Learning and Teaching to Cultivate Inclusion
At Montcrest, like many schools across the Province, we make use of the Ontario Curriculum developed by the Ministry of Education. While this may be common to many school types, independent schools can explore what is most relevant for their school communities, maintaining a connection to our local, provincial, national, and global context.
Learning and Teaching is the bread and butter of a school.
In order to cultivate inclusion within the what, why and how of learning, there are a number of key aspects to the process.
- Doing the work on ourselves — transforming individuals
- Critical reflection of the curriculum — whose voices, perspectives, histories and lived experiences are included or excluded?
- Developing learning that matters — Curricular and Co-curricular
- Critical reflection on our ways of working, including structures and systems
As with many processes, these are not linear steps. They occur in an ongoing way. Broadly, these ideas help us respond to the question,
How might we decolonize education through how we plan and what we learn?
In this blog, we will scratch the surface of how some of this work is underway at Montcrest.
Doing the work on ourselves
In order to enter into this work, much learning and unlearning is necessary. Examples of what learning has already begun can be further explored in the blogs relating to book clubs for Me and White Supremacy and Gender Your Guide. These are two examples of the work that teachers, staff and leaders have been engaged in to prepare the way for action. Other professional learning experiences have also occurred and are planned for in the coming months. Such learning is generally facilitated by members of the community with expertise in various components of DEIJ work. One impactful learning experience included the Blanket Exercise facilitated by Indigenous and non-Indigenous community leaders, Fred Martin, Zoe Aarden and Mim Harder.
Professional Learning for all Faculty/Staff, including a parent session, is being planned for January to help us all approach complex conversations with increased confidence. The work with consultant, Lisa Quattlebaum is grounded in the belief that we transform organizations when we transform individuals. The model for learning will involve full group participation and invite people to engage in ongoing learning in smaller groups.
Critical reflection of the curriculum
The critical reflection of the curriculum is the slow work that we are committed to. The work to date has centred on evaluating what is in the Ontario curriculum and articulating learning goals as
- Conceptual (learners will understand that…)
- Competency (learners will be able to…)
- Character (learners are becoming more…)
Our approach to this work has been to critically evaluate what is in the Ontario curriculum and why. Through this critique, we are articulating what this really means in language that is accessible for learners, so that they may deeply appreciate curricular learning goals. The critique has also revealed what is missing that teachers would fight to teach. These gaps have arisen in many areas relating to the science of reading (particularly prior to the release of the new language arts curriculum), gender identity, and perspectives of historical and current events. This is an ongoing process of uncovering the gaps and then systemically addressing them.
Developing learning that matters
With an increasingly clear perspective of the curricular learning goals, teachers are able to develop learning that matters. Getting clear on the learning that matters helps us prioritize our time and energy. Meaningful learning that relates to such big ideas as identity, community, culture, environment and perspectives happens across the curriculum and grade levels. From a subject stance, we often see it show up explicitly in Social Studies, Health, The Arts (including Languages), and Science. Some learning experiences at Montcrest that relate to such ideas include;
- Health curriculum JK-8 — the HPE team is working with Dr Lee Airton.
- French — expanding circles of understanding of francophone communities (local to international).
- JK and SK Identity — includes family types and personal identity, e.g. skin colour and race.
- Grade 1 Community — building and maintaining communities.
- Grade 2 Heritage and Identity — parent guest speakers sharing about cultural celebrations throughout the year.
- Grade 3 – Own voices (Language Arts).
- Grade 3 Drama — working in collaboration with Indigenous consultants.
- Grade 4 — Early societies.
- Grade 5 – First Contact Blanket Exercise working in collaboration with Indigenous consultants.
- Grade 6 – Diverse Canadian Identities.
- Grade 7/8 – Perspectives in historical events and contexts.
- Grade 7/8 – Own voices (English).
Learning doesn’t just happen in the curricular classroom sense. School Life and Co-curricular offerings play a critical role in developing learning that matters. This learning occurs across the year through such experiences as
- Whole school assemblies for days/weeks/months of significance (including Orange Shirt Day, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Black History Month, Lunar New Year, Pride Week, and Pink Shirt Day).
- Clubs like the Grade 4/5 Social Justice Book Club, Grade 6 Katie’s Corner Book Club and 7/8 Montcrest Reads Club.
- Middle School GSA that meets regularly and progresses projects such as gender-inclusive sports.
- Cocreators and inaugural members of the Open Sports League that creates space and a welcoming environment for all genders within the world of athletics.
- Outreach captains and the continued evolution of what Community Engagement (Service Learning) looks like at Montcrest.
- Guest speakers on topics such as the Holocaust and the historical context relating to the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
- Critical reflection on our ways of working, including structures and systems
As an organization, we are a place of learning and working for children and adults. Defining our Learning Principles and Practices has been slow, intentional work in order to capture the true essence of the Montcrest Magic and our aspirations. This work informs decision making, pedagogy, core expectations (and soon the code of conduct) and professional growth.
Systematically ensuring that equity and inclusion means being aware of who has a seat at the table, whose voices have been heard to inform decision making and being open to feedback. This work relates to both the way we approach learning and teaching AND the way we operate as a place of work. Over the past few years, this has meant reimagining our approach to hiring and exploring ways to decolonize the curriculum (and the process of developing the curriculum).
This work is not done. It will never really be done. We are committed to learning, unlearning and continually striving to live our commitment to equity and inclusion. If you are curious about this learning journey in finer detail, please reach out. We’d love to share more!
If you are ready to learn and unlearn yourself, please join us in January.
