author Savindi Jinasena
Paul Gorski's article "Avoiding Racial Equity Detours" resonated with me because it made me reflect on my Sri Lankan educational experiences. It made me wonder if racial equity in conflict-ridden countries could be a possibility when considering society's trauma. Sri Lanka has experienced a civil war for 30 years, resulting in a broken social fabric. Despite the war "ending" in 2009-at least from a military point of view, tensions between the Sinhala majority, ethnic Tamil minorities and other groups remain high. Furthermore, tensions became high once again when last year ISIS claimed responsibility for the Easter Sunday Attacks on Churches in Sri Lanka. The Easter Sunday attacks resulted in a lot of Islamaphobic violence towards the Muslim and Malay communities. Going back to the article's point on "Celebrating Diversity Detours" (Gorski, 2019), I remembered one of our New Year's Day assemblies held at my majority Sinhala Buddhist school. My school invited students from a Tamil Girl's School for a day of activities and performances. However, looking back, I never really interacted with any of the Tamil students. I only watched the performances. I feel this day was mainly for Sinhala students like myself to become acquainted with Tamil students. The article points out- Diversity is for white students (in my case, it was for Sinhala students). However, nothing authentic or productive happened on this day. Friendships were not formed, cultural exchanges were not made, and at the end of the day, we all went home, happy to have had a "free day" at school. I look back at this day and my education in Sri Lanka with disappointment and sadness. Disappointment at a curriculum absent of the country's tumultuous history, disappointment at educators who did not care about all students and sadness at the refusal to teach Sinhala students of their privilege regardless of class and caste. My only answer to racial equity in conflict-ridden countries is that the whole system needs to be overhauled, and the entire teacher's college system should be redesigned. I don't know if this is a realistic possibility at all; however, I believe educators in a privileged position have a responsibility to acknowledge their privilege and face uncomfortable truths about it. The question for me is, can they become educators for all students in Sri Lanka.
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author Michelle Strutzenberger
The host of a workshop I recently attended on confronting racism in the classroom began by proposing that educators weave the 7 Grandfather Teachings into our work as a powerful starting point. Rooted in indigenous culture, the 7 Grandfather Teachings are centred on seven ways of being: love, respect, generosity, bravery, humility, wisdom, and truth. According to “An Ojibwe Peoples Resource,” “Many Aboriginal organizations and communities have adopted the 7 guiding principles, in one form or another, as a moral stepping stone and cultural foundation.” Considering the overarching topic of this website, equity and access in online education, could not these same teachings be relevant in this context as well? What if the 7 Grandfather Teachings provided a stepping stone and foundation for efforts geared to addressing equity and access blocks in online education? Going a step further, what if the curriculum and teacher trainer for online courses were rooted in the 7 Grandfather Teachings? Perhaps even more radical, what if these teachings were both taught explicitly and used as a guide for the online learning community? Could we see a melting away of some of the barriers to equity and access in digital learning that currently exist? Consider a hypothetical scenario: Students who have disabilities face barriers to joining a course that has transitioned online due to the pandemic. The barriers include no existing technological resources and minimal technological know-how, among others. Could a response founded on respect, generosity, and wisdom generate what is required for these students to equitably participate in the new learning environment? It seems the potential rewards far outweigh the risks associated with testing such a consideration. Reference “An Ojibwe Peoples Resource.” https://walkinginhermoccasins.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ojibwe-Teachings-The-7-Grandfathers-Anishnaabeg-BimaadiziwinAn-Ojibwe-Peoples-Resource.pdf Author Savindi Jinasena
Rita Pierson’s 2013 TED Talk “Every kid needs a champion” is one of my favourite talks by an educator. It has resonated with me so much because belief in a child matters more than we could ever understand. I also speak from experience because between the ages of 7-13, and I did not have any teachers who believed in me in Sri Lanka. The competition was prioritized over creativity and authenticity. Pierson mentions, “we rarely discuss the value and importance of human connection.” When I think about my Sri Lankan education experience, I think about the absence of connection. I never felt valued as a student, nor did I believe teachers cared for me. I had a conversation with my best friend about our school experiences in Grades 6-9. Now that we’re both 30-year-old women, it seemed like we were old enough to talk about our experiences. There’s still a cultural taboo of discussing educators in a negative light, despite there being truth to those experiences. We both talked about how isolated we felt in school and how teachers never noticed us. We also discussed the head Art teacher at our school, an institutional presence since my mom (old alumni) was at the school. This teacher was awful, and my best friend didn’t take art because of her. I discussed being a late bloomer and how I would not survive such a harsh competitive school environment. My talents as a student could not compete with those who excelled in sports, sciences, and math. There was no room for a child who got lost in stories, wanted to write stories and cared about learning history. In the TED talk, Pierson says, “you know, kids don’t learn from people they don’t like,” about a colleague who says, “they don’t pay me to like the kids.” There’s a part of me that is sad to say that I don’t think about my Sri Lankan educators fondly because I did not feel a connection or have a relationship with them. What stood out to me was when my best friend said the teachers we had were “indifferent” towards us. Both of us felt the teachers had no passion for what they taught or the students. There could be several reasons for this- substantial class sizes (40+ students), disagreeing with the curriculum, biases etc. Despite those early experiences, the one teacher who became a champion for me was my grade 8 homeroom teacher Mrs. Harold. She was my first teacher when I came to Canada in 2003, and I still keep in touch with her. She believed in me throughout my educational journey. Two years ago, she said to me, “why should students respect you if you’re not going to respect them,” and those words have stayed with me to this day. Students should feel they have someone in their corner, someone who believes in all their humanity and possibilities. For me, Mrs. Harold was that person, and I hope I can be someone like that in the future. References TEDtalksDirector. (2013, May 03). Every kid needs a champion | Rita Pierson. Retrieved November 30, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFnMTHhKdkw author Savindi Jinasena
"Kids prosper best with a broad curriculum that celebrates their various talents" (Robinson, 2013). Sir Ken Robinson has been one of my favourite educators since the discovery of his famous TED Talk "Do Schools Kill Creativity?". His TED Talk "How to Escape Education's Death Valley" is another favourite because it makes me think about my educational experience. Thinking about the discussions we've had in this class about curriculum, accessibility and pedagogy, I gravitate towards thinking about my own experience in two educational systems in two countries. In my own experience, I feel schools do kill creativity, but it happens in different ways. I've mentioned before that I've studied in Sri Lanka and Canada. Both countries have colonization by Britain in common, yet it feels like Canada has moved away from the British school system (i.e. the absence of O/Level and A/Level examinations). In contrast, Sri Lanka still has these examinations, which is a factor in determining a child's future. Robinson (2013) says, "Standardized tests have a place, but they should not be the dominant culture of education"; however, it is very much part of the dominant education culture in Sri Lanka. In Grade 5, children write an exam called the "scholarship" exam. It is an exam comprised of all subjects, and the higher the score you achieve, the better your chances are of getting into a better school. I can still remember the anxiety I felt about this exam at nine years old. When I look back, I'm astonished that society determines the intelligence and education options available to a child nine years of age. Furthermore, standardized testing-depending on how it's applied-O/Level exam results can determine if a student can pursue A/Level classes, which could decide their university acceptance. I do not know if EQAO testing can be categorized the same way grade 5 scholarship exams are in Sri Lanka, but the latter certainly does leave a portion of children behind. "Arts aren't important because they improve math scores. They're important because they speak to parts of children's' being which are otherwise untouched" (Robinson, 2013). In my school experience in Canada, I did feel I had teachers who cared about instilling a love of music and humanities. I would go far as to say that their passion and enthusiasm for their respective teaching areas inspired me to study History at University. However, I didn't feel that my creativity was specifically nurtured. Perhaps within doing summative assignments, it was, but not outside of that. So I think within the confines of curriculum, it was encouraged, but there wasn't room for it to grow outside of it. I feel my intellectual curiosity has been encouraged in university and Grad School, but how can we expand that further? How can we create a place within all areas of education to foster creativity? References TEDtalksDirector. (2013, May 10). How to escape education's death valley | Sir Ken Robinson. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc |
USWe are a collective Group of Educators in many different fields, all completing (or have completed) a Masters of Education at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. we all have an interest in teaching and learning with equity in mind. Archives
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