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In my previous post, I shared a definition of critical consciousness, along with insights on how it is similar and different from critical thinking skills. I also shared why I think providing meaningful opportunities for students to develop their critical consciousness is important. In this post, I’ll provide an example of how I supported students in exercising their critical consciousness while also helping them to develop their writing skills.

Years ago, while living overseas, I worked as an English foreign language teacher. During that time, I recall working with a diverse group of adolescent students who helped me to understand the importance of providing meaningful opportunities for students to exercise their critical consciousness. While working with this group of students, I routinely began classes with what I called, chats and check-ins. Our chats and check-ins involved engaging students in conversations about how they spent the previous evening, their plans for the week, or current events. This served multiple functions. Some of them included establishing and nurturing relationships with and between students; helping me gain an understanding of student interests, experiences, cultures, and identities so I could create a program that supported their learning needs; nurturing a community of care, and providing meaningful opportunities for them to practice their oral communication skills.

During one of our morning chats and check-ins, some students began complaining about the school facilities which sparked a whole class discussion. Students complained that the WIFI and other computer technology rarely worked, the textbooks we used were dated, the facilities appeared old and shabby, the washrooms were unclean, and the list went on. Listening to their concerns I empathized with them because their concerns were valid. I also knew that many staff members shared similar complaints. I recall one student questioning how he and others were expected to learn within an environment that lacked essential resources or be expected to academically perform within such an uninviting physical space?

Recognizing the validity of their critiques and wanting to support them in exercising their agency, I suggested they write a formal letter of complaint to the school administration. I explained to them that within communities, formal letters of complaint to political leaders had the potential to effect change due to concerned citizens taking the time and effort to draw attention to a community issue and demanding the issue be resolved. I also explained that identifying or complaining about the issue is not enough; they needed to identify what they want to see changed and recommend solutions. I concluded by saying, if they wanted to write a letter of complaint to our school administration, they needed to identify the issues, explain why the issues are concerning then request what they want to see changed and offer possible solutions.

They liked the suggestion. Then for the next week we spent most of our class time drafting, revising, and editing their letters of complaint. To support students, I helped them to define the success criteria, modeled the letter writing process and format, and provided both oral and written constructive feedback at all stages of their writing process. When all students had completed their letters, I delivered them to the school administration.

Weeks later, one of the school administrators visited the class to thank the students for their letters and further discuss their concerns. At the end of the conversation, she committed to working with the school administration team to rectify the issues. In the proceeding months improvements were made to the school. The WIFI worked more consistently, new and updated textbooks were added to the school, and the washrooms were regularly cleaned.

In one of our morning chats and check-ins following these events, we had a discussion where students shared that they were both happy and surprised to see that their complaints were taken seriously and that their letters worked to effect change.

From the experience, I came to better understand that adolescent students are often engaged in serious thinking about their lives, communities, and the spaces where they live and learn. They are also thinking critically about the inequities and injustices present within their lives and communities. The experience also taught me that students need support in understanding that the inequities and injustice they witness and experience need not be tolerated because they possess a critical consciousness that can aid them in effecting change. I see my role as teacher and the role of other teachers is to help student develop their critical consciousness so they not only think critically about the status quo but understanding they can change it through intentional actions.

To better understand how to support the creation of safer schools for two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and additional identities (2SLGBTQ+) educators, this past spring, I enrolled in a course titled Gender, Sexuality and Schooling. This twelve-week course consolidated into six-weeks focused on matters of equity, inclusion, and school reform in relation to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression among students, families, and educators in Ontario elementary and secondary schools.

During the course, I intentionally chose to focus on learning ways to support 2SLGBTQ+ educators rather than students or families for two reasons. First, as a member of the community I understand that 2SLGBTQ+ educators working within publicly funded school boards do not receive the same or similar levels of support as 2SLGBTQ+ students or families; I believe this in large part may be due to the position that 2SLGBTQ+ educators occupy. Meaning, because they are university educated adults, employed by a publicly funded school board, and part of a union, some may think 2SLGBTQ+ educators already have the knowledge, skills, and support needed to navigate homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic school spaces. Others may see no need to offer support if there are no known 2SLGBTQ+ educators on staff.

Second, from personal and professional experiences in addition to reading the findings from a  2020 Ontario Ministry of Education Review of my school board and a 2023 Employment Systems Review also of my board, I knew that 2SLGBTQ+ educators within my school board were likely to experience forms of homophobia, biphobia, and/or transphobia that negatively impacted their working conditions. As a result, in general, 2SLGBTQ+ educators have deemed schools in my board to be unsafe spaces for them to be out.

In this post, I’ll share an insight that I gained from my course that focuses on the significance of a legislation and policies. I’ll also explain why legislation and policies alone are insufficient supports when it comes to creating safer schools for 2SLGBTQ+ educators. My hope is that the ideas contained in this,  post will aid others who strive to support the work of creating safer schools for 2SLGBTQ+ educator colleagues.

To begin, I’ll clarify the phrase safe schools. To support, I’ll draw on a definition of safe school planning from an article I read during my course titled, Safe, Positive, and Queering Moments in Teacher Education and Schooling: A Conceptual Framework by Tara Goldstein, Vanessa Russell, and Andrea Daley. In the article the authors share that, safe school planning is defined as systematic process to create and maintain a place where students can learn, and teachers can teach in a warm welcoming environment free from intimidation or fear. They further go on say that in the province of Ontario, the Safe Schools Act exemplifies this approach.

Thinking about the safe school planning definition above in collaboration with other institutional documents, I recognize that Ontario schools have the potential to be warm welcoming environments free from intimidation and fear for 2SLGBTQ+ educators due to the Safe Schools Act, ETFO policies, and the human right’s policies and procedures that are part of each school board’s operational guides. For example, under the School Rules: Provincial Code of Conduct section of the Education Act, it states that all students and community members must respect and treat others fairly regardless of their sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation.

Policy 88.1 focused on the 2SLGBTQ+ community in ETFO’s Policy Statement document advocates that school boards update their current policy and procedures to ensure the safety and prosperity of 2SLGBTQ+ educators, students, parents, and guardians. ETFO’s policy 88.2 also advocates that members who are 2SLGBTQ+ have the right to an inclusive and respectful working environment that adheres to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Within my school board, policy 51, focused on human rights, outlines the board’s commitment to providing an inclusive learning and working environment that is free from prejudice and discrimination, upholds the Ontario Human Rights Code, takes intentional steps to actively encourage and foster a culture of respect, dignity, and acknowledges the inherent worth and value of all people and communities.

If the legislation and/or policies I mentioned above are new or unfamiliar, you may consider reviewing them beginning with your board’s human right’s policy because every educator has a responsibility to know and uphold human rights. Your board’s policy should be easily accessible by doing a quick search in your board’s internal employee website. Your principal and/or superintendent should also be familiar with this document, and either be able to provide you with a copy or provide guidance on where you can obtain one.

The significance of this legislation and these policies is that they ensure the human rights of 2SLGBTQ+ educators are protected because they recognize the historical hurt and harm that educators from these communities have experienced in the absence of legislation and policies being in place within and beyond schools. Legislations and policies further remind all educational stakeholders that forms of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and an intolerance for diverse forms of gender identity and expression are intolerable within Ontario’s publicly funded schools.

Yet, while I recognize the inherent value and need for legislation and policies to be in place to protect 2SLGBTQ+ educators, I also understand that legislation and policies alone are insufficient without them being put into practice. Meaning, for legislation and policies to be effective, educators from within and beyond the 2SLGBTQ+ community must work to ensure that laws and rules become institutionalized through practices so that educators from these communities can work within schools in the absence of intimidation and fear.

Our union is committed to the work of creating warm, welcoming, and inclusive school spaces for  2SLGBTQ+ members and allies; this is evident from the spring 2SLGBTQ+ Members and Allies Conference, where ETFO leaders created an opportunity for ETFO members from across the province to come together to discuss 2SLGBTQ+ issues with the goal of removing barriers, challenging stereotypes, and addressing discrimination. ETFO leaders also facilitated a non-binary discussion group to support amplifying the voices and specific support needed for non-binary members who experience disproportionate amounts of discrimination and prejudice for not conforming to binary gender constructs and/or expressions.

I think it’s vital that we remain mindful that supporting 2SLGBTQ+ colleagues is an ongoing process that will change as social and political contexts change and that 2SLGBTQ+ educators are the primary group who can determine whether school spaces are warm welcoming environments free from intimidation and fear; therefore, any conversation regarding the cultivation and maintenance of safe schools for 2SLGBTQ+ educators must involve them in some capacity.

Working with some fellow educators this month, we’ve been planning ahead to next year and some of the texts we will be using intentionally with students. We read a lot of different books by different authors and considered what we wanted to discuss.  We chose several different books to read aloud, some favourites, and also some new ones that we wanted to try with students.  It was a fun project!

While we did a lot of thinking and planning around the literacy block, our main focus was on how to layer texts.  Based on our book study of Cultivating Genius by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad, we were intentional about layering each read aloud with different experiences.  In her book, Dr Muhammad highlights the importance of “layering texts – teaching from multiple powerful and multimodal texts.” The addition of multimodal texts can enhance a child’s learning experience and deepen their understanding of themes and topics.  The experience can also help to scaffold knowledge to help students access the information in the book.  Layering texts also offers opportunities to integrate other subject areas with literacy classes and allows children to use a variety of skills in different contexts. While it takes a bit of planning, it is well worth it to cultivate a rich experience for students in literacy. 

While fun, it was also challenging!  Granted, we did plan for approximately 8 texts, so it took us a while to sort through our thinking, explore different options that would work, and develop a cohesive understanding of our goals.  If you are thinking about layering texts in your literacy classes, I hope some of these thoughts will help in your journey.

• Identify the theme of the book.  Be sure to choose other texts that support the theme. Explore the author’s intent and message to ensure you are honouring their work. 
• Consider the conversations you want to have with students. Do they need some scaffolding to enter the conversation or to deepen their understanding? 
• Plan what type of written response you want students to engage in. Perhaps one of the texts you explore will be an example of this. This should also be inspired by the theme and conversations you’re identifying. 
• Prepare a few different modalities, such as lists, illustrations, photos, designs, art, music, video clips, etc.  You may not know your students yet and having a few different ideas can help you to select how they learn best. 

An example might look like: 

         Focus Text

• Eyes that Speak To the Stars
• Author: Joanna Ho
• Illustrator: Dung Ho
  

       Themes to Explore

• Self-acceptance
• Asian heritage and culture
• Family

       Layered Texts

• Non-Fiction: Biography/Fun Facts from the author’s website
• Picture book: A Family is A Family is a Family (Author: Sara O’Leary Illustrator: Qin Leng), The Best Part of Me (Author & Illustrator: Wendy Ewald)
• Visuals: Maps of Asia, Maps of the world
• Music: Sesame Street: I Love My Family
• Companion books in series: Eyes that Weave the World’s Wonders, Eyes that Kiss at the Corners

       Writing Extensions

• Fun Facts Lists: All About Me or All About My Family
• Illustrate: Family Tree
• Journal: Where is your family from?  What is your heritage? 
• Poster: Illustrate and describe what you love about yourself and why. 

In this example, you’ll notice I found several different texts to support the different themes through different modalities.  I’ve also brainstormed different writing experiences and my layered texts support student learning about the themes and the writing forms.  This type of plan provides space for responding to the students’ identities and learning styles.  As an educator, I would choose a few of these activities to take place over one week to help build your lesson. 

I’m so excited to see how these lessons work next school year.  It’s always exciting to try something new and even better when educators can collaborate together!

Democracy works best when people are informed and motivated to participate in the electoral process. As an educator I have the responsibility of informing my students about the workings of a democracy. I believe students are more likely to participate in a democracy if they can understand it and are willing to have their voices heard by voting, volunteering or working during elect

Apathy, on the other hand, is the enemy of democracy. When a population is not engaged in the electoral process, they are putting their democracy in danger. I want my students to see what can happen when countries are not democracies. And I want them to see how they can participate in the democratic process.

This may seem a heavy topic for students in elementary school, but Elections Canada has prepared age appropriate materials that are available to order online at no cost. These materials give lesson plans and activities to help young children understand democracy.

For students in kindergarten to grade 3, there is a kit called Choosing a Mascot. In this case, there are five choices of mascots that a school has proposed and students would create a campaign for a mascot and see it through to voting day. The kit includes a teacher’s guide, ballot box, voting screen, and posters.

The other kit available is an Election Simulation Toolkit which is based on the big idea: “Our democracy depends on each of us taking part in federal elections. There are many ways to do this. Here are a few of them: vote for a candidate, join a political party, work as an election officer, run as a candidate, volunteer to help a campaign”.

Ontario has experienced a provincial and a federal election this year. I think students of all ages in the elementary and secondary panels would be interested in learning more about the process and how to maintain a healthy democracy.

You may be wondering which part of the curriculum the electoral process would fit into if it’s not specifically in your social studies curriculum. I see potential for the language curriculum and the math curriculum to be integrated into this learning. There is an opportunity for students to write and reflect on the electoral process and on the candidates. There is also an opportunity in math to look at statistics and analyze how many electors have voted in previous Canadian elections. In mathematics, we can analyze data from previous elections and display data in graphs. And we can also look at the percentage of people who have come out to vote in various elections. On the Elections Canada website, you can also see the number of votes for different candidates in previous elections, including the results in your own riding.

Please use this link to place your order for free materials from Elections Canada.

https://electionsanddemocracy.ca/

Happy Voting!

Brenda

When I think about student success, I often think about academic achievement first. But strong learning skills are just as important for every learner. This year, in my new role, I have noticed that, regardless of a student’s abilities or background, learning skills is a common area where my students need support. More specifically in taking initiative. Initiative isn’t just about asking questions and showing your curiosity of learning. It’s about acting on ideas, seeking out opportunities, making decisions that support growth, and advocating for oneself.

I remember a student once shared, “I don’t have initiative. It’s hard for me to speak up.” Another student said it came naturally to them, describing initiative as “helping someone.” They were both right. Initiative can look different for everyone. I think at its core, it is about communicating needs, making decisions that support your growth such as asking for help, and being willing to take risks.

In my primary and junior classrooms, I would dedicate time, multiple times throughout the year, to explore all the learning skills, focusing on one each week. We would discuss what each skill was, what it looked like in action, and how it could help them succeed both in and out of school.

For all students, building initiative lays the foundation for independence, resilience, and learning. When students learn to take initiative, they become more engaged in their education and are better prepared to handle challenges. So how do we encourage and support taking initiative?

This year I found myself supporting in writing Individual Education Plans (IEP) goals for students in the gifted/enhance learning program, specifically in the area of learning Skills and taking initiative. The goals focused on seeking enrichment opportunities beyond the classroom and developing self-advocacy skills by expressing preferences for demonstrating work in alternative ways. Other goals included focusing on communicating understanding of the task and advocating for preferred method of demonstrating knowledge with more independence.

One way you can support goals such as these are by creating a classroom culture that nurtures self-advocacy and initiative. For example, we can offer students choice in how they learn and demonstrate understanding. In the classroom, that might look like allowing them to decide whether to create a poster, record a video, or write a report for a project honors their individual learning styles and encourages decision making. Another important strategy is asking open-ended questions that prompt students to reflect on their needs and preferences. Questions like, “How can you show me what you’ve learned in a way that works best for you?” or “What do you need to feel successful in this task?” invite students to think critically and advocate for themselves. We can also prompt and encourage students to get involved in and out of classroom initiatives that might be of interest to them.

Integrating self-advocacy and initiative into everyday learning makes these skills more tangible and relevant. Integrating a task such as “My Learning Journal”, where students reflect on their favorite ways to learn, challenges they’ve overcome, and what helps them succeed, help students understand themselves better and practice articulating their needs and preferences. Throughout the reflections, asking guiding questions such as, “What does this page say about how you learn?” or “How can you make this journal truly yours?” will deepen engagement and ownership.

Teaching initiative is not only about giving students a voice-it’s about helping them discover and use it. By creating opportunities for choice, asking thoughtful questions, and integrating self-expression into classroom activities, we nurture confident learners who are prepared to advocate for themselves throughout their educational journey and beyond.