Teachers, Knowledge, Building Relationships: Invitation and Hospitality
When I reflect on the teachers I have had throughout my education, there have been many that have created environments that felt safe and welcoming and in which students felt respected and valued for how they learn and share ideas. These same classrooms also felt like “a home away from home” and classmates often felt like family. I realize that my ideas of what this looked like and felt like might be different than the experiences of others and I can recognize the place of privilege that I come from and how I might benefit from a colonized style of education. But, with that being said, when I remember conversations with my classmates about the teachers that created these special learning environments, no matter our backgrounds and intersectionalities, we all knew that these situations were special and that these were the teachers who had the biggest impact on our lives. Reflecting on these teachers and what they had in common helped me to create a list of qualities that I hope to bring to the students that I teach someday. The first quality these teachers all possessed was their ability to make us feel like they truly cared about us and about who we were as individuals. They took the time to get to know us and to have real conversations with us about who we were as people. They made us feel respected, accepted and valued and created an environment where this care for one another was an expectation. They modelled what accepting and welcoming behaviour looked like and we would take part in activities that helped us get to know one another and show one another care and respect. These teachers were approachable and oftentimes showed us their own vulnerabilities so we felt safe sharing ours too. We learned how to listen, how to look at things from alternate perspectives, and how to validate the opinions and ideas of our classmates. These classrooms were places where visitors were welcomed and where real-life stories were shared and discussed. If we didn’t succeed at something, we were never made to feel ashamed, we were taught to take a look at where we needed support and we knew we could always find that support in our teacher if we needed it. These teachers were calm, open, and understanding themselves and therefore created environments that shared these characteristics.
Students & Learning Environment: Focus on Places, Spaces, and Boundaries
The learning environments in my educational experiences range from traditional rows of desks or tables with the teacher at the front to more open and free spaces where flexibility and movement were encouraged. Oftentimes, classroom design was limited because of the large numbers of students in those classes, but even with limited space, the teachers that facilitated environments that were less rigid were often the same ones who shared many of the qualities that I described in the first focus question. Even when the physical space was limited, some teachers moved around the classroom frequently and spoke from different places and heights. There was often a variety of the types of furniture available in the spaces and some teachers gave us the opportunity to give feedback about the classroom set up or to have input into how our seats were arranged. Teachers that engaged us in different group sizes and who used the physical space for variety and with creativity often made it feel more welcoming. The variety not only helped keep things interesting, but it helped to engage different learning styles and meet the needs of a larger variety of students. This also helped with the feeling of safety and intimacy so we were more willing to share our ideas and feel heard. When the teacher moved around the classroom, they also eased the intimidating power role which in turn aided in creating an environment that felt more inclusive. The movement and the variety in groupings also helped students to branch out and to get to know more classmates. It seemed less intimidating to work in groups since it was the norm and the freedom to move around the classroom freely contributed to the feeling of a safe, comfortable space.
Truth & Reconciliation
I do not remember learning about Indigenous history a lot throughout my education, especially as a child. I remember learning a little bit about residential schools but it was often taught as more of a history lesson than that of an issue that manifests itself in today’s institutions and inequalities. Over the past year, I have been so fortunate to take a few classes that have expanded my understanding of Truth and Reconciliation and that have opened my eyes to the atrocities that occurred in Canada’s history. Not only have I learned more about what happened in our history through facts, but I have had the opportunity to hear and read about first-hand experiences of some First Nations Canadians through their stories. Hearing these personal stories and learning about the effects that these events have on people today has been so eye-opening and such an important part of my journey to becoming an effective teacher for ALL of my students. I am also fortunate to be a part of a family where we discuss what we learn and where we all want to listen and learn more.
The TRC booklet is a way for us to gauge the impact and understanding that people hold about Residential Schools. The booklet takes the horrible history and uses reflections, stories and drawings to humanize these events and take the understanding to a more personal level than that of what you learn in a history book. It is meant to start conversations among educators, students and community members and to help people understand the generational trauma and the impacts that colonization continues to have in schools and communities today. My biggest takeaway as a future educator is that I still have so much to learn and that my learning has to come from listening and reflecting. I want to be an educator that honours the different backgrounds of my students and makes everyone feel valued, welcome, and safe. I look forward to gaining tools to create an equitable environment and strong relationships with my students and I know the only way to get there is through openness, commitment, and a lot more listening. My call to action is to be committed to these goals and to take as much away from these courses and resources as I can.