools

  May 15, 2019 3:02 PM Comments Off on Ensouling our Schools

  Ensouling our Schools is the third instalment in the Teaching to Diversity series produced by Portage and Main Press. It lays out a clear framework by which its authors, Jennifer Katz and Kevin Lamoureux, believe our schools can be re-envisioned to better address the mental, spiritual and emotional well-being of both staff and students.

  The book attempts, with fair success, to connect modern educational theory with a more traditional world view of Indigenous teachings, and uses the medicine wheel as a basis upon which to build. Katz and Lamoureux present what they call “an alternative vision to the traditional industrialized version of schooling.” This is the Three-Block Model of Universal Design for Learning, which combines inclusive education practices, social and emotional learning, and the promotion of healthy schools.

  Ensouling our Schools hooks the reader in Part 1 with some startling statistics around the state of youth mental wellness in our country, presenting a strong case for urgency. The authors include an excellent examination of the science around mental health issues, although the terminology does get a bit heavy at times. There is also a strong recognition of the importance of teacher mental wellness in regards to the broader conversation. When it comes to the interweaving of First Nations spirituality practices, the book does tend, on occasion, to wax a bit romantic or overgeneralize.

  The real meat of the book is in Part II. Here the authors present some fairly easy-to-follow and practical ways in which schools can implement their Three-Block Model. They include a series of unit plans, covering everything from diversity to brain reactivity to lessons on Indigenous treaty rights. These lessons could be easily adapted to fit local curriculum, but there are some tense moments when the authors propose that teachers give lessons specifically on student mental health. If a jurisdiction were to adopt this model, it might be advisable to provide some specialized training before sending classroom teachers too far down that road.

  Though somewhat ambitious at times, Ensouling provides an enticing view of how our schools could be better designed to address the social, emotional and academic needs of our students. What really sets this text apart is the way it intertwines this issue and the broader issues of reconciliation. Although perhaps lacking some universal adoptability, the work contains enough significant and thought-provoking information to be well worth the read.

   

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  Photo: Dave Donald

  First published in Education Canada, June 2019

  Portage and Main, 2018 ISBN-13: 978-1553796831

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