Month: November 2021

As stated in “As a Sort of Blanket Term”: Qualitative Analysis of Queer Sexual Identity Marking, “Sexual orientation is a multi-faceted concept that reflects an individual’s personal romantic and sexual interests.”. Throughout the few readings, this has been highlighted and explained in a variety of ways that mark the importance of understanding why queerness is important topic to integrate into the classroom.

One of the important items to realize about identity is queer sexual identity marking. As described in “As a Sort of Blanket Term”: Qualitative Analysis of Queer Sexual Identity Marking, “Sexuality marking serves as a way to assert one’s sexuality to others through language, behavour, aesthetics, and/or other non-verbal cues”.  In terms of heterosexual indivdiuals, they often choose to engage in heterosexual marking in cases where their sexual identity is questioned, challenged, or suggested to be something other than heterosexual. Simply put, this type of marking is done when a person would like to express they are not gay. Another type of sexuality marking is bisexual marking. This is characterized as, “being postured against negative stereotypes of bisexuality as unstable or a phase”, it also is against the idea that bisexual individuals are unable to be in commited partnerships. Before discussing what queer sexual identity marking is, it is important to understand what queer means. Historically, queer meant strange, odd, or suspicious, but this term now is an umbrella term that can be used to describe non-cisgender and non-heterosexual individuals or those that are considered outside traditional gende roles or sexual binaries. Although queer marking has similarities to other types of sexuality marking as it can be used to reference one’s sexual identity, it is a unique term. As stated in the paper, “With queer being a term that has no precise definition, using queer to mark one’s sexual identity does not disclose to others what one’s exact attractions are”. Due to the limited transparency this term gives, it allows for individuals to escape gendered sexual identity labels.

The next paper, Queering Curriculum Studies, the author discusses integrating queerness into curriculum studies. In the paper, Sykes describes this process as “A queering of curriculum studies has to deal with the White heteronormative imaginary that overpopulates curriculum studies and haunts queer stuies”. Important aspects of integrating queerness into curriculum studies is for it to occur as soon as possible, even if there are no “openly queer”  students in the classroom. Doing this would look like having a pride flag openly in the classroom, introducing myself with pronouns, and avoiding grouping students by gender. This would sound like not using gendered terms like “guys” or “boys and girls” in the classroom and replacing it with terms like “everyone”, “grade 10s”, or “scientists. Additionally, it would also sound like stopping students from using discriminatory terms or speaking out about current news (positive or negative) that is about the queer community. Lastly, integrating queerness into my classroom will feel like an inclusive and safe place for students to be their authentic selves. Students will feel safe and able to talk to me about anything that concerns them or relates to themselves.

The last paper, Post-gay, Political, and Pieced Together- Queer Expectations of Straight Allies, discusses how allyship is not a fixed idea within the queer community. The variance of allyship comes from the variety of marginalized groups and the meaning that comes from that. In the paper the authors state that, “the term ‘allies’ refers to members of privileged identity groups who advocate for the rights of marginalized groups”. However, due to the multiple categories that queer indivdiuals fall in, those who are “othered” in additional ways will face more challenges and often expect different actions from their allies. In terms of being a teacher and showing my alliance for students, the paper speaks out on a great point, “Using an intersectional lens is key to examining how a constellation of social identities contributes to why queerness becomes more important to the self-concept for some people, whereas others, it is less so.”. To be an ally as a teacher is being able to understand how each student conceptualizes their queerness. If we fail to understand what the students expect due to their conceptualizations, we may be viewed as someone who isn’t an ally. Having open and honest communications with students will allow for determinations of how to properly support queer students. As described in the paper, “allyship has almost been reduced to an identity while it should be an action or a process”. One of the participants in the study explained that when teachers say they are an ally then proceed to only ask for pronouns, this isn’t enough to be considered an “ally” as using correct pronouns is just a necessary part of allyship. It is important as a teacher to “reduce cultural biases and institutional inequalities through actions”. 

By reading these papers, it has helped me realize the importance of my role as a teacher and an ally to the queer community. I am so excited to get the chance to integrate these items into my classroom and continue to learn more on how to be the best ally for my students!

After reading through Chapter 7 Examples from English Literature by Kumashiro’s Against Common Sense, my upbringing/schooling shaping how I read the world and the biases and lenses that I bring to the classroom seem to be more apparent. I grew up in a small, extremely Christian based, white majority town and that definitely influenced parts of our education and student’s responses. I entered the world with a lot of biases towards people of colour, none that seemed to be a ‘problem’ in my own mind. Small stereotypes that seemed to be confirmed through my experiences after high-school, but as I grew and learned more, I realized how problematic some of these lenses are. One point that was definitely present in my classroom was the prevalence of Western literature in each classroom. As Kumashiro explains “When students read literature by only certain groups of people, they learn about only certain experiences and perspectives, especially those of groups that have traditionally been privileged in society.”. This was definitely the case in my classrooms which influenced how I looked at the world. Through a lot of educating myself, I was able to break through most of these single-sided biases that were created during my high-school experience. Also, a lot of the classes I have taken throughout my university experience have helped me challenge biases and lenses that I didn’t even know that I had. For example, I’m currently enrolled in ECS 303 and we had a reading about fat-phobia and how it affects students and their lives. I didn’t realize how biased our world is towards individuals who are ‘thin’. Keeping an open mind and working towards realizing how there are so many biases we can bring into the classroom is definitely one of the easiest ways to unlearn and work against these biases. If we continue to believe that what we currently know is always the right thing, we will never realize how biased these thoughts can actually be. It’s important to simply work on educating yourself everyday to learn what biases we may have and how we can unlearn them. 
In Chimamanda Adichie’s talk, The Danger of a Single Story,  she discusses how harmful the single story narrative can be. Single stories create stereotypes through incomplete stories which rob people of dignity while emphasizing how we are different rather than how we are similar. I think one of the most prevalent single stories were those surrounding Indigenous peoples. We often learned about their story through western literature which presents a completely different story than using literature from each perspective. The truth that mattered was the colonizer perspective because everyone in our classroom was part of settler families. Through our teachings of Indigenous peoples, it reinforced stereotypes and partial stories of them, placing the emphasis on how we are so different from ‘them’. Instead of using stories to empower and humanize the Indigenous population in Canada, they were used to emphasize and renew the stereotypes about this culture. I am definitely grateful that I have worked to unlearn these biases that were taught to me, but due to the complex and engrained nature of this single story in our country, I have so much more unlearning to do. I also have the responsibility to help students unlearn and relearn more than this single story narrative that is being told.

The reading by Leroy Little Bear titled Jagged worldviews colliding described the power of colonialism on the worldviews of society, including education. The teaching and learning of mathematics simply occurred through the lens of western education. The content we learned was strictly related to Western society and the way we were taught the information was very colonial. When we were learning, it was typically done in the “teacher stands at the front and lectures while students sit in neat tidy rows writing down the important information”. Directly after our learning period we would be sent to work on our assignment or practice questions, in an individual nature. This method of teaching was used throughout the entirety of math courses from Kindergarten to Grade 12 Calculus. The downfall to this method is that the majority of students have an extremely difficult time learning this way. This led to a pretty widespread hatred towards math. However, there is a simple fix to most of this methodology towards teaching mathematics. Including more interactive and engaging lessons, and allowing students to experience their learning through a variety of hands-on-activities. Instead of simply focusing on the objectives of teaching (quantity), there needs to be a switch to teaching quality lessons. 

Additionally, in some of the higher-level mathematics courses we learn how to apply math to our current westernized society. At no point did we have any discussions surrounding Indigenous ways of knowing and understanding of mathematics. In all honesty, I didn’t even think to realize that there was a different way of understanding math. Due to colonization, I believe that we took on this view that Eurocentric knowledge of mathematics was the only way of knowing math while the fact is Indigenous groups have their own understandings of mathematics. Lastly, I would like to bring up the fact that singularity holds a strong grip over mathematics. Oftentimes, mathematical knowledge is presented as there’s only one answer and only one way to get that answer. It’s a simple and linear approach to achieving the goal: getting the right answer. In most cases, math isn’t that simple and there can be an entire variety of approaches that will allow students to arrive at the correct answer, even if it’s not “the teachers way”. 

The second reading, Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community, by Poirer, introduced myself to understanding how different mathematics can look in other cultures. Specifically, this reading focused on the learning processes and understandings of math by Inuit peoples. This outlines many ways that Inuit mathematics challenges the Eurocentric ideas about the purposes of mathematics and the way that we learn it. Many of these differences occur in the ‘counting’ understanding of math. In Inuit teachings, math was traditionally an oral subject and in order for expression through characters, they had to borrow from the European numerical system. To further this, the numerical system is a base-20 numeral system with the numbers 20 and 400 being pivotal numbers. Due to the oral nature of mathematics, there are very precise languages used by the Inuit to describe the context in which a number is being used. For example, three objects are referred to as “pingasut” while the number three is referred to as “pingasuk”. The second understanding of math that differs between these two cultures is localization or spatial awareness. We often think of spatial awareness in different ways across cultures, but this isn’t something highlighted in the current education system. Inuit students learn about spatial awareness in ways that highlight their locations, such as being able to locate themselves in cases of survival. For example, in the case of a snow storm or limited visibility, students understand how they are able to locate the nearest point of safety. Lastly, another main point of differing understanding is through the measuring of different systems. In the western world, we are very definitive about our measurements, whether that is time or distance or clothing sizes. We use defined months and other defined times of measurement. However, in the case of the Inuit peoples, they have their own definition of measurements. For example, their year is measured by months, but the months are based around natural, independently occurring events. These events may vary in their length, such as the caribou shedding the velvet off their antlers. The time this takes may vary, but there is a mutual understanding of this measurement of time.

It is wrong for us to believe that mathematics is understood universally, and as future educators, we must take the time to learn and know other culture’s understandings of mathematics. It is also our duty to help convey this message to students through a variety of learning experiences.

Resources:

LittleBear, Leroy. “ Jagged Worldviews Colliding: Reclaiming Indigenous voice and vision.” UBC Press, 2000, LittleBear2000JaggedWorldViewsColliding.pdf – Google Drive. Accessed 4 November 2021.

Poirier, Louise. “ Teaching Mathematics and the Inuit Community.” Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, vol. 7, no.1, 2007, pg. 53-67, Poirier(2007) Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community.pdf – Google Drive. Accessed 5 November 2021.

Learning about the importance of teaching Treaty Ed or FNMI content and perspectives’ importance became extremely apparent after the readings and viewings for this week. In Dwayne’s lecture, he brings up the current situation and history of disconnect between Europeans and Indigenous people that has led to Indigenous peoples having to face continued effects of colonialism. Additionally, the clear line of disconnect between these two groups needs to be realized and challenged by both Europeans and Indigenous peoples in order to begin building relationships and understandings of one another. In Chamber’s We are all Treaty People, it speaks to the importance and ways we can address these current issues. We must use decolonization and Treaty Education to bring down these barriers. Additionally, through these processes, Europeans must not forget to not only identify but confront the hold colonialism has in our current systems. In regard to the importance and purpose of ensuring that Treaty Education is taught in locations where there may be little to no Indigenous students present, it has to do with informing European students. It is crucial that students with European backgrounds understand this issue, how they are upholding colonialism, and how to deconstruct the dominant narratives in the world around them. By taking the time to educate these individuals on their role in treaties, we can push society to a place where we actually uphold our Treaty promises to Indigenous peoples. Additionally, as Dwayne explains, by doing this we can help repair the relationships that have been broken by the current and past parts of Canadian culture.

“We are all treaty people” is a common phrase and is a main goal of understanding for a few of the education classes at the University of Regina. The interactions and meanings that come along with this phrase are immense. It’s not simply words strung together for a type of pretend meaning or flashy statement when saying this it holds a lot of meaning. For me, being a treaty person has to do with my ties to European heritage. I have a responsibility to uphold my end of the treaty. Additionally, Indigenous peoples also have responsibilities that come along with the treaties. As stated, treaties are “a shared relationship from which both parties benefit and for which both bear responsibilities”. A large part of representing myself as a treaty person includes being educated in all of Canada’s history; furthermore, my responsibilities now lay farther than that as a future educator. I hold myself accountable for ensuring that I teach students, European and Indigenous, about the true and full history of Canada through Treaty Education. It also means that when an outcome in the curriculum has an indicator for Indigenous knowledge to be incorporated into teaching, that I won’t just glaze over it and label it as “unimportant” knowledge. I also have responsibilities to make Treaty Ed a priority in my classroom by incorporating other Indigenous ways of knowing into what the students will learn. This can easily be done by adding or modifying current indicators in a way that is suitable for students to still reach the outcome. 

Chambers, Cynthia. “ We are all treaty People: The Contemporary Countenance of Canadian Curriculum Studies”, URCourses, Chambers_We are all treaty people.pdf – Google Drive

On what terms can we speak? Hosted by Dr. Dwayne Donald, 2010, Dwayne Donald – On What Terms Can We Speak? on Vimeo