Why a Lesson on the History of Epidemics, Pandemics and Vaccines?: A Response to Hopes and Fears

As a new teacher, hearing I was going to teach the first few weeks of grade 12 World History (CHY4U) was both exciting and terrifying. I had no intention of bringing in the history of epidemics, pandemics and vaccinations into my classroom until after the first day of school when I asked my students to share their hopes and fears for back-to-school and the course. Starting my course with hopes and fears was particularly important this year as I recognized that before engaging in curricular content, students may need to share their experiences and feelings regarding back-to-school. This important opening routine helps me build genuine relationships with my students grounded in trust, honesty and care at the forefront.   

Topics: facing history pedagogy, pandemic, world history, COVID-19

The past five years have witnessed a landmark re-emergence of gender diversity in North American public life and a surge in mainstream media representation. Transgender-spectrum people – those with a gender identity that does not align with expectations based on our assigned sex – are standing on decades of trans activism and increasingly bringing our entire selves to our workplaces, schools, and other public places.

Topics: Safe Schools, Identity, Culturally Responsive and Relevant Pedagogy, gender, transgender awareness week

This video is the second part in a four part webinar series featuring Jasmine Wong in conversation with Lorrie Gallant. To access Part 1 click here.

Topics: Universe of Obligation, Canada, Canadian History, Indigenous History, Indigenous, stolen lives, Treaty, Facing Canada, Treaties Recognition Week

In this post, Social Studies teacher Lindsay Hutchison and Math, Science and Careers teacher Mariam Hazhir reflect on their teaching following the murder of George Floyd last June and share how they seek to practice antiracist educator mindsets, foster reflective conversations about racial inequity as allies, encourage critical consciousness and outline five principles that teachers of all disciplines can practice.

Topics: Choosing to Participate, Canada, reflection, Equity in Education, anti-racism

This blog post is the first in a multi-part series. Natalie Steele, an educator with Peel District School Board in Ontario, will be sharing additional resources and strategies for your classroom over the next few months on the topics of Black identities, humanizing stories, amplifying missing voices in the curriculum, and correcting the systemic abuses of history in schooling.

High School Students in Class, by Photo by Jeswin Thomas from Pexels

Topics: Diversity, Canadian History, black history

This resource list is part of a blog titled, Engaging as Co-Conspirators in Anti-Racism Work, which is a statement about our commitment as the staff of Facing History and Ourselves Canada to our mission to stand up against bigotry and racism. The Facing History and Ourselves Canada team have been reading, watching, and learning from the following resources. This is by no means an exhaustive list and we would love to hear from you what you are reading, and who are the voices that you are learning from. 

Topics: Choosing to Participate, Learning, reflection, Reading List, Scope & Sequence, anti-racism

As an organization, our mission is to use lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate. In this blog post, we share our learning (thus far) about how we can work to be anti-racist educators in hopes that this approach, the ideas, and the resources we’ve found helpful in our learning will be helpful to you, your colleagues and the students you teach. 

Topics: Choosing to Participate, Equity in Education, anti-racism

Dear Friend of Facing History, 

Topics: Back-To-School, Facing History Resources, Teaching Resources, Community

Earlier this week, it came to our attention that the supports that we have been offering to Canadian educators seeking to address the murder of George Floyd, and Canada's anti-Black racism with students aren't as accessible and visible as they should, and need to be.

Topics: Canada, Learning, Racism

This video is the first part in a four part webinar series featuring Jasmine Wong in conversation with Lorrie Gallant.

This series of blog posts explores stories and teachings that Lorrie Gallant shares about the purpose and importance of territorial acknowledgments and treaties. They are based on a recorded webinar from March 18 2020. Lorrie is a writer, illustrator, storyteller, visual artist, educator, Expressive Arts Practitioner, born and raised on Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario.

These posts and activities have been written for students to explore as part of a virtual learning community.

Topics: Identity, History, Canadian History, Indigenous History, Indigenous, Grade 10 History, stolen lives, Facing Canada, land acknowledgements, territorial acknowledgement