Changing Landscape: Inclusive Education-Diversity & Difference

Core Questions: You will focus on the diversity, difference & inclusiveness in the school and classrooms.In what ways do the teachers and educational assistants honour inclusive education practices? How are the needs of EAL learners being met in the classroom? In what ways do teachers, administrators and students honour diversity, equity, and human rights for gender and sexual diverse students in their classrooms and within their schools and communities?

This week at McVeety school I gave attention to the inclusivity of the school. This school is very diverse, and they seem to have a great EAL program. Nearly every week when I am in a classroom, I have noticed groups of students being pulled out of class for EAL. This school gets new students every week like crazy. They had 11 new students last week and many don’t speak English when they arrive. The teachers work really closely with the students to teach them and help them learn English.

The classrooms all have diverse seating options and I noticed that there are accommodations made for any students that need. There is flexible seating and quiet places. I was surprised that they had a quiet space to be used as a prayer room because often schools are scratching for space but it is nice that they set a space aside completely for the students. I think this is awesome and that all schools should do it. They have a teacher supervisor everyday just like recess and lunch time. I saw so many kids ask to use it to pray during lunch and I think this is great to have a safe space like this. McVeety school has lots of reminders that it is an inclusive school and welcoming to everyone. I am not sure if they have a gay-straight alliance club, but it really feels like a welcoming school. All the teachers took it upon themselves to have pride decorations and make it comfortable for students.

Truth & Reconciliation

Core Questions: Think about what you learned in your K-12 education about Indigenous history in Canada. What have you learned as an adult through media, family, friends and other learning experiences? As you read through the TRC booklet-Truth & Reconciliation: What is it about? What messages resonate with you? What do you need and want to learn more about? What would you do for a call to action? In your field placement, describe how teachers and the school community integrated and honoured Indigenous knowledges in the learning environment.

From kindergarten to grade 12 I feel like Indigenous History became increasingly more common. From grades K-5 I don’t remember learning about Indigenous History. From grade 6 – 9 I felt often the information was repetitive. I think many of my teachers were googling Indigenous History and teaching us the first thing that came up. I believe many of my teachers got their degrees while residential schools were still open, so they were never taught about it, or taught how to teach it. Once I got to high school, I had the option every year to take Indigenous Studies or Social Studies and I chose to take Indigenous Studies every year. These classes were much better than elementary school was, and we learned so much more. My teacher had planned field trips and guest speakers however Covid cancelled most of this. In university I took INDG 100 however I went to school in BC last year, so I got a totally different view on it since history with Indigenous Peoples is very different in BC than it was in Saskatchewan. In my adult life I feel like I have learned from hearing about big events like the one that was on September 29 at mosaic this year and from social media.

The TRC document is about the journey that needs to be taken towards reconciliation. A quote that resonates with me is this, “In my opinion, Canada wanted its peaceful, developed, safe reputation to be upheld. Canada is known as the country that helps those in need and provides a high quality of life. The Indian Residential School System turned that belief on its back. Canada’s credibility has been lost.” My call to action in my future class will be land acknowledgements, flying the flag of the respective treaty land, and acknowledging the truth.

In my field placement this week I noticed lots of recognition of Indigenous History. I was in a grade 4 classroom and there were buckets for reading labeled “Indigenous History” as well as other buckets of books of other cultures. This teacher also had the respective flags hanging in her room.

Students & Learning Environment: Focus on places, spaces, and boundaries

Core Questions: What do you see in the spaces and places in the school? Describe what the classroom(s) look like (include a sketch if you choose). In what ways do these classroom space(s) indicatepower relationships? Does the space provide opportunities for all students to engage in learning? How did this space make you feel? How do teachers make classroom spaces more relational?

This was my second week at Marion McVeety School and again another great experience. I got to experience a grade 1/2 and 7/8 classroom. This school for spaces and places is typical in most classrooms. However, I did hear about a teacher in the school who has every desk turned different directions facing the walls with little white boards in front of each desk to get rid of the power dynamic. Next week I want to try go to this classroom to learn more about it. In the classrooms I did visit they were very common to what I have always saw. The grade 7/8 class that I visited had the teacher’s desk at the back of the room and everyone faced the same direction. Since I am so used to seeing this, I didn’t think of it as something to break the power dynamic but maybe it is? In the grade 1/2 classroom the teacher’s desk was at the front of the room but I noticed she never taught from her desk or from the front of the room really. Every time she spoke to the kids and was explaining something they all came and sat on a carpet in front of her. The teacher was on a chair and maybe she could have been on the floor to be on the same level with them. She is teaching 25 little kids, so I think she needs to be on a chair to get their attention. Overall, I think she did as good as she could with kids that young because young kids still need that direction. I think the carpet space was great for the kids, they all loved it and she really had all there attention because there was nothing for them to be distracted by in their desks.

This space made me feel welcomed and it really showed that the kids enjoyed it. I think teachers can make classrooms better by having spaces that any one is allowed to use such as the carpet, or a small work table on the side. Also all of her students desks were in clusters and no one was sitting alone. From what I saw eveyrone ws with friends and I feel like this makes it their space too.

Teachers, Knowledge, Building Relationships: Invitation & Hospitality

Core Questions: In what ways do you see teachers honouring different ways of knowing and doing in the classroom? In what ways do teachers build a sense of community in the classroom? In what ways can teachers build hospitable and invitational educational environments and relationships with all students?

My field experience this week was great at Marion McVeety School. I got the opportunity to experience a grade 6/7 split class and a grade 2 classroom. In the school hallways and in the classrooms, I witnessed a strong sense of community. I was warmly welcomed to the school by Tannis Lowey-Chimilar, the principal, and I recognized she did this for every student she saw. She knew all students by name and had a relationship with each of them. In the grade 6/7 classroom the teacher demonstrated a community and relationships by her decorations, and through her activities. On her backboard in the room, she had a little poster for each student that had their name and images/words that describe themselves. I was looking at these posters and I was able to get to learn about the students after only an hour with them. I think this board would have made the students feel very welcomed and safe in a classroom that is often the teacher’s space to decorate rather than the students too. Next, the kids were working on character analysis and adjectives. To involve the students and to maintain a sense of community she wrote each child’s name on a sticky note and randomly handed them out. Each student wrote one positive adjective to describe the name they got. This involved the students with each other and taught them about adjectives. I think this built a community relationship because they got to guess who the adjective was about. The students got it right almost every time.

Marion McVeety school is very diverse and welcoming. At first glance of the school, you can tell it is welcoming because of the pride walkway leading to the front door, there is a wall that has flags from many many countries, a gender-neutral washroom, and the holidays celebrated at the school. While I was in the grade 2 classroom, I watched the kids get handed back an assignment that had to do with a recent holiday. The teacher explained that at McVeety they celebrate every holiday. Early in September in lecture we learned that it is important to recognize diversity and not ignore it, so all students are valued. I think this school is very good at this.

After being in the classroom I saw some great things to encourage community and an inviting school. I really enjoyed the board of the students’ posters to describe them. Often in my classrooms when I was in school there was no input by students for the decorations. Many of my teachers even had tape on the floor to outline the areas students can’t enter such as the front of the room and around the teachers’ desk. These classrooms always felt like the teacher’s space and not shared at all. Having the posters in the room allows students to feel welcomes and can help to build a relationship with each other. I think Marion McVeety school is the perfect example to help kids feel welcomed into an educational classroom.