Difficult but Necessary: How 2 Educators are Facilitating Conversations About Injustice

Posted by Mariam Hazhir and Lindsay Hutchison on October 6, 2020

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.

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

Understanding Contemporary Issues Through a Deep Understanding of History: A Resource List

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves Canada on September 14, 2020

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. 

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

Engaging as Co-Conspirators in Anti-Racism Work

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves Canada on September 14, 2020

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. 

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

Digital Classroom-Ready Activities: Using Short Stories to Explore Othering and Students’ Experiences Today

Posted by Heidi Crowley on April 27, 2020

Grade Levels: 7-12

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Topics: English Language Arts, Bullying and Ostracism, Choosing to Participate, Bullying, Empathy, Lesson Ideas, English Classroom, Lesson Plan, Scope & Sequence

Choosing to Participate this Holiday Season

Posted by Erez Zobary on December 18, 2019

With the holidays approaching many of us are busy organizing family dinners, making or buying gifts for our loved ones and maybe even preparing for travel. As we anticipate this festive time of year, it can feel like the weeks are passing extra quickly with little time to slow down and savour the moment. Before you and your students break for the holidays, I wanted to leave you with a few ideas to spur reflection and personal growth in yourself and your students - ideas I hope will bring new energy into the new decade. 

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Topics: Choosing to Participate, classroom lesson, Holiday lesson

2 Mini Lessons for When Your Students Have Checked Out for the Holidays

Posted by Erez Zobary on December 18, 2019

Lesson #1: Reflecting on Our Consumption Patterns: How to be a more conscious consumer

(30-35 minutes)

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Topics: Choosing to Participate, classroom lesson

Remembering Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirited People on October 4th

Posted by Paul Sabyan on October 5, 2019

 

For the past few years, my school community school community at St. Joseph’s College School in downtown Toronto has recognized October the 4th as a day to honour the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirited People.  Since 2017, our school community has worked collectively to use art and activism to spread awareness around this day in hopes of creating change. This is an important issue to us; being a school for girls and young women, gendered violence resonates particularly with our student population.

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Topics: Art, Choosing to Participate, Indigenous, student activism, mmiwg

Five Teaching Ideas for Whole School Learning this Orange Shirt Day

Posted by Erez Zobary and Jasmine Wong on September 26, 2019

some words before the video

As your school commemorates Orange Shirt Day this year, we hope these 5 resources and teaching ideas will equip you to teach your students (and colleagues) about Canada's Residential Schools, and inspire and empower students to create a meaningful response. 

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Topics: Choosing to Participate, Teaching Resources, Truth and Reconciliation, classroom lesson, Indigenous, Lesson Ideas, stolen lives, Orange Shirt Day, cross curricular teaching and learning

A Note About Facing History- From a Facing History Student

Posted by Shireen Afzal on April 9, 2019

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” How many of us have heard this quote or a variation of it? Sayings like these are repeated so often nowadays that they have lost meaning. People will complain, “I don’t need you to lecture me, I already know all this,” “The past is the past, leave it behind where it belongs,” or a blatant dismissal from those who are so cemented in the now, that they refuse to see the truth right in front of them.

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Topics: Student Voices, Choosing to Participate, Armenian Genocide, Students, Facing History and Ourselves, Holocaust Education, Rwanda, Student Work, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanities Course, Equity in Education, Facing Canada

Apathy to Action: Survivor Testimony kindling students' hopes for Reconciliation

Posted by Kristen Drury on April 18, 2017

In order to pursue a conversation about reconciliation in my classroom, and to ensure that my voice as a non-Indigenous teacher does not become louder than the survivors, I constantly strive to include Indigenous voices in my classroom. I want my voice to amplify Indigenous voices, not speak over them, or for them. I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity through Facing History and Ourselves to have Theodore Fontaine share his experiences with the Canadian Residential School System in my Challenge and Change Grade 12 University class.

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Topics: Choosing to Participate, Survivor Testimony, Truth and Reconciliation, stolen lives

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This is where Canadian Facing History and Ourselves teachers and community members meet to share reflections, scholarship and teaching practices that will inspire, challenge and improve teaching and student learning. Our stories provide a window into diverse Facing History classrooms in Canada, and invite you into the discussion.

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