Equity and Innovation

One day, my students were deep into their inquiry work.  One boy wandered over to me.
He told me that he was sorry to have gotten off track, but that he was looking into wood extraction and the search somehow took him to a page about his ancestral country of Pakistan.  He wanted to show me some beautiful landscape images of the country.  We chatted about it for a few minutes.

Then he said,

 "That's my favourite part about this class."  Unclear about what he meant, I replied,

"What's your favourite part about this class?"

"That I can talk so much about Pakistan."  He answered.

This is coming from a kid who has learned how to code on scratch, created videos, engaged in drama activities, design challenges, built a game for Genius Hour, started a blog, and played with circuits.

I would have guessed that one of those things might be his highlight about our classroom.

I was wrong.  His favourite part about our class was that we talked about our stories, we celebrated our different identities, and took time to do that.

I believe in empowering students.

I want to learn about new technologies, new ways for students to express themselves.  I want to take my learning about how to integrate arts education deeper.  I want to inspire kids to tell stories in different ways, to dive into PBL, outdoor education, Knowledge Building, and make everything we do in our classroom authentic.

The more I learn about innovative teaching practices though, the more I also want to dive into the work of equity.

I see the two as going hand in hand.  Students will never feel empowered unless they feel heard, unless they feel valued, unless they feel welcomed into a safe space everyday.  A space where they can truly be themselves, take creative risks, speak their opinions without judgement,
 If we as teachers are going to empower our learners, it is AS much about the culture that we create in our classrooms, as it is about innovative teaching practices.

The work of equity, exploring Indigenous Perspectives, building relationships, listening to our students' stories, meeting the needs of our learners, and building safe school cultures needs to lay the foundation for innovation and student empowerment.

My students have taught me this.  I feel like this year, my students feel more empowered than any other group.  They are finding their passions, we have incredible discussions, they take risks, I take risks.  This year we have also spent more time talking in circles, sharing our stories, learning about each other and celebrating our differences and similarities.

Amanda Williams-Yeagers is an incredible educator who has inspired me to use Design Thinking and shift to a "maker mindset".  She has developed an amazing space for students to create and make in her Learning Commons.  Whenever she talks about her space and what she does with students, the culture and the equity work that happens within the makerspace is always central to the discussion. It is amazing and inspiring.

I was recently involved in an innovation project with schools across our board.  During the board wide sharing, I heard it said over and over that it is about the community in the classroom, that through innovative teaching, students voices are heard more, that innovative teaching involves listening to and following student voice.

It is an exciting time to be in education.  I am so thankful to be in spaces and have opportunities to engage in conversations with like minded educators where we can explore these ideas and continue to move forward with our students.

-Christine