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This week's reading really spoke to the work that I already do in my practice and have done in my practice. For me, my current biggest struggle, is to ensure everything is contextual. I often come from the lens of a white middle class educated woman from a country steeped in colonial education--so stepping outside this and making sure I keep my practice contextual in a foreign land is always a challenge. That said--I do make sure that my white middle class settler identity is kept in check by following those that are not in my intersection: Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, disabled folx keep my white feminism at bay so that I don't commit harm against those I wish to serve in my practice.  

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This week's reading really spoke to the work that I already do in my practice and have done in my practice. For me, my current biggest struggle, is to ensure everything is contextual. I often come from the lens of a white middle class educated woman from a country steeped in colonial education--so stepping outside this and making sure I keep my practice contextual in a foreign land is always a challenge. That said--I do make sure that my white middle class settler identity is kept in check by following those that are not in my intersection: Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, disabled folx keep my white feminism at bay so that I don't commit harm against those I wish to serve in my practice.  

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I read this in an article for a class in my undergrad and it has been something that I show to my students every year. I think intersectionality is not talked about enough in the classroom and students need to be exposed to it at a young age.

Canadian Centre on Disability Studies . (2018). Understanding the Intersectional Forms of Discrimination Impacting Persons with Disabilities. Retrieved March 12, 2022, from http://www.disabilitystudies.ca/assets/ccds-int-dis--151110-final-report-en-full.pdf

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The readings from this week offer opportunities for educators to reflect on their own their diverse experiences as an individual and examine how their identity has presented advantages and disadvantages in their own schooling experience and life in general.  The reflective lens that intersectionality encourages is a useful framework to incorporate into pedagogical praxis that links the diverse experiences and perspectives of pupils to the intentions of and experiences in learning.
Further, engaging in reflexive practice with students, combined with critical discussions that question current structural inequities and real life opportunities to engage in change making processes is a fundamental starting point to developing a critical social justice disposition with students and importantly as a teacher who can continue to inform their unlearning of structural biases through real life interaction and meaningful participation with students.
In this sense, challenging inequity in the classroom can offer a source of inspiration to the teacher and to other teachers, as well as model the possibilities for inclusive change that is both actionable and realised from the ground up.

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It is crucial to "lean in" to the diversity in our classrooms. Our students come from all sorts of different backgrounds and experiences, and therefore may have different needs that we need to attend to. The curriculum and content may not resonate with a student because it is simply not relevant to them and their experiences. Thus, I think as a teacher, it is so important that we accept these differences and bring them into the classroom. Tolerating differences is one thing, but inviting them and building upon them puts a greater emphasis on action towards justice. Thus, teachers must ensure our classrooms are accepting of different groups on the most basic level, but also that we are manipulating and changing our content so its suitable for all students. One way I try to do this is to give more open ended assignments. For example, when I was teaching philosophy, most of the philosophers we study are white males (and only one woman!) This does not resonate with students or reflect their realities - thus, I have them find a modern day philosopher that connects with their identity in some way so they can teach the class about their identity/culture (to the degree they feel comfortable), while also identifying some course themes through an individual outside of our course.

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This week's readings spoke a lot to me and the work I do as an equity leader in my school.  Many of my colleagues are well-aware of the dominant Eurocentricism in pedagogy, as well as how the concept of intersectionalism illustrates the multiple layers or identity and marginalization. We still have a long way to go in reassessing our policies and practices, because for long, they have been based on neoliberal ideologies of meritocracy - confusing equality for equity.  Even when we have good intentions, we are often unaware of how our policies and practices are oppressive to the most marginalized students.

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Schools in Canada are diverse in cultural beliefs and values of students, however, this is not always reflected in teachers and school leadership. Educational leadership plays a key role in developing and building school culture, which is why leadership becomes a central focus in discussions of building school cultures that promote inclusion and honour diversity and multiculturalism evident in society (Cherokwski, 2010). This week's readings had me reflecting on the different ways that schools in Canada work to address issues of diversity and multiculturalism. I believe that this is often done in top-down approaches, often depending on policy and programmes to send a message of inclusivity, however, this only plays a small role in developing and maintaining a school culture that reflects these principles. It is, therefore, essential for school leadership, teachers and students to collaborate in effective ways to build a school environment that upholds these values.

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Jay's perspective with this week's readings: 

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Jay's perspective with this week's readings: 

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I thought Cherkowski (2010) really made a good point that teachers are important actors in the process of advocating for diversity and social justice. In many schools, it is a top-down approach where educational leaders or school administrators made decisions that are believed to be beneficial to all students and the greater community. However, I think teachers have the primary resources in gathering relevant information about students background and have close connection with students' guardians, therefore it makes more sense and necessary to involve the teachers as much as possible in making changes about diversity and social justice. This of course is in the hope that changes can be pass on to the greater community as stated in Ryan's reading (2016). When we involve more relevant and important actors in the making of policies and real life practices, greater communities will be benefitted.

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One of the key learnings I have taken away from the theme of this week's readings boils down to community and belonging. When I first started learning about these topics, I was hesitant to embrace them because I was very adamant that a "teacher should just teach". However, as I engaged with these ideas more and more, and spent more time in the profession, I realized how important it is to learn about the diversity in our classoom, to ensure that all students are given what they need to learn in the classroom, and to promote a sense of belonging and inclusion within the school system. "Just teaching" included all of these things - they were one and the same. Ladson-Billings (1995) entitled her paper on culturally-relevant pedagogy "But That's Just Good Teaching!" and I feel the same about these themes!