Race
How am I reproducing versus disrupting the curriculum in terms of race?
As I progress through my teaching career, I am striving to disrupt the curriculum in terms of race. “Inequity is structural” (Radd et al., 2021, p. 12) and I would be doing my students and myself a disservice if I continued to contribute to structuralism. As an educator in my first five years of teaching, my Bachelor of Education program challenged us to continuously view structuralism and inequities from a critical lens. I am accustomed to reflecting on my biases and reshaping my prenotions to best suit student-centered learning. I do not have years of foolproof lesson plans that I have reused countless of times and feel reluctant to let go of. This has allowed me to truly examine my curriculum and consider the inequities it holds, whether that is historical, structural, institutional, individual, or a combination of all.
I have worked with teachers who were nearing the end of their careers and held completely contrasting biases from myself. Whenever we attended Professional Learning Community sessions, we were often in disagreement about the curriculum we were presenting to students. The other teachers wished to recycle and utilize only old lesson plans and I wanted to diversify the curriculum as much as possible. At times, there can be a lot of resistance from these teachers in my department. For decades, there has been a focus on Eurocentric repertoire and Western music theory in schools and conservatory programs. In turn, it has created barriers and limitations towards understanding and connecting with music for some students.
While I hope to inspire some of my colleagues to rethink their beliefs and consider the curriculum more critically, the most common response from them is, can one educator really make a difference? I believe yes. We need to be putting in the work continuously and implementing voices from minority groups over the course of time, not just for one lesson every now and then. I identify as an educator from a marginalized identity. Even though I have “lived experience, coupled with academic learning, about the realities of marginalization and oppression for that identity” (Radd et al., 2021, p. 23), I certainly do not consider myself an expert on my identity and understand that learning is a continuous journey. My lived experiences are not somebody else’s, therefore it is not my responsibility to speak on behalf of an entire minority group. It is my responsibility to “work to improve equity efforts and outcomes across all groups and identities” (Radd et al., 2021, p. 25).
An example of a time I disrupted the curriculum in terms of race was when my department was preparing for a unit on film music. Music classes in Canada may be well-versed with the repertoire of the American composer John Williams. Our music department is home to numerous scores written by Williams and have been well-cherished over the years. When I joined the department, I decided that I wanted to introduce the students to film music from other parts of the world. I surveyed my students to find out what films they enjoyed and if there were any specific composers they wanted to learn more about. There were quite a few responses from students asking to learn more about Joe Hisaishi, the Japanese film score composer for the animation studio, Studio Ghibli. I incorporated the music of Hisaishi into my curriculum and the result was that students took great interest in their learning because they had a personal connection to the music. For students who were unfamiliar with the works of Hisaishi, they were intrigued to learn about a new composer and perform repertoire they did not have prior experience with. Many of them appreciated the opportunity to learn music from a non-Eurocentric perspective and I found that student engagement levels were overall much higher during this unit than any other unit that semester.
Socioeconomics
Where in your experience have you seen, heard, and felt a deficit orientation or systemic class inequities that disproportionately impacted students in families with low income or living in poverty?
I currently teach in Woburn, Scarborough. According to a 2016 City of Toronto report based on a Statistics Canada population census, the neighbourhood has a population of 53,485 people, 52.9% of whom are in the working age group of 25-64 years old (City of Toronto, 2016). 55% of the neighbourhood has a mother tongue that is not English, which is higher than Toronto’s average of 47% (City of Toronto, 2016). 56.9% of the neighbourhood are immigrants and we have a visible minority population of 76.4%, higher than the City of Toronto’s average of 51% (City of Toronto, 2016). This is very reflective in the school that I teach at, where most of our students are of visible minority populations, with a large South Asian demographic.
The median household income in Woburn is $56,186, lower than the Toronto average of $65,829 (City of Toronto, 2016). More than half the population at 51% live in an apartment higher than 5 storeys (City of Toronto, 2016). While the neighbourhood is not known to have particularly high crime rates, cases of violence have gone up as the cost of living continues to increase and the pandemic rages on. We are seeing more lockdowns in the Toronto District on a weekly basis. My school is well-aware of the inequities caused by socioeconomic status and does their best to provide materials and resources for students. However, like many schools, we lack the funding to be able to provide enough for every student, therefore the inequities prevail.
An example of a resource that we provide students with are access to Chromebooks. Since 2020, our school has been able to provide incoming grade nine students with their own Chromebook. This has proven to be highly effective, as teachers are able to assign work digitally and students have a personal device to access the work. It cuts down on the amount of photocopying for the teacher and students are less likely to lose their work. The teacher can prepare materials and upload them to the online classroom if they are away, making it more organized and efficient for an occasional teacher to come in.
Unfortunately, technology has its downfalls, such as when it stops working, causes barriers in learning, and when there are not enough devices to go around. Our Grade 11 and 12 students do not have their own Chromebooks unless they are able to bring in their own device, which makes completing any work digitally for senior classes a challenge. The school has limited Chromebook carts and computer labs. Teachers have weekly limits on how frequently they can sign out devices for their classes. This was a challenge I ran into the first year I taught at this school, as I had Grade 11 and 12 classes who did not have supplied devices. I had to learn to plan my lessons in multiple formats so that they could be accessible for students. Admittedly, my own personal biases and experiences got in the way of this at first. I had grown up attending schools in the York Region District that always had an abundance of Apple laptops, iPads, and PC’s in nearly every classroom. Most of the teaching materials I had prepared were for the digital format and I had to adapt to the limited resources in my current school. I also felt a pang of guilt that I had not deeply considered how different neighbourhoods would have different socioeconomic factors than my own. “Forgive yourself and one another while simultaneously acknowledging harm that has been done and working to fix it” (Radd et al., 2021, p. 206). It has been an adjustment, but I am using my situation as a young educator to my advantage and trying to critically evaluate my biases now, before I become deeply rooted in systemic beliefs from years of practice that could be harmful towards my students.
Sex/Gender Identity/Sexual Identity
How am I reproducing versus disrupting the culture and learning of the adults at school (teachers, administrators, other staff) around sex, gender identity, and sexual identity to foster more inclusion?
I am fortunate that the staff at my school are invested in gaining knowledge regarding sex, gender identity, and sexual identity. As an educator, I feel as though it is generally a safe environment to express my stories to staff that I trust. However, there is always room to do better and the curricula featuring stories of minority groups such as LGBTQIA+, gender-fluid, and women differ depending on the individual educator. It is interesting for me to make these observations when I am doing on-call coverage for classes.
I am open with my students about my pronouns and share my stories where I see fit but allow my students to share only what they are comfortable with. Some students will mention to me later in the semester their preferred names, pronouns, or sexuality once they become familiar with me and our classroom routines. I allow them the choice of letting me know because I understand that not everyone is ready to share that part of themselves to somebody else. I like to start my semesters off with a get-to-know-me sheet. On the sheet, I ask students their name, their preferred name, and their pronouns. I then follow up the pronouns question by asking if I may use these pronouns in front of the class, when contacting home, and in front of other staff. There is an option to circle yes or no for each of these statements and then I offer a follow up conversation to any student who would like to speak to me one-on-one. I have gone through different variations of this introductory sheet and will continue to adapt it over the course of my professional career.
I am mindful of using safe and inclusive language when addressing students. I will use gender-neutral terms when addressing a group and do my best to educate other staff about how to incorporate inclusive language and safe practices. In my experience, a lot of the disconnect happens between parents, guardians, and caregivers. I still grapple with ways to communicate these practices to them while maintaining student privacy. My goal is to implement more stories and accomplishments from voices other than cisgender heterosexual males into my curriculum, which still requires more research on my part. I know it will be several more years before I have worked out a system that ensures they are being fully represented. “The time and effort spent engaging others in understanding the problems you face, and identifying and deciding on solutions, will pay off in higher-quality decisions, more efficient implementation, and broader and deeper organizational support” (Radd et al., 2021, p. 120).
I am working on making both long-term and short-term goals to help me achieve my goals in becoming a more equity-focused leader. This will require a lifetime of patience, setting professional boundaries, and creating a sustainable plan for myself. “Self-care is vital to sustainability” (Radd et al., 2021, p. 206). To be self-aware and lead by example, I must be purposeful, vigilant, and reasonable about my goals.
References
City of Toronto. (2016). 2016 Neighbourhood Profile City of Toronto, Woburn Neighbourhood
#137. Toronto.ca. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://www.toronto.ca/ext/sdfa/Neighbourhood%20Profiles/pdf/2016/pdf1/alltoronto.pdf
Radd, S. I., Generett, G. G., Gooden, M. A., & Theoharis, G. (2021). Five practices for
equity-focused school leadership. Association for Supervision & Curriculum
Development.
Battle of Hastings, England, August 2019
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