My positionality: To preface this post, I am engaging in this work as a co-learner rather than an expert. As a racialized woman and a life-long learner, my role as an anti-racist teacher involves knowing the students and families in front of me to create equitable learning experiences to ensure students feel a sense of belonging and community. This means doing the heart and hard work of learning and unlearning.
Cultivating an equity mindset isn’t a checklist—it’s a lifelong journey. It involves continual reflection, deep listening, and a commitment to shifting how we see and support our students. In this article, we’re exploring two powerful shifts that can transform our practice: Asset-Based Thinking and Lifelong Learning and Unlearning.
Shift # 5 Intentionally Disrupting Thinking
The act of disrupting requires us to examine who benefits from current systems and who is left behind when learning opportunities are presented.
This is one of the hardest shifts, because it often requires us to have uncomfortable, brave conversations. Remember when we talked about the importance of critical conversations? Yes, they are uncomfortable—but they are necessary to interrupt harmful language, behaviours, and systems.
Notice:
Often we are more attuned to noticing harm when it personally impacts our identity. This is why Shift # 4 (Lifelong Learning and Unlearning), is so essential—it helps us build awareness and notice more, especially when the harm isn’t directly personal. This means being committed to learning, having critical friends, listening with three ears (two with your ears, one with your heart).
As we notice we reflect on these questions:
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- Which students get access to resources and opportunities?
- Whose stories are represented in the curriculum?
- Which students will benefit from this? Which students will not?
- What adjustments do I/we need to make?
Addressing: Calling In versus Calling Out
Addressing harm is about more than just correction—it’s about creating a compassionate space for growth, understanding, and accountability.
Both calling in and calling out are valid strategies, and which one we choose depends on context, timing, and emotional labour.
- Calling In: A private or small-group conversation that invites dialogue and reflection around harm caused.
- Calling Out: A public acknowledgment or challenge to harmful behaviour or language.
Tiffany Jewell offers these reflection questions in This Book is Anti-Racist (pg. 116–117) before calling in or out:
Who has the power in the situation? Am I calling out a person or a systemic barrier? How much energy and emotional labour am I able to share right now? Is this person likely to change their problematic behaviour? What am I hoping to accomplish with this call-in or call-out
Educators with equity habits of mind are willing to challenge tradition and advocate for change—especially when it’s uncomfortable.
This is the real work of anti-racist and anti-oppressive education.
This post marks the final post in my Equity Mindset series (for now). Thank you for engaging with these reflections and shifts alongside me. My hope is that each shift has offered a moment of pause, a spark of curiosity, or a deeper commitment to your own journey. These shifts are not meant to be mastered, but practiced—over and over again. Let’s continue to learn together, ask better questions, and center the voices and needs of the students in front of us.
Some Resources to review:
Calling in Vs. Calling Out Guide by Harvard University
