These are some resources that have informed my own teaching practice, as well as others that I’ve come across in my work. This is a growing collection of resources I’ve grouped in the following categories:
- Sense of belonging in the classroom
- Classroom resources that explore EDI
- EDI x STEM resources (I’m a STEM educator so I had to sneak it in there).
1. sense of belonging in the classroom
These resources share how you can create inclusive classrooms (topics: anti-racism, decolonization, disability, gender-inclusion).
T2Tchat: A Conversation About Anti-racism & Education (Teacher 2 Teacher). An analysis of the Twitter dialogue for #T2Tchat that discussed how to create inclusive and representative spaces where every student feels welcome and able to learn. 7 big questions and takeaways around anti-racism in the classroom.
Key words: anti-racism
Build an Anti-Racist Classroom (Edutopia). A 🔥 resource to couple with the one above. It’s important to recognize that as a teacher, you’ll have students in your classroom with different backgrounds and lived experiences than you. How do you validate their experiences and perspectives? This article shares 5 practices for classroom teachers meant to oppose racism and oppression.
Key words: anti-racism, racism, culturally responsive
15 Culturally-Responsive Teaching Strategies and Examples (Prodigy). 4 conditions any teacher must fulfill to establish a culturally-responsive classroom, and 15 strategies and examples for culturally responsive teaching in diverse classrooms.
Key words: culturally responsive, diversity
Pulling Together: A Guide for Front-Line Staff, Student Services and Advisors (BC Campus). While this resources was developed for a post-secondary institution, it has a lot of valuable information that teachers can use on: 1) Understanding Decolonization, Indigenization, and Reconciliation; 2) Who are Indigenous Students?; 3) Understanding Indigenous Worldview Values to Better Support Indigenous Students; 4) Toward an Indigenized Student Services.
Key words: decolonization, Indigenization, reconciliation
A Discussion on Decolonizing and Indigenizing Classrooms, Schools and Systems (Facing Canada – Facing History & Ourselves). Ideas and insights shared on from a day long educator conference to discuss ways educators and institutional leaders have worked, and can work to decolonize and Indigenize education. Also next steps if you want to host this discussion with your colleagues.
Key words: decolonize, Indigenize
Imagining a Better Future: An Introduction to Teaching and Learning about Settler Colonialism in Canada (Unwritten Histories). This blog post is targeted towards educators who want to increase their knowledge of settler colonialism as well how to decolonize your syllabus.
Key words: settler-colonialism, decolonize
What is Ableism? Teachers Share 8 Things They Wish the World Understood (Rasmussen University). Educators and experts who work with populations of varying ability share what they wish the world understood about ableism.
Key words: disability, able-ism
The Gender Spectrum (Learning for Justice). An article on how to support students who don’t conform to narrow gender norms. It shares gender diversity words, and questions to ask when thinking about how to creating a gender-inclusive classroom.
Key words: gender, inclusion
The Gender-Friendly Classroom (EdCan Network). Dr. Lee Airton shares practical advice for teachers on welcoming gender diversity every day.
Key words: gender, diversity
2. classroom resources that explore EDI
Thought-provoking, ready to go classroom resources that support EDI in education.
Facing History (website). A collection of teaching resources (lessons, articles, videos, discussion questions) that explore justice, human rights, racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism. A lot references events in the US but can still be applicable in Canada.
📌 Personal fave: Discussing Race and Racism in the Classroom
Learning for Justice (website). A collection of classroom resources to help bring relevance, rigor and social emotional learning into the classroom.
📌 Personal fave: Countering Islamophobia
Exploring My Power & Privilege (“See Different” Toolkit by Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion). This is the second toolkit in the series. It is meant to have students explore how their identify is informed by experiences of power and privilege and reflect on how those concepts led to many historical and current social justice movements. “They will then extend this knowledge to better understand the context of Canada’s major equity-seeking groups which include LGBT2sQ people, racialized people, Indigenous Peoples, women and people with disabilities.”
Anti-Oppression/Anti-Racism Resources for Educators (Queen’s University Faculty of Education). A guide developed by Queen’s University’s Faculty of Education to help local elementary, secondary, and post-secondary teachers and instructors bring ideas and lessons from #ScholarStrike into their classrooms.
Learn more about #ScholarStrike.
3. EDI x STEM classroom resources
Lesson plans, activities, games and findings for STEM classrooms that encourage equity, diversity and/or inclusion.
Incorporating Indigenous Cultures and Realities in STEM (The Conference Board of Canada). “The inventory in Incorporating Indigenous Cultures and Realities in STEM lists more than a 100 different programs in Canada that specifically aim to help Indigenous learners succeed in STEM. These programs can be sorted into eight broad strategies for increasing Indigenous representation in STEM. Each strategy falls into one of three periods in the learner’s life course. Within each strategy, there are initiatives that attempt to address cultural difference”.
Personal thought: This isn’t a lesson plan or activity, but I think this is a good starting point to help educators understand why this needs to happen and next steps.
Indigenous STEAM Learning Activities (Indigenous STEAM). Activities on water, food, and plant and bird relatives. The Indigenous STEAM Collaborative develops science learning materials for Indigenous youth and families in collaboration with families, community members, and other educators.
The Underrepresentation Curriculum Project. A flexible curriculum designed to help students critically examine scientific fields and take action for equity, inclusion and justice.
“A free, flexible curriculum for STEM instructors to teach about injustice and change the culture of STEM. Using tools such as data analysis, hypothesis creation, and investigation, students look critically at science through the lenses of equity and inclusion. By comparing the general population to similar data describing scientists, students can explore issues of social justice in STEM.”
ABBEY RAMDEO 