I would like to think that I live a fairly unbiased life, however, this class has definitely brought forth my naiveness to that understanding. As a student, I always had good relationships with my teachers and found it easy to make friends. The school was always comfortable for me, a safe place, somewhere I enjoyed being. I always knew that some people didn’t like school or some of the teachers, but I didn’t really think beyond that. I did not question the deeper meaning as to why they had those negative feelings about school. After taking this class, I now realize that oftentimes, those students did not enjoy school because…

Part 1: At the beginning of the reading, Leroy Little Bear (2000) states that colonialism “tries to maintain a singular social order by means of force and law, suppressing the diversity of human worldviews. … Typically, this proposition creates oppression and discrimination” (p. 77). Think back on your experiences of the teaching and learning of mathematics — were there aspects of it that were oppressive and/or discriminating for you or other students? Part 2: After reading Poirier’s article: Teaching mathematics and the Inuit Community, identify at least three ways in which Inuit mathematics challenges Eurocentric ideas about the purposes of mathematics and the way we learn it. For as long…

What are the purpose of teaching Treaty Ed (specifically) or First Nations, Metis, and Inuit (FNMI) Content and Perspectives (generally) where there are few or no First Nations, Metis, Inuit peoples? What does it mean for your understanding of the curriculum that “We are all treaty people”? In response to this students email:  I am sorry that you are experiencing this in your school and with your co-op. I wish that this was a “one-off,”  but unfortunately, that is not true. That being said, we can use this as a learning opportunity for future altercations.  I believe that often when people are uncomfortable, they do not act themselves. In this…

What will culturally relevant pedagogy look like, sound like, feel like, in your future classroom? As a preservice teacher, and I am sure as a practicing teacher, my pedagogy will still be developing and changing. What my pedagogy resembles now compared to when I receive my B. Ed, to when I am a practicing teacher, to my retirement, I hope will have morphed several times. That being said, something important to me, and I wish to keep constant in my pedagogy, is culture and the inclusivity that accompanies it. In my classroom, this will look something like learning from each other. Thinking back on my days in elementary and high…

How can hip hop be used as a tool to promote social justice and youth activism in the classroom? What is the relationship between hip hop culture and the development of critical consciousness amongst students? As an extraordinarily awkward and uncoordinated person, hip hop would have been the last thing I would have thought of using to incorporate social justice into the classroom. I found this article very interesting because it is a new way to teach such an essential topic in the classroom! As stated in the article, hip hop has a long history of “black freedom struggle, and self-determination of oppressed communities worldwide” (53). Hip hop can be…

Curriculum Policy and the Politics of What Should Be Learned in Schools]: Although the curriculum is a fundamental part of the framework of schooling, curriculum decisions and choices are shaped in no small measure by other considerations—ideology, personal values, issues in the public domain, and interests. Curriculum decisions are often part of a much larger public debate that often extends beyond education to broader questions of available goods. There is, and never will, be a holistic truth to what should be taught in schools. All that is taught will be influenced by someone or something, and unfortunately, this is undeniable. Further, what IS taught in schools compared to what SHOULD…

What kind of Citizen? The Politics of Educating for Democracy]: What examples of citizenship education do you remember from your K-12 schooling? What types of citizenship (e.g. which of the three types mentioned in the article) were the focus? Explore what this approach to the curriculum made (im)possible in regards to citizenship. What does the approach we take to citizenship instruction in any given place tell us about that place? About what the curriculum makers value? About what kinds of citizens they want to produce? Looking back on my K-12 schooling, citizen education was embedded, whether it was intended or not. The most obvious one is learning about politics and…

[Deepening the Discussion]: How might we begin to address the ways in which the systems that we teach our curriculum in are intrinsically homophonic, transphobic, biphobic and oppressive towards queer and trans people? [Queering Curriculum Studies]: What does integrating queerness into curriculum studies mean to you? What will it look like, sound like, feel like in your classroom? [Queering Classrooms, Curricula, and Care: Stories From Those Who Dare]: Which rule/discourse should the teacher follow: providing the duty of care for all students, or maintaining a classroom free from any notion of sexuality We can address the current curriculum by challenging the way gender is used in the school system. First,…

What does it mean to be a “good” student according to the commonsense? Which students are privileged by this definition of the good student?  How is the “good” student shaped by historical factors? According to common sense, to be a “good” student is to get good grades, not cause trouble, or inconvenience the teacher. I believe that the common-sense definition of a “good” student marginalizes all students; even those who get good grades, don’t cause trouble or inconvenience the teacher. I say this because those who are not deemed as “good” are seen as unteachable and pushed to the side; however, those who are “good” are also overlooked as the…

Short Summary Practice I have chosen to research general disabilities in schools. I have found an interesting article covering survey-based research on what WHO (World Health Organization) defines as health conditions and disabilities. The article “Chronic physical health conditions and disability among Canadian school-aged children: a national profile” written by Gillian King, Davis J De Wit, Kinda T Miller, Sungjin Hing, David R Offord, John Laporta, and Katherine Meyer, goes into and describes several statistics. These statistics cover the likelihood of students with health conditions and disabilities having secondary learning disabilities or activity limitations. I found that the article heavily focuses on what precisely WHO determines as a health condition…