Arianna Lambert Building Inclusion, Inclusion, Learning in a Real Life Context

Learning From & With Students

Student-led clubs are amazing! My question with trying to give space for students to truly lead has always been, how do we start? From there I start to ask: How do we determine what might be of interest? Who is the club truly for? How do we gage its level of success? The list really could go on as I sit and think it through. What sometimes happens is a club that is so “scaffolded” that it really isn’t student-led.

As you may already know, I am new to my school community this year. With that in mind, I’ve been making efforts to understand more about the lives and experiences of those within.  In this work, I’m really trying to ensure that students see themselves represented in what we do in school. After speaking with my principal, we thought of creating a space or club related to culture, where students were the ones organizing some of our school events and celebrations. Unsure of who might be interested or if it would truly be of value to our community, I wrote out an announcement inviting students to attend a brief meeting to chat and I was blown away by the response.  Overwhelmingly, students were interested in having their voices heard and leading the way in helping our school in being a more inclusive place. 

Now I know that we have to go beyond cuisine, celebrations and clothing when really digging in and understanding diversity and I hope that this group is a place where those real conversations can start. We recently voted on a name for our group – the Diversity Club – and we’re hard at work planning out a winter celebration for families. The idea being that we plan an evening where families can come into the school, learn about diverse cultures through hands-on activities and conversations with each other. Students have chosen 5 celebrations that are happening over the next month and will lead activities that evening so that families understand these days of significance in a deeper way. 

We’ve only just begun and it’s really great to see how enthusiastic students are in wanting to share who they are with others. I love how once given space and time, students feel a sense of freedom and ownership and are going well beyond what I could have imagined. Our Slone Celebrations Night is a couple of weeks away and I’m so excited to continue to facilitate this club as students continue to put their mark on our school and make it truly the hub of the community that it should be.

Arianna Lambert Coding, Technology

Hour of Code Is Coming…

Every year, the beginning of December marks Hour of Code. While coding and computational thinking are important skills that have benefits when incorporated year round in classroom programs, this is an excellent time where classrooms around the world participate; empowering students in d the development of these skills. In this post, I’m highlighting 3 activities that I will be using in my school to help support teachers who are new to coding and are wanting to give it a try this coming week. 

This year, I’m envisioning centers so that students have an opportunity to participate in a variety of different activities while still allowing for small group teaching, especially with Scratch. 

Lego

Who doesn’t love playing with Lego? I have to admit that even as an adult, when I have the opportunity to build with my nephews, I get excited at the possibility of creating with Lego. One of the unplugged – no tech required – activities that students have enjoyed is Coding Lego Mazes. This free resource is a great way to get started. The idea is that students have the opportunity to create their own mazes and once built, have to navigate their way to the end by thinking of all of the steps that it might take. In doing this, students start to think about giving clear navigational instructions using commands – similar to how we might use commands when coding. Older students can consider creating their own more elaborate mazes and the premise is the same, whereby they have to be able to direct someone from the beginning to the end of the maze.

Lego also has an online coding game, Bits ‘n’ Bricks. Students learn how to code using blocks as they help Bit on an Adventure. 

Guided Online Activities

There are so many really great activities online that guide students as they learn to code using blocks. As students progress, the levels get more challenging and they gain a greater understanding of how code is formed and used as commands for specific actions. Below are a few links to some that I have used in the classroom with students.

Code.Org

Made With Code

I often share links with students in Google Classroom and they can select which activities they may enjoy participating in with a partner or in a small group. 

Creativity with Scratch

I’ve used Scratch mainly with Junior students. The TDSB Coding In The Elementary Grades website has a variety of lessons from K – Grade 8 that guide educators as they teach students to create. I’ve used a number of these lessons to help students gain some of the basic skills in Scratch as well as in the creation of their own narratives. I love that they have broken it down by subject area. Take a look and see if there is anything that has a specific connection to what you are currently working on that students can try. We’ve been working on Geometry so this week, we’ll be using Scratch to determine how we might draw 2D shapes. Here’s the link to an article that I saw in Edutopia that we might use to get us started as we think about angles and side lengths. 

For teachers new to coding, I hope that this helps. In my Hour of Code presentation, there are a few more ideas that you might also be interested in incorporating in your classrooms. Whatever you do, I hope that you have a great time coding and learning with students next week!

Arianna Lambert Interviews, Report Cards, Student Ownership

Progress Reports – Reflection & Goal Setting

I have no idea how we got here again so quickly! It’s Progress Report time! I was on leave last year and somehow this year feels as though I’m still really trying to get to know my students. Maybe it’s the same every year and I’ve just forgotten but time has really gone quickly. I feel as though every day there’s a new moment of learning for me and I know that my students may be feeling the same way about me and my teaching style. 

As we prepare for the Progress Reports to go home, I really think it’s important for students to reflect on their progress so far and to start thinking of at least one area in which to improve. Normally I have students reflect and make notes using paper & pencil but this year, I decided to create a Google Form with questions about each Learning Skill; offering students a few examples of look fors and asking them to justify their responses. I’ve found responses always enlightening. They have also been great sources of conversation as students gain a deeper understanding of what is expected of them in each of the areas. 

As educators, we talk a lot about self-regulation but it’s interesting to me that for some of my grade 4s and 5s, this is the first year where they are truly understanding what this term means for them. It’s not about compliance but rather knowing what you need for learning and making sure that you are making choices that align with those needs, so that you can learn optimally. There’s a lot of metacognition involved in self-regulation. How are we modelling this for students as we support them in learning how to self-regulate? 

The great thing about Google Forms is that it provides amazing graphs of responses as they submitted their responses. Next week, we will be taking a deeper look at our classroom data and considering what we can work towards collectively as we build our classroom community. Over the coming weeks, students will also think about their own goals based on their responses, their Progress Reports and our Parent-Teacher interviews. 

For some this is an overwhelming time of year and they are nervous about their report cards. I’m really trying to have students think of this time as a check-in and an opportunity to think about what they’ve done well so far and what they will focus on for the next couple of months. I’m also asking them to consider the character that they would like to have and what skills we can work on together, in order to help them achieve that character.

Arianna Lambert Equity, Inclusion

Halloween: Discussions Around Inclusion

Every year I struggle with Halloween. While some educators are excited to dress up for the day and plan activities for their students, I’m at times hesitant to say that it’s just something that I’m not interested in. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all up for celebrating holidays with students but there’s something about the day – and it’s not just this one – that makes me wonder about how and what we choose to “celebrate”. 

This year, I was certainly appreciative of our administrator who brought up the conversation of inclusion, looking towards Halloween. In my class alone, 1/3 of the students don’t celebrate Halloween and this had me asking a few questions:

  1. What pressure do holidays like these have on students who don’t celebrate?
  2. Is the pressure then applied to parents so that students feel a need to “fit in” by purchasing costumes or treats for friends?
  3. Do students who don’t celebrate feel “othered” on days like this when they’re asked why they aren’t wearing a costume?
  4. With a number of allergies and dietary restrictions in my classroom, how do “treats” impact a student’s sense of inclusion? 
  5. How do I ensure that those who wish to celebrate are afforded the same respect as those who don’t wish to celebrate?

Today, the Globe and Mail reported on the ongoing discussions that are happening in our school community. Running through the article was the theme of inclusion. In an era where there is so much discussion around equity and inclusion, how do we handle or manage celebrations like these in schools? How do we make decisions where student voice and choice are celebrated?

In my class this year, students can dress up if they want and there has been no pressure for them to do so. Let’s face it, costumes are expensive. Growing up, I never wanted for anything but looking back, I know that things were challenging financially for my parents. I’m cognizant of the decisions parents have to sometimes make and the pressures of purchasing a costume, shouldn’t be an added burden to them. After several discussions in class, students agreed that they wanted to do something on the day but not necessarily a “Halloween” activity. As such, we’re participating in collaborative games in Physical Education and then participating in Art, Coding or STEM activities for part of the afternoon. 

I’m not sure that we’ve come up with the “right” solution for this year’s Halloween but at least the conversations have begun and I look forward to seeing how we make holidays like these even more inclusive for all. 

Arianna Lambert Building Inclusion, Inclusion, Learning About Your Students, Start of the year, The Arts

I Am From Poems – Building A Positive Classroom Community

I’m hoping that it’s been a great start back for everyone! The month has certainly gone by quickly. Having been out of the classroom for a year and being at a new school community, it was definitely all nerves on the first day. I always try to keep in mind that students might be feeling the same way walking into the new school year. While many of my students have been in the same school together since kindergarten, I have a few students who are new to our school this year and have been thinking of ways to make sure that they feel right at home in our classroom. 

Building a positive classroom community is important starting from day one. As a part of building our classroom community, I often ask students to consider who they are as individuals and what they bring to our classroom space. One activity that I have enjoyed over the years is creating I Am From poems. In the past I’ve jumped right into creating We Are From poems where students work with a partner to find commonalities and differences and share them to the larger group. Once they have created a joint poem, we combine different parts of each poem to create one large classroom poem where everyone is reflected.  This year, instead of creating We Are From poems, we started off instead by creating our own individual poems to share with each other. 

You might be wondering what I Am From Poems are. For years, educators have used George Ella Lyon’s Where I’m From poem to inspire students to consider their own narratives. While there are different templates that can be used, I use this template to help guide my students in creating their own. 

On the second day of school, the students in my class were tasked with thinking about who they are and where they are from, learning that our experiences shape who we are as individuals, along with other factors in our lives. By the end of the week, rough copies of amazing poems were complete and students were thinking about the symbols they would use to represent their identities. Just in time for our Curriculum Night, good copies of our poems went up and we had the chance to create continuous line portraits to accompany them. 

Identity work is so important for building a safe and caring classroom community. What ideas do you have for this year? How are students showing who they are and bringing their experiences to the classroom and their learning? If you have great ideas, please share them here!

Arianna Lambert Constant Learning, Indigenous Perspectives, Language Learning, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy, Social Justice, Truth and Reconciliation

Orange Shirt Day

Orange Shirt Day is tomorrow – September 30th! While I strongly believe conversations around reconciliation between non-Indigenous and Indigenous peoples need to happen on a daily basis, Orange Shirt Day provides an opportunity for action and awareness.  In this post, I’ll be sharing a couple activities we have done this year and how we will be continuing to learn about reconciliation. 

Based on the life of Jenny Kay Dupuis’ grandmother, I Am Not a Number is a powerful book that brings to light a part of Canada’s history and its treatment of Indigenous children and families. It’s a text that I have read with students over the past few years that has helped my students understand the impacts of residential schools not only on those who attended but also the impacts over subsequent generations. 

Every year, I think about how to use the text in different ways and this year our pre-reading activities were inspired by an educator in London, Graham Shular. For our activity, small groups of 3 or 4 students were given an image from the book that was glued to a piece of chart paper that was sectioned off into 4 parts. Students were asked to write down their answers to one of the following in each of the sections:

  1. What do you notice?
  2. What emotions does the image evoke?
  3. What do you think is happening?
  4. Why do you think that is happening?

 The groups were given 4 minutes to first take a look at the image and then they were given 4 minutes to discuss and jot down their ideas on the chart paper for each question. 

 

I was amazed at how engaged students were in the task, as was another colleague, Alison Fitzsimmons, who also did a similar activity with the students in her class. This activity was a great way for me to see what students already knew about residential schools and it was also helpful in understanding what messages students were getting in the imagery of the book.

Later, as we read, students were given large sticky notes and asked to jot down their wonders, questions and anything of impact as we read. Many were surprised at the treatment of Indigenous children and their families and that it was imposed and sanctioned by the Canadian Government. This prompted many to think about what we can currently do to ensure true reconciliation. While I want students to gain a great sense of empathy, I also want them to understand the resilience of those impacted and the rich history of Indigenous peoples over time. 

Tomorrow, we will be starting to look at our Land Acknowledgement. Said every morning during the announcements, students need to understand its significance and the people on whose land we have the privilege of learning. I am looking forward to us digging in to better understand treaties and the diverse communities of Indigenous peoples. 

Tomorrow is Orange Shirt Day. Will you be wearing orange? What activities have you done with students? What work might we continue to do to ensure true action around reconciliation? ETFO has incredible resources to get you started. Click here to find them!

Arianna Lambert 21st Century Learning, Constant Learning, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Modern Learning

Risk Taking

As educators, we’ve all done it. We’ve probably said it and even perhaps written it on report cards. “So-and-so needs to take more risks.”  Over the last few weeks, I’ve been contemplating what it means to take risks and how past experiences may form our propensity for future risk taking. In this post, I invite you to join me on a little journey. 

I’ll admit it. I’ve often been the one who makes very calculated decisions when it comes to risks. More and more as an adult, I’ve learned to be a little more adventurous in “safer spaces” but I ultimately need to first find that space to hold some safety. 

In the work that I have had the opportunity to do with educators, many have put up their hands to attend a session and are possibly ready to take some time to reflect on their own practices. The process is guided and while participants are often thrown into a place where they have to quickly create, many feel safe enough to consider and try new ideas because the scaffolding has been put in place to get to them to that point. They move from a place of being unsure of what the day may hold to quickly being excited about the potential of an idea. With this in mind, I’ve been thinking about my own learning and the learning that I have the opportunity to facilitate in my classroom with students. 

As I mentioned before, I’ve always been calculated in taking risks. In school, I remember equating success with receiving high marks. High marks on the last couple of pages of the report card, not necessarily the learning skills, which I was usually able to quietly meet expectations. I think that because I knew the game of school, the learning skills were seen as perhaps the icing on the cake, while the real substance was to be found in the marks received in subject areas. These were the things that were going to help me get to my ultimate goal. I always equated the better your marks, the better your options. This thinking kept me in a space where I focused on making sure that I continued to do what I knew worked. I learned really well to safely play the game of school but at what cost?

I say all this to come back to our students. We want them to be creative risk takers but how do we do this when perhaps what is perceived to be valued is a letter grade at the end of a few months of learning about a specific subject? How do we help students to value process over product and to realize that failure is a part of the learning process? How do we help them to see that perhaps the detriment might be not in the failure itself but in perhaps failing and not learning from it or being so afraid to try that there is no room to fail? We want students to be risk takers and of course there is probably some calculation to that risk but how do we create a system that supports students in truly understand what matters most? How do we create a shift?

Clearly I don’t have all of the answers to this and I know that this isn’t the work solely of a group of educators and perhaps speaks to a larger shift in education. I wonder what changes could be made if we were to create learning environments where there are scaffolds and supports to ensure that students can safely take risks, fail, learn, try again, take even greater risks, fail or succeed and take risks again?  I know this is already being done especially in elementary but imagine if there could also be a shift in secondary also. Where an exam or test mark isn’t the only thing that speaks to the success of a student. Would we have more risk takers who are excited about new challenges they will face in an uncertain future? I’m back in the classroom in September and I have learned so much about the value of a scaffolded process and the fact that it might look different for each student. I’m looking forward to using this process to helping them develop a greater ability to take some big risks to try something new.

Arianna Lambert 21st Century Learning, Curriculum Planning, Language Learning, Literacy, Modern Learning, Technology

Podcasts for Students

Excitedly, I am back in the classroom in September! Over the past few weeks, I’ve started thinking about new ways to engage my next cohort of students. As I’ve been thinking, a friend reached out to share that her son has been enjoying podcasts and that got me thinking about how they might be useful in the classroom.  I started listening to the few mentioned to me by my friend and through searching, realized just how many there are for children. For this post, I’ve included a little about the few that I’ve started listening to so far and how they might be useful in the classroom. By no means is this an exhaustive list, nor have I really had the time to dig into this idea but I’m starting here and will continue to take time over the summer listening and trying to find ways to move students from podcast consumers into perhaps podcast creators.

Six Minutes 

Description from Kids Listen: Eleven-year-old Holiday is pulled from the icy waters of Alaska with no memory of who she is or where she came from. Are her mom and dad really who they say they are? And when she begins to develop incredible abilities, she’ll soon discover she’s not alone in the world. Six Minutes is a new mystery adventure for the whole family. Starting on March 1st, new six minute episodes, twice a week, all year long…and beyond. 

In the first episode, the Anders family goes on a whale watching trip and finds something miraculous floating in the water. While listening to this episode, I immediately found myself using my imagination to think of what the setting and characters might look like. Because there were no visuals provided, I had to envision the space as the story started to unfold. I started to wonder about having students draw their visualizations as they listened. What would they include on a page and why? What elements might be most important for some and less for others? How might students justify their reasons for adding what they did to the page. I started to think of the creativity and critical thinking skills that could be developed through conversations about what their images may include. I like the fact that the episodes are short. Six minutes is just enough time to capture your attention while leaving you wanting more. I might also think about developing key questions to ask students for each of the episodes, getting them to piece together elements of the story as they unfold, while making predictions of what might come. I only listened to a few of the episodes and this is definitely a podcast that I would listen to myself.

Tumble Science Podcasts for Kids

Description from Kids Listen: Exploring stories of science discovery. Tumble is a science podcast created to be enjoyed by the entire family. Hosted & produced by Lindsay Patterson (science journalist) & Marshall Escamilla (teacher).

As a Science enthusiast, I was intrigued by this podcast and of course I decided to listen to one of the most gross episodes, The Tower of the Vomiting Robot with Anna Rothschild. While it took some time to get into the actual episode, the podcast told how a robot named Vomiting Larry, helped scientists discover how to stop the spread of Norovirus. I thought it was great that this episode sought to find out from grade 4 students what they thought was gross. I think this could be a great way to also include answers from your own students. This episode also got me thinking about the practical applications of technology to advance research about disease prevention and possibly a new design project for grade 5 students in relation to the human body. I also thought that it was neat that there was a blog post about the episode where students could investigate more, if they wanted to. A great way to bring in real-world science to the science we do in classrooms with students. 

The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel 

Description from Kids Listen: The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel is a high-quality serial mystery story for middle graders, performed by actual kids. Think Goonies, meets Spy Kids, meets Stranger Things for 8-12 year-olds. Listen along as eleven-year-old Mars Patel and his pals JP, Toothpick, and Caddie set out on an audacious adventure in search of two missing friends. The mysterious tech billionaire Oliver Pruitt might have a thing-or-two to say about their quest, because as he likes to say, To the stars! In fact, that’s just where they might be headed.

With three seasons to this podcast, I love the fact that it’s narrated by actual children. It’s in their voices and I see how it might be totally relatable and of great interest to them. A little longer in length – 30 minutes – it might be a little long for some to listen to in its entirety in the classroom but I’ve heard that it’s engaging for students and time seems to pass very quickly. I like how Oliver Pruitt in the first episode drops you into H. G. Wells Middle School. Again, I can see how students could visualize what is happening as well as make predictions on what might come in the next part. 

The following is a list of sites that I will be investigating over the summer to find podcasts that might be interesting to introduce to my students. That being said, I know that choice and voice are extremely important and I also look forward to having conversations with my students around what they may already be listening to. Again, while I’m new to this idea of podcasts in the classroom, these lists are simply ones that I have found online that may or may not include podcasts that are ideal for your students. I think it’s wise to take a listen first and determine that for yourself. In these lists, you’ll see that there is some overlap and perhaps that might be a place to start as you investigate. 

Kids Listen – An app that has podcasts sorted in categories based on age. I found it easy to listen to podcasts on my Chromebook which also got me thinking about the ease of use within the classroom depending on the technology available. 

We Are Teachers – Curated list of the 18 best podcasts for students in elementary, middle and high school and also gives a sample activity to try along with listening to the podcast.

Cult of Pedagogy – Offers a brief reason what podcasts are and how they can be listened to, along with 8 educational podcasts with a sample episode and brief descriptions of each. 

Scholastic – Gives you a list of 9 podcasts, telling you what they are best for, why it’s worth it and where to find them.

Common Sense Media – With fantastic tips for parents and children, this list of the 20 best podcasts has them organized by category based on genres or activities. 

Common Sense Media – Another list specifically for little kids, truly highlighting that podcasts can be for everyone.

Finding Cleo – Definitely for older students, this link is to a teacher’s guide developed by the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board educators, for this podcast. Included are letters to parents, suggested assignments for the episodes and further resources. 

Have you used podcasts with students? If so, how? What worked and what didn’t work? I would love to hear your experiences and get some ideas from you.

However you spend your summer break, I hope that it’s filled with time to relax and rejuvenate for the upcoming year. Have a happy and safe summer!

Arianna Lambert 21st Century Learning, Constant Learning, Making a Difference Through Education, The Global Competencies

Long-Range Plans

Alright, now I know that some of you saw the title for this post and thought, “Seriously? Long-range planning now? It’s almost the end of the school year. I’m just trying to make it through!” Well, if you still gave me a chance and clicked to take a read, I thank you. This post comes out of a conversation that I had with a colleague through email earlier this week.

In April, I had the chance to visit her classroom to see the design project that students had been working on all year. It wasn’t a project that was taking them all year to work on but it was a magical experience where one piece of learning connected to another, and then another, and another. While students were developing a deep sense of community and empathy for the experiences of others, they too were uncovering how their communities can become greater places for acceptance and inclusion. While emailing back and forth, sharing pictures of student work in action, she said the following:

“There aren’t any ‘long-range plans’ that can foresee the type of community a class will become.”

While this was in context of the work that was happening in this class, I got a huge “ah ha” moment when I started to think about how I go about creating my long-range plans. I usually sit down and start to think about what grade(s) I’m teaching and go through curriculum resources to see which big ideas relate to events or times of year that might be better for authentic experiences and set about planning from there. While I like to think that I hold to what is in my plans, I know that they should be seen as a “living” document in the sense that it must reflect the abilities, needs and interests of the students it serves. While these are big ideas for our units of study, student inquiries may lead them in specific directions. My plan is mainly an outline which may be altered based on student needs. I often make this explicit to parents during curriculum nights.  But now as I think of it, the learning that my colleague, Barbara Robson, was referring too was so much more than specific curriculum, but I would dare say that it was perhaps that hidden curriculum, whereby students are learning skills that go beyond the content that we are supposed to be teaching. This got me further thinking about how I might be able to go about planning differently in future.

What if in addition to of outlining the curriculum, which I still think is important to know where you’re going within the guidelines set forth for us; the plans also included the specific skills (or the hidden curriculum) we wanted to develop with students? What if my long-range planning was more intentional and included specific opportunities where I was going to work on creating experiences for students that developed their critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity? What might that look like? How might I help students explicitly understand that this is also the “curriculum” that we are working to uncover while engaging them in the curriculum from the Ministry of Education? Would this help students be able to speak to the changes that they were noticing in themselves over time in these areas? Would that make for interesting parent-teacher interviews if we empowered students to speak to these skills along with knowledge acquisition and the synthesis of information to create?

I just threw out a lot of questions there and I’m really interested in how educators are working towards helping students explicitly and intentionally building a transferable skillset over time. We know that the workforce is evolving and as educators, part of our mandate is supporting the development of the skills in students. I’m starting to think about what September might bring and I wonder if the interweaving of the curriculum I’m given, along with the “hidden curriculum” that we know students need, into my long-range plans might make for more intentional work.

We’re winding down for the school year and this might be food for thought for the coming year. Already doing great things around skill development explicitly and intentionally with students? I would love to hear about it!

Arianna Lambert Building Inclusion, LGBTQ2S, Making a Difference Through Education, Resources, wellness

Pride

June is here! Well…almost. When I think of June, I am reminded of Pride. And while I think that every day should be filled with inclusivity in all its forms, I know that this doesn’t happen in all spaces. In this post, I would like to highlight two of the amazing resources that ETFO has to offer as we continue conversations around equity and inclusion, specifically for members of the LGBTQ Community.

While this year is slated to mark 50 years since the decriminalization for members of the LGBTQ community in Canada, we know that members continue to face issues of inequity and discrimination on an ongoing basis. In classrooms and schools, now more than ever, I believe that students need to know that these spaces must have room for everyone. In education, everyone deserves to see their whole selves represented and as educators, we have an onus to do just that, no matter of our own biases.

ETFO believes that LGBTQ education and training creates safer working and learning conditions for everyone. As such, on their site, you’ll find an abundance of resources. They have made the work of creating inclusive environments more accessible for educators. I’m highlighting two resources that I think would be incredible opportunities to guide meaningful conversations within classrooms.

The LGBTQ Education Timeline

For the 2014 World Pride, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA) and Pride Toronto collaborated to create an LGBTQ Education Timeline poster. The poster was created to show the historical changes in LGBTQ education and issues in Canada. In 2016, ETFO collaborated with the CLGA to update the timeline and add an accompanying booklet.

Like a bulletin board with memorabilia of important events you’ve gathered over time, the poster is spectacular in its display of information in a clear and concise way for students to be able to read and understand. While the poster gives a visual representation of historical events, the booklet includes more descriptions and links throughout and in the reference section that gives even more in depth information. The purpose of these resources is for educators to gain knowledge for themselves and to use within their classrooms. While digging in, I found myself both being ashamed for not taking the time before to educate myself more and amazed by all of the work that has gone on so far. I think the poster might be a great jumping off point for students in middle or high school to consider what has already been done and what new or innovative ideas they might like to create within their own school communities. The idea being to bring awareness to current issues and as a call for action for greater inclusivity.

The Every Teacher Project on LGBTQ-Inclusive Education in Canada’s K-12 Schools

The Every Teacher Project Recommendations Toolkit is the culmination of a national research effort to advance knowledge on LGBTQ-inclusive education. This Toolkit is a guide to support the implementation of the Every Teacher Project recommendations for all levels of the school system. It was developed for use by teachers, teacher organizations, and others wanting to support the development of LGBTQ-inclusive schools.

I have to start off by saying that the glossary of terms was extremely helpful. For me, understanding, especially as it relates to terminology, is an essential first step when we think about gaining a greater awareness. For that alone, I would say that this resource was phenomenal.

I also really love the appendices with a wealth of further resources. I especially appreciated page 207 which included Days of Awareness/Events and their significance. I’m learning more and more the value that celebrating these days – and not just for the sake of celebrating but for the acknowledgement of individuals for whom these days are significant – is important to students.  The more we highlight for our students the significance these days represent, the greater capacity for empathy we are able to build as students learn to understand the experiences of others. That empathy can lead to actionable change as they are either supported and accepted or work to become allies.

The above are just two of many resources available on the site. Please take a look and some time to reflect on your own biases, knowledge and classroom practice. If conversations around equity and inclusion haven’t already been happening in classrooms and schools, there is still a few more weeks to go. Take some time to dig into these resources for yourself and have brave conversations in your classrooms. I’ve said it before, as educators we are in the unique position to help our students develop empathy and to support the next generation as they are eager to create change in the world. Our classrooms and schools need to be safe places for them to be able to do this work!

Happy Pride!