

Facilitator(s): Deepa Ahluwalia, Leanne Hughes & Rohan Thompson Our educational institutions create barriers for racialized students, specifically those who identify as African, Caribbean and Black (ACB), but how often do we engage ACB students about their experiences of anti-Black racism in school? The Waterloo Region District School Board has created “Our Digital Story: A Voice for Students” collaborating with ACB community members and secondary students and has been using this resource to raise the awareness of educators on how they may be contributing to these experiences. The video was launched at our first annual Black Brilliance Conference for ACB students, planned and organized in partnership with the ACB community.

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Facilitator(s): Donna Cardoza, Rashmee Karnad-Jani & Camille Logan *This workshop will have two presentations* Invisible Work and Hidden Labour in Ontario’s Public Education: A Decolonizing Institutional Ethnography of Mothering and Teachers’ Work by Rashmee Karnad-Jani Institutional Ethnography, a critical research methodology allows researchers to examine work from participants’ experiences. Rashmee’s research highlights key aspects of the Parental Engagement Policy (2010) that organizes work of mothers and teachers in GTA public schools but does not take into account the social relations and material conditions that affect their work. This workshop invites participants to think about the importance of school context as ‘the problematic’ where educational policies are taken up and people do their everyday work. Rashmee takes up common sense sexism and racism as well as the Standard North American Family as an ideological code in educational discourse. Dismantling Barriers to Parent Engagement by Donna Cardoza & Camille Logan Participants will have an opportunity to deconstruct and challenge traditional approaches to parent involvement which serve to marginalize families, particularly those from racialized communities and those impacted by a circumstance of poverty. Through active discussion, participants will have an opportunity to rethink common conceptualizations of parent engagement and to hear promising practices from various school communities where the presence of parents in the learning of their children truly matters. These stories speak to how relationships between parents and schools hold the great possibility for addressing gaps in achievement and enhancing the potential for all students.

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Facilitator(s): Judith Bishop, Diana Grimaldos, Yvonne Kelly, Sharma Queiser, Dr. Sue Winton, Sharan Widsten & Jersey PS Students **Workshop Full** **This workshop will be carousel style** Members of Ontario’s Knowledge Network for Student Well-Being’s Community of Practice on Equity/Inclusion highlight how common policies and practices in the province’s public schools serve as barriers to access, opportunities, and outcomes for low-income and other marginalized students. Using a carousel format, workshop facilitators will discuss: Costs of a Day in Public Education; Schools’ Reliance on Fees/Fundraising; Impacts of Classism on Low-income Students; Efforts of Educators Working to Mitigate Impacts of Poverty; Impacts of Streaming; and the Growing Focus on Financial Literacy. The presenters will situate these topics within their broader social contexts, including capitalism and privatization of public education.

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Facilitator(s): Keri Cheechoo & Nicholas Ng-A-Fook This workshop will introduce participants to some newly developed Truth and Reconciliation guides for Grades 6, 8 and 10 Ontario Social Studies and History curriculum. Participants will have opportunities to examine an overview of how to use three case studies (one per grade). Each one investigates the historical significance of a Residential Schools in relation to different Indigenous communities: Mohawk Institute, Cecilia Jeffrey and St Anne’s. This workshop will provide educators with opportunities to develop critical pedagogies in relation to unsettling a settler colonial historical consciousness. Attendees will receive copies of the guides during the session.

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Facilitator(s): Melissa Wilson **Workshop Full** This workshop, “Fed Up & Past Due: Anti-Black Racism in Education,” will outline the legacy of anti-Black racism in Ontario. While the concept “anti-Black racism” may be new to some people, the presenter will outline that anti-Black racism and white supremacy are entrenched in the historical and contemporary institutions in Ontario – including education. Furthermore, Black communities in Ontario have been advocating for change in the education system for more than one hundred years, yet we continue to see the same racist practices in schools. This workshop will contextualize the current attention around anti-Black racism in Ontario’s public education system.

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Facilitator(s): Francesca Piccione, Riven Thorne & Jamea Zuberi This workshop will be exploring queer pedagogies from three different perspectives: Jamea Zuberi will share her lived experience in terms of her personal journey in the classroom which is informed by “queer pedagogy” while deeply rooted in feminist pedagogy and Africentricity. Francesca Piccione is an elementary Health and Phys Ed teacher, she will bring some perspective to the issues around the health curriculum in terms of understanding LGBTQ issues. The barriers that lead to intolerance are exacerbated by the lack of support by our provincial government which contributes to less confidence in educators who teach it. She will discuss what we can do as educators to mitigate these barriers and create an inclusive school culture in support of LGBTQ communities. Riven Thorne is a young transgender person who recently finished high school and has had experiences at many different schools. Riven will share perspectives on what it was like as a transgender student in a variety of high schools. Riven would love to discuss actions them seen taken by staff that have aided their LGBTQ student body as well as inaction that has hindered them.

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Facilitator(s): Pamala Agawa & Nada Aoudeh Through sharing our own stories, Pam and Nada will speak about how finding the truths in the Indigenous-Settler relationships moves us to decolonizing the nature of that relationship and edging closer towards reconciliation in intentional and authentic ways. We will share the importance of how equity-seeking groups in Canada have a different relationship with Canada than Indigenous People. Through our own learning, we share the importance of being rooted in who you are, centering our relationships in a place of trust and vulnerability to support social and political powers in spaces to push for change. We will engage in a very real conversation of practical examples of how we have worked beside each other to achieve authentic solidarity.​

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Facilitator(s): Farah Rahemtula & Sharla Serasanke Falodi **WORKSHOP FULL** Join us in making the #NotSoMicro impacts of microaggressions visible in our schools! Through interactive discussions and activities, we’ll learn to identify these brief, everyday, covert interactions that perpetuate and maintain oppressive conditions for students who experience anti-Black racism, heteronormativity, Islamophobia and other forms of oppression. We’ll challenge attendees to reflect on their positional power and their own complicity in committing microaggressions. Finally, practical strategies will be shared to address microaggressions in schools, which in turn, supports in removing individual and systemic barriers facing students and their families. By paying attention to microaggressions in schools, we can foster a school environment where all students and their families are better able to thrive.

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