In my final week in the field, I was in a grade 5 class and finally got to be in a math class. It was a great experience assisting the students with a subject I really enjoy. The kids were all super kind and thought it was super crazy when I told them that I liked math. This week I had a more immense achievement in making relationships with the students, and it was so great to be able to tell that I was really helping them improve their math skills.

For the focus topic of this week, I wanted to walk around the school and note how the school was honouring inclusive education practices. I, unfortunately, didn’t see any representation of the EAL learners in the classroom. I am sure they had help for EAL learners, but I never got to witness it. However, I noticed this bulletin board with many different inclusive posters for the lgbtq+ community and descriptions of celebrities who are a part of the lgbtq+. This is a great way to show representation around the school and also show other students who may be questioning their identity that there are other people like them and that this school is a safe place for them. There were also various lgbtq+ flags around the school with descriptions of what each flag meant. This was so different to see compared to my elementary school career. We never had any posters or banners like this around the school, and I don’t remember having any conversations about inclusion. I didn’t start seeing representation like this until I was in high school but still, what I saw in high school was the bare minimum they could do for representation.

Another way they honoured inclusive education practices was by having gender-neutral bathrooms everywhere around the school. They had all separate bathroom stalls with no specific gender for the stall, and then the sinks weren’t enclosed in the bathroom, so anyone could use them. This was shocking as I have always thought that bathrooms should be set up like this, and actually seeing that in the school was so amazing. Students at these ages may be questioning their gender identity, and having gender-neutral bathrooms doesn’t pressure them into putting themselves into one category when they may not know yet.

Lastly, I noticed all around the school that every teacher had their pronouns on their door, and when I was in the grade 5 class this week, the teacher made sure to introduce us, including our pronouns. Also, while walking around the grade 5 classroom, the students had their pronouns written on their name tags. Again this was so great to see as this creates the discussion in the classroom about what pronouns are and what gender identity means.