Month: December 2024

Above image courtesy of The University of Chicago English Language Institute.

EAL is the acronym for English as an Additional Language. Individuals whether they be students in our primary education system or not can be referred to EAL if English is not the primary language spoken at home. This does not mean that every EAL individual requires support when it comes to speaking, reading and writing the English language, it’s just an acknowledgment that their primary language is one other than English.

The number of immigrant families and EAL learners in Saskatchewan has sky rocketed in the last decade.

In this CBC news article dated May 2023, the argument is being made that the number of qualified EAL teachers in the province had decreased while students enrolling and requiring EAL support had increased. The article states that as of May 1, 2023, there was 16,000 EAL students registered across the province, but the STF acknowledges that not all of those students require language supports.

In a sea of already complex classrooms, students arriving with a language barrier when language is our primary education tool adds an even deeper layer of complexity to our classrooms.

Beyond the potential issue of language as the primary communication tool comes the considerations around what these immigrant families come from in terms of their history and background and what we need to consider in order to have these young EAL students succeed. In the publication titled Teaching the Immigrant Child: Application of Child Development Theories authored by Onchwari, Onchwari and Keengwe, they outline Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory identifying five different systems that affect a child’s development. These systems are:
Microsystems which include the immediate environments surrounding the child such as family, school and religious groups.

Mesosystems  are the interactions between a child’s family, school and religious groups (their microsystems).

Exosystems are community factors that influence a child’s development indirectly such as policies affecting families, often times surrounding work and new or different expectations that the family is not used to.  The child isn’t necessarily directly included in this system, but is directly affected by it.

Macrosystems are the bigger spaces that encompass all the other systems and their operation. Most often these are not spaces that are physically bound, but more ideologies, beliefs, laws, values and traditions shared amongst people.

Chronosystems, as the name suggests, is related to the chronology of a child’s life and the events that occur.

Educating an immigrant child can be a very demanding experience, but also very rewarding. It is important to be sensitive to the child and family’s needs and offer support when/where possible and accept the cultural differences and similarities. Creating opportunities for knowledge sharing, connecting with others in these new environments and taking the time to learn about the family’s needs or expectations for their child’s learning make it possible to create a plan for success.

ECS 101 requires four half days of field experience throughout the semester.

For some of you young ‘uns I’m guessing this experience could be quite daunting. In this case, I’m grateful to have been working in education for over ten years. I’ve worked in numerous schools and plenty of classrooms. I’ve seen a lot of things during my years in education. And I keep showing up! I’ve worked with some absolutely amazing educators that have modelled what a functional, welcoming and successful classroom experience looks like.

I was grateful to spend time in a grade three classroom for my field experience because, over time, I have grown to enjoy my time in the grade three classrooms and feel like this is where I would like to end up once I’ve completed my bachelor’s degree.

The classroom was an inviting space with a nice colour scheme, a carpet for gathering for the class’ morning meeting and some alternate seating options for when the students participated in Daily 5 rotations. Over the four weeks there was changes to the classroom space with desks having been moved from one setup to another to allow for students to be sitting next to different peers. The teacher’s desk was located at the back of the room, there was ample white board space and a Loft board used for projecting different pieces of lessons.

Above: Not my classroom, but a similar pod style setup for seating was one of the seating arrangements that was in the classroom I visited.

Above: Loft boards have been arriving in the school I spent time at. These are interactive whiteboards, but also project from a computer. They are very sensitive to touch making the picture much more accurate than the old SmartBoard technology.

This particular classroom was not as complex as others I have worked in. There was  a full time educational assistant in this classroom that was working one-on-one with a student with diagnosed needs,  one EAL student not requiring language support, and others that participated in small reading groups, but overall this was generally a classroom without complex needs.

In one of our breakout rooms during our class time earlier in the semester we discussed the importance of being aware of the tone of voice that one uses with students. This is one thing that I did note as a less positive experience as there were times when the classroom teacher’s tone was not as kind as it probably could have been in order to have their students respond positively.

As busy as some of these experiences were, it fuelled my desire to continue on my journey to complete my degree and solidified how much I enjoy that eight to nine-year-old age group of students!

The landscape of education has changed dramatically over the past few years. Inclusion in our schools and classrooms has become a very important topic of discussion.

One of my favourite presenters is Dr. Shelley Moore and her Five Moore Minutes. One can learn a lot in five minutes or less from this wonderful human! Her video “United: Inclusion AS Unity” talks about the evolution of her own model of inclusion. Please, take the time to watch it 👇🏻

Take a minute to think about what inclusion in the classroom looks like to you? My own idea of inclusion has changed over the years. Classroom composition was much different when I attended elementary, junior high and high school than my own kids’ classrooms are today. In order to teach for decolonization and open our classrooms to inclusive education spaces we must take what we’ve learned and unlearn it; relearn what we need to be successful and keep on learning!

The acronym EDID stands for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization.

Equity is a key piece in the EDID model as it essentially the glue that holds the reality of diversity and the goal of inclusion together.  As I listened to one of our lectures, my sketch of diversity and inclusion was connected by an infinity symbol because in my mind, there is no end to their relationship.

Equity should not be confused with equality.

Above: Visual representation of equality vs equity. Image courtesy of the Interaction Institute for Social Change.

Diversity is quite literally the acknowledgment of differences.  This may come from differences in perspective and lived experiences in both societal and educational settings, both of which have an impact on our student’s daily lives. Diversity in education is ever growing and consistently becoming more complex. The pressure placed on our teachers to meet the needs in our complex classrooms is huge. Diversity is something to be celebrated as long as classroom teachers have any fuel left in their tanks to throw a celebration.

Every one of our students has a place in both education and society. When we are able to connect the ideas that we need to recognize the diversity of our students with the goal of all people being welcomed as they are and identify that they feel like they fully belong, that is when we have reached inclusion. Inclusion when it come to education may be in the form of accessibility, but it also might speak to recognizing the diverse ideas and knowledge and have these contributions valued and supported in the classroom.

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to the decolonization of education is opening up the doors and windows to different ways of knowing. Our current system operates under the assumption that all of those enrolled in our schools have the same basic Western knowledge base while giving little to no credit to our Indigenous knowledge systems. This also applies to our immigrant populations who likely come from different educational backgrounds where school spaces and places may be much different than our Canadian counterparts.

The STF shares a powerful film on their website discussing the topic of decolonization in our own province.

Another big change in our education landscape is the acknowledgement of gender. This video provides some ideas on how to create a gender friendly classroom.

At the end of the school day, each and every student has the right to quality education. Everyone must feel safe and supported and it is up to us educators to make this all happen!

How do we define space, place and boundaries? Is your definition the same as your neighbours? Your friends? Your students?

Dr. Fatima Pirbhai-Illich and Fran Martin,  in their paper titled “A relational approach to decolonizing education: working with the concepts of space, place and boundaries“, help us define these terms by stating that space is the social, material (physical environment) and esoteric (spiritual) spaces that support the relationships that are integral to any classroom.

Places are sometimes referred to as points on the earth’s surface, or locations, such as a province in Canada, a town within that province and so on. Places each have a unique set of characteristics that are determined by the coming together of intricately intertwined elements, processes, and relationships that are always in flux. (McGregor, 2004)
Spaces are created in places.

Thinking both within the school and beyond the school walls, take a minute to think about all of the SPACES you spend time in on a daily basis.

There’s a lot of them, isn’t there?

Think about how many PLACES you visit on a weekly basis.

There’s a lot of those, too, isn’t there?

Think about the BOUNDARIES we observe in our everyday lives.
Boundaries are literally everywhere in our society. Personal property is bound by fences; so are many of our school grounds.

I am a White settler Canadian which creates bounds to my identity and I’m a woman which means there are limits to my feminine identity.

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I feel pretty lucky to have received an education in the 1990’s. Things were different then. Much, much different.

Think about what classrooms look like today – the organization of the desks (do they even have desks?), where the teacher’s desk is situated and expectations of those students while in learning situations. Is it different than what you experienced at school?

During one of our modules of study, I did a quick sketch of what my classrooms were arranged like through elementary and junior high school. Does it look similar to your experience?

Because I know that NONE of the classrooms I’ve been in in the last ten years have been organized like all of mine were!

This is a good example of a power model that was common in classrooms for many years where the ideology behind teaching was that teachers and what teachers were saying were the most important thing in our classrooms. We’ve learned and grown in recent years and classrooms are now much more inviting for all staff and students. Decolonizing in education is a work in progress, but a goal that each school division should be working towards.

Above: An image from Dr. Fatima Pirbhai-Illich and Fran Martin’s paper regarding the power model in education.

As we move into having more experience in classrooms we should be taking note and notice the arrangement of the classrooms, the interaction that happens in our classrooms and who has the power in those classrooms.

Taking a deeper look into curriculum will show you that there are many boundaries surrounding curricular outcomes and the knowledge that our province deems necessary for our students to learn.

Although we have come a long way when it comes to education, there is much more work to be done when it comes to decolonizing education.

If there is one positive thing that each Canadian can do for not only themselves, but for our country, it would be to learn more about the history of the First Nations and Indigenous peoples of Canada.

You weren’t alive when the atrocities happened? Ok.

You weren’t responsible for what happened to our First Nations peoples? Ok.

It’s not up to you to help change the way things are right now? I’m going to stop you right here. Nope, nope, double nope!

We are ALL responsible for making changes to the way things are right now! It is our job as Canadian citizens to become educated and informed about what happened to our First Nations peoples as Canada was settled. Search up the “The White Paper 1969”, read a few articles and tell me that you feel the same way that you do right now.

Above: Image of Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau (left), and Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister, Jean Chrétien (right), during a meeting regarding the highly controversial “White Paper” formally known as the Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, 1969.

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{I’m kidding, I don’t want to hear from you if you feel the same way after reading up on this document}

{For real}

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As Canada was colonized and treaties signed across this great nation, life as our First Nations people knew it was changing. The Anishinabek people of Ontario released a great recollection of their history called “We Are All Treaty People”. I recommend you take the time to watch it.

Thankfully our government is slowly catching on to the idea that we need to right some wrongs in this country.

The Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was formed and representatives spent 6 years travelling the country to listen to stories of residential school survivors and their families.  Afterwards they developed 94 Calls to Action meant to guide our understanding and healing as we move forward together.

Schools, and our entire nation, celebrate Orange Shirt Day on September 30 to commemorate the atrocities that occurred at the government driven residential schools.

Our young learners can easily connect with this day because they can identify how school makes them feel and relate that to some of the stories of how children their own age felt when they attended residential school.

Learning more about the Seven Ojibway Teachings is one way to understand and connect with a very important way of knowing that many First Nations peoples abide by.

And, finally, to summarize my learning on these topics during my studies in my ECS 101 class I developed this visual to include some key points and ideas that were important to me.

Once you’ve been accepted into the Faculty of Education,  you’re considered an affiliate member of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF).

The STF has been governing the actions of teachers since 1948 with the development of the Code of Ethics Committee at that time. Since then there has been new policy development and amendments along the way, but the most recent document that we abide by was accepted in 2020.

But, did you know you’re a teacher 24/7?! Teachers are expected to act professionally while at school, but the same goes for outside of school hours, too? Yep! If you think I’m pulling your leg, check out the STF code of practice document.

In all reality, is it too much to ask that the adults we entrust our children with during the school day could also be trusted with our children outside of school hours? Not as far as I’m concerned! So, if you could refrain from yelling at the ref during your child’s hockey game, that would be great!

All of the provinces have governing bodies that support their educators. The Ontario College of Teachers released a short video explaining their standpoint on ethical standards. You can view it here:

The STF is also the unified voice that fights for what’s best and what’s right for all of the teachers in our province. They are a multi-faceted organization offering professional development opportunities and an amazing teacher library, the Emma Stewart Resources Centre,  that we are luck to have supporting us.