FMPSD Professional Development Day

Educators play a critical role in our society. Dealing with the institutional equity and diversity in the classroom and in the workspaces of educators is paramount to providing good pedagogy, and healthy learning spaces. These challenges are made more complex by a pandemic, a time of great economic uncertainty, the very real ravages of the climate crisis impacting our communities, and in the wake of a racial reckoning that demands our institutions double their efforts in addressing racism and colonialism. In this keynote, Sandy will share lessons she has learned in boldly facing the challenge of creating racial justice.

This session addresses the LQS competencies

• #2: Modeling Commitment to Professional Learning
• #4: Leading a Learning Community

This session addresses the TQS competencies

• #2: Engaging in Career-Long Learning
• #4: Establishing Inclusive Learning Environments
  
  
  

ERLC Feedback: https://www.erlc.ca/programs/district-day-survey/?code=22-DD-FMP-SH-165

Systemic racism has impacts on the education and development of our youth. Six students from the FMPSD will be speaking to their personal stories, experiences and provide suggestions on how to promote diversity within the FMPSD. It may look and sound very different at the various age and grade levels (Elem, Jr & Sr high).  

The session will begin with Black History awareness, using student created resources, and then transition into a discussion about what it looks, feels and sounds like within our own FMPSD. Students at Westwood have compiled an information session that will help teachers understand their experience, perspective and suggestions to support learning and living within the FMPSD.

Please note:  because of limitations of the FMPSD Google Account, you cannot join this session with an FMPSD e-mail account.  Please login with a personal Gmail account.

In our increasingly diverse and multicultural society, it's more important than ever for teachers to incorporate culturally responsive instruction in the classroom. This session will focus on anti-racism education to identify and respond to the challenges faced in schools. Participants will enrich their personal and professional growth by examining beliefs, experiences and understandings related to ethno-cultural diversity. Foundational understandings based on language, bias, prejudice and discrimination will be shared with suggestions for practical applications.

Based on her personal story as a newcomer student and later on as a mother and a professional, Angie discuses diversity and inclusion through the lens of ordinary experiences that has had an extraordinary lasting impact on her life and in the lives of the people she has crossed paths with.

Learning objectives

This workshop will help educators to:

· Understand the difference between diversity and inclusion and how they are connected.

· Find ways of creating a safe and welcoming space for their students.

· Teach/manage students from different backgrounds

· Effectively communicate with diverse students

· Highlight ways to implement universal design for learning

· Travel around the world (human libraries/student libraries) and explore and learn about other cultures from what the students know or what they have experienced

· Use curiosity and commonality to bridge the gap and find common ground with people who have different backgrounds, values, and learning needs.

What you will learn:
 
- Understand the deeper level of Unconscious Biases
- Learn tools that can help you to make conscious efforts to modify behaviors 
- Gain a better understanding of what is systemic racism and the role of unconscious bias in it 
- Establish personal calls to action 
 
How can it be applied in class?
Being more aware of your own biases will help you identify if you are unconsciously contributing to oppressive systems that create barriers for students who are part of equity-deserving groups. Learning your biases is one of the most crucial steps for becoming an ally for the students you support.  
 
* This workshop will not eliminate your implicit bias, rather gives you tools for better understanding your personal biases and gaining tools to confront them. After the workshop, you can continue your journey of unlearning, relearning, and with a conscious effort eliminating your implicit biases.


Resources for participants prior to the workshop
I’m excited for the upcoming unconscious bias training taking place on January 14. I want to make sure we get the most out of our time together, please take some time to check the reading and video below. I’m also sharing an optional test for you to learn more about your own beliefs, attitudes, and opinions towards specific equity-deserving groups. The test takes about 10 minutes to complete, the results are for your information, and you won’t need to share this with anyone else.

- Reading: https://time.com/5558181/jennifer-eberhardt-overcoming-implicit-bias/

- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoBvzI-YZf4

- * Optional: Please watch the video before taking the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Also, please be aware that your results may differ from your values around race, and that is ok, we are not in a place of judgment but of reflection. https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

How can the Canadian Museum for Human Rights support you on your personal journey with diversity as well as the personal journeys of your students? Participants can expect to learn all about this incredible organization and the programs offered for students, as well as a few sneak peaks into future projects.

I was born in Afghanistan but at 2 months of age my parents left their homeland due to the Soviet invasion. I was raised in Iran as a refugee. After graduating high school and since I wasn’t allowed to attend university as a refugee in Iran I went to Malaysia to pursue my education. I received a scholarship to study BA of Communications from the international Islamic University of Malaysia. Due to the ongoing war in Afghanistan in June 2005 I immigrated to Canada with my parents and 7 siblings as asylum seekers. After volunteering with local settlement agencies for nearly two years I received a full scholarship under Student Refugee Program (SRP) from World University Services Canada (WUSC). I did a BA in Political Science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver BC. I met my husband who was born and raised in Vancouver during a multicultural food festival. we both have diverse cultures as he is half Palestinian and half Fijian. After working for a couple of years in local settlement agencies in Vancouver my husband and I moved to Fort McMurray in Jan of 2014. We have 3 young children aged 3,6 and 8 who keep us quite busy. I have been working in Alberta Works, the ministry of Community and Social Services since Feb of 2015.


Take away:
I am hoping to share my experience growing up as an Afghan woman. learning cultures, respecting differences and becoming diverse. Hardship, challenges and difficulty in life only makes us stronger and gets us ready to resolve daily issues in our lives and people around us and also makes us more humble. to learn more about others, their way of life and their background can make us more diverse and thus better human.

Over the past decade, LGBTQ2 youth have become more visible in K-12 schools, gay-straight alliances have increased, and many school districts now have sexual orientation and gender identity policies. Despite this progress, LGBTQ2 youth continue to remain one of the most vulnerable groups of students in our schools.

This presentation highlights current research and trends documenting the experiences of LGBTQ2 youth in Canadian schools over the past 10 years and highlights four key areas for intervention.

Join Dr. Wells as he discusses just how far we’ve come (not that far), and what we need to do to create safer and more inclusive schools for everyone.

I graduated from Holy Trinity in 2015 and studied law in the UK, graduating from the University of Kent in 2021. My work within the community was recognized by YMM Magazine and I was inducted into the Class of 2020’s top 50 under 50. I came back home to Fort McMurray and am now working for a local First Nations Band in lands and resource management. As a student who graduated from a local school that taught me to ‘think globally and act locally’ I know what an incredible impact educators can have on students if only they had the time, resources and supports available to do so.

My aim is to expand on why I believe teaching a decolonized curriculum is necessary, the limitations on our actions imposed by the settler-colonial state and shed light on materials that can be used and networks of teachers and educators who are actively engaging with decolonial education. 

I’ve met previously with both school districts to discuss the importance of moving from celebrating diversity to understanding anti-racism and its importance within schools. I look forward to presenting and having meaningful dialogue.

This session will focus on shifting our perspective from individual behaviour support for students with autism, to an emotional regulation perspective to support all students. This session will be strategy focused and will help school teams to rethink their environments and interactions to support meaningful learning for all students in their classrooms. Participants will come away with practical strategies they can implement right away in the classroom setting to promote trust and support learning for all.

Systemic and interpersonal racism can be counterattacked by constructing our learning spaces to be more inclusive than they are now. Helping to build self-confidence in our youth will inspire students to be courageous and combat systemic roots of intolerance and prejudice. In this session, six Westwood students come together to share their experiences with teachers and offer advice on how to elevate students of colour to be seen and heard.  Topics will include personal identity as well as cultural identity, and how they are supported or complicated by generational perspectives.  Teachers will learn actionable behaviours to support students to be confident, embrace who they are and take a bite out of systemic racism in YMM.

• Session Slideshow

• Session Take-aways:

Better understanding of Muslims and the Islamic faith and key issues faced by Muslim students, colleagues, and their families today.

What you will learn

• Understand what is allyship
• Understanding privilege
• Learn tools that can help you to become a strong ally
• How to speak up
• Why is Allyship important?
• Want to do more? How to become an accomplice
• Establish personal calls to action

 
How can it be applied in class?
Students from equity-deserving groups often face discrimination at school. Having teachers that have taken the necessary steps to be allies for those students help them by having someone they can go to when they face discrimination. It opens an avenue for students to feel safe to reach out for support. As an ally you will take active action to disrupts spaces that oppress students because of their race, sexual orientation, gender, disability, etc, by educating others on the realities and histories of those affected by oppression, and by taking action to achieve equity and inclusion while holding yourself accountable to the needs of equity-deserving community groups.


Resources for Participants prior to the Workshop
I’m excited for the upcoming Allyship and Response Model to Hate Incidents training taking place on January 14. I want to make sure we get the most out of our time together, please take some time to check the reading and video below.
Shift-Lab_Active-Bystander-Resource_Final.pdf (coalitionscreatingequity.ca)
De-Escalator-Guide.pdf (coalitionscreatingequity.ca)

Diversity is part of all workplaces and is something to be respected, celebrated and encouraged. In fact, workplaces thrive when there are strong diversity and inclusion practices. But it’s not enough to just have a diverse workplace. We need to ensure that everyone feels safe, valued and respected.
During this one-hour wellness session participants will:

• Learn what diversity is
• Understand the benefits that a culture of acceptance and inclusion can bring to a
• workplace
• Develop increased self-awareness regarding our own attitudes around diversity
• Identify strategies for harnessing the benefits of diversity and fostering a cohesive and respectful workplace

Agenda

• The meaning of diversity
• Respect for diversity
• Working with diversity

I was born in Afghanistan but at 2 months of age my parents left their homeland due to the Soviet invasion. I was raised in Iran as a refugee. After graduating high school and since I wasn’t allowed to attend university as a refugee in Iran I went to Malaysia to pursue my education. I received a scholarship to study BA of Communications from the international Islamic University of Malaysia. Due to the ongoing war in Afghanistan in June 2005 I immigrated to Canada with my parents and 7 siblings as asylum seekers. After volunteering with local settlement agencies for nearly two years I received a full scholarship under Student Refugee Program (SRP) from World University Services Canada (WUSC). I did a BA in Political Science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver BC. I met my husband who was born and raised in Vancouver during a multicultural food festival. we both have diverse cultures as he is half Palestinian and half Fijian. After working for a couple of years in local settlement agencies in Vancouver my husband and I moved to Fort McMurray in Jan of 2014. We have 3 young children aged 3,6 and 8 who keep us quite busy. I have been working in Alberta Works, the ministry of Community and Social Services since Feb of 2015.


Take away:
I am hoping to share my experience growing up as an Afghan woman. learning cultures, respecting differences and becoming diverse. Hardship, challenges and difficulty in life only makes us stronger and gets us ready to resolve daily issues in our lives and people around us and also makes us more humble. to learn more about others, their way of life and their background can make us more diverse and thus better human.

Over the past decade, LGBTQ2 youth have become more visible in K-12 schools, gay-straight alliances have increased, and many school districts now have sexual orientation and gender identity policies. Despite this progress, LGBTQ2 youth continue to remain one of the most vulnerable groups of students in our schools. This presentation highlights current research and trends documenting the experiences of LGBTQ2 youth in Canadian schools over the past 10 years and highlights four key areas for intervention. Join Dr. Wells as he discusses just how far we’ve come (not that far), and what we need to do to create safer and more inclusive schools for everyone.

Based on local research with Wood Buffalo employers, this traiing geared towards increasing cross-cultural awareness, knowledge of local demographics, improving cross-cultural communication, and improving knowledge of religions in our community.
Topics of interest include
• The case for inclusion: Why should we be culturally competent?
• Important Terminology and Theories
• Strategies to improve cultural competency
• RMWB cultural demographics
• The importance of self and cultural awareness
• Communications styles
• Body language

I graduated from Holy Trinity in 2015 and studied law in the UK, graduating from the University of Kent in 2021. My work within the community was recognized by YMM Magazine and I was inducted into the Class of 2020’s top 50 under 50. I came back home to Fort McMurray and am now working for a local First Nations Band in lands and resource management. As a student who graduated from a local school that taught me to ‘think globally and act locally’ I know what an incredible impact educators can have on students if only they had the time, resources and supports available to do so.

My aim is to expand on why I believe teaching a decolonized curriculum is necessary, the limitations on our actions imposed by the settler-colonial state and shed light on materials that can be used and networks of teachers and educators who are actively engaging with decolonial education.

I’ve met previously with both school districts to discuss the importance of moving from celebrating diversity to understanding anti-racism and its importance within schools. I look forward to presenting and having meaningful dialogue.

This session will focus on shifting our perspective from individual behaviour support for students with autism, to an emotional regulation perspective to support all students. This session will be strategy focused and will help school teams to rethink their environments and interactions to support meaningful learning for all students in their classrooms. Participants will come away with practical strategies they can implement right away in the classroom setting to promote trust and support learning for all.

This session will explore how the choices we make in regard to the texts and perspectives we bring into the classroom impact our adolescent readers. How might we create opportunities in which students can see themselves in the pages of the books that we choose, whether these are found in our classroom library shelves, in book clubs, or in a whole-class novel? How might these text choices help us create the conditions for the conversations students need and want to have around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion? Finally, where might we find the resources that help inform and guide our text selections?    

ERLC Feedback:https://www.erlc.ca/programs/district-day-survey/?code=22-DD-FMP-TN-166

Placeholder for the lunch break.

Ever wonder what all the letters in 2SLGBTQQIPAA+ acronym stand for (or even know this acronym at all?).  In this session you will learn about the different terms and definitions as they pertain to the 2SLGBTQ+ community and the youth in your class, along with learning why pronouns matter.

Be sure to check out the resources in the PDF file below.

• Session Slideshow

• Session Take-aways:

Better understanding of Muslims and the Islamic faith and key issues faced by Muslim students, colleagues, and their families today.

In our increasingly diverse and multicultural society, it's more important than ever for teachers to incorporate culturally responsive instruction in the classroom. This session will focus on anti-racism education to identify and respond to the challenges faced in schools. Participants will enrich their personal and professional growth by examining beliefs, experiences and understandings related to ethno-cultural diversity. Foundational understandings based on language, bias, prejudice and discrimination will be shared with suggestions for practical applications. 

Response Model to Hate Incidents Workshop: 
 
Learn about the Response model to Hate Incidents, in Alberta is an initiative led by the Alberta Coalitions Creating Equity (CCE) with support provided by the Alberta Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund. The five municipalities of the CCE (Wood Buffalo, Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, and Lethbridge) and their surrounding areas worked together to develop a mechanism to provide service providers with tools and guidelines to effectively respond to incidents of hate. This model was informed by a provincial-wide survey and various regional focus groups and community engagements.

According to Statistics Canada, between 2010 and 2018, youth aged 12 to 17 made up 24% of all persons accused of hate crimes. Over half (54%) of the youth accused of hate crimes targeted race or ethnicity, followed by 20% targeting religion and 18% targeting sexual orientation, which was virtually identical to the distribution seen in adults accused of hate crimes. Hate incidents and crimes remain a persistent problem in Canada, but unfortunately, two-thirds of people targeted do not report the incidents for many reasons. These types of incidents deeply affect a person's mental health and have a big impact on the community.

The workshop will explore the difference between a hate crime and a hate incident, the different forms of racism and discrimination, and will provide practical steps on how to respond to a Hate Crime or a Hate Incident that takes place in educational settings. Teachers/support staff will learn about different ways that students want to be supported when they face discrimination. The session will explore the following guidelines to be followed when supporting students who have experienced hate:

• Trauma-Informed Guidelines
• Peer to Peer Support Guidelines
• Unconscious Bias
• Reporting to law enforcement
• Using a Restorative Justice Approach

During the workshop, participants will be given time to reflect on real life scenarios that are taking place in a classroom/school setting. This activity will provide educators with a chance to learn and familiarize themselves with some of the events to watch out for. Most importantly, the goal of the workshop is to educate and prepare teachers to respond (with the recommended guidelines in mind) to events that may affect their students or take place in their classrooms.

The workshop will end with local testimonies and a graduated student (from Red Deer) sharing her personal school experiences: challenges and opportunities. Her story is shared in the hopes that it will summarize the content of the workshop and inspire participants/educators to continue doing the great work they are already doing because they make a difference, and that difference goes a long way.

Presenting: Angie Goredema (Social Planner) & Krystell O’Hara (Equity & Inclusion Program Manager)
Culture and Social Development
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo


Resources for Participants Prior to the Workshop
I’m excited for the upcoming Allyship and Response Model to Hate Incidents training taking place on January 14. I want to make sure we get the most out of our time together, please take some time to check the reading and video below.
Shift-Lab_Active-Bystander-Resource_Final.pdf (coalitionscreatingequity.ca)
De-Escalator-Guide.pdf (coalitionscreatingequity.ca)

Most school staff encounter students who come from households that experience stress, income instability, household food insecurity, poor social support networks, differing physical abilities, and other related challenges.

These students are in every school and every classroom. In this presentation, we will outline how schools can apply an equity approach to better support students and families who face social barriers that can negatively impact health and education outcomes.

We will work through various school and classroom examples, such as sports days, potlucks, special events, and curriculum-related projects. We will use growth mindset to identify strategies and solutions that can minimize adverse impacts on students and their families

I was born in Afghanistan but at 2 months of age my parents left their homeland due to the Soviet invasion. I was raised in Iran as a refugee. After graduating high school and since I wasn’t allowed to attend university as a refugee in Iran I went to Malaysia to pursue my education. I received a scholarship to study BA of Communications from the international Islamic University of Malaysia. Due to the ongoing war in Afghanistan in June 2005 I immigrated to Canada with my parents and 7 siblings as asylum seekers. After volunteering with local settlement agencies for nearly two years I received a full scholarship under Student Refugee Program (SRP) from World University Services Canada (WUSC). I did a BA in Political Science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver BC. I met my husband who was born and raised in Vancouver during a multicultural food festival. we both have diverse cultures as he is half Palestinian and half Fijian. After working for a couple of years in local settlement agencies in Vancouver my husband and I moved to Fort McMurray in Jan of 2014. We have 3 young children aged 3,6 and 8 who keep us quite busy. I have been working in Alberta Works, the ministry of Community and Social Services since Feb of 2015.


Take away:
I am hoping to share my experience growing up as an Afghan woman. learning cultures, respecting differences and becoming diverse. Hardship, challenges and difficulty in life only makes us stronger and gets us ready to resolve daily issues in our lives and people around us and also makes us more humble. to learn more about others, their way of life and their background can make us more diverse and thus better human.

Based on local research with Wood Buffalo employers, this traiing geared towards increasing cross-cultural awareness, knowledge of local demographics, improving cross-cultural communication, and improving knowledge of religions in our community.
Topics of interest include
• The case for inclusion: Why should we be culturally competent?
• Important Terminology and Theories
• Strategies to improve cultural competency
• RMWB cultural demographics
• The importance of self and cultural awareness
• Communications styles
• Body language

I graduated from Holy Trinity in 2015 and studied law in the UK, graduating from the University of Kent in 2021. My work within the community was recognized by YMM Magazine and I was inducted into the Class of 2020’s top 50 under 50. I came back home to Fort McMurray and am now working for a local First Nations Band in lands and resource management. As a student who graduated from a local school that taught me to ‘think globally and act locally’ I know what an incredible impact educators can have on students if only they had the time, resources and supports available to do so.

My aim is to expand on why I believe teaching a decolonized curriculum is necessary, the limitations on our actions imposed by the settler-colonial state and shed light on materials that can be used and networks of teachers and educators who are actively engaging with decolonial education.

I’ve met previously with both school districts to discuss the importance of moving from celebrating diversity to understanding anti-racism and its importance within schools. I look forward to presenting and having meaningful dialogue.

This session will focus on shifting our perspective from individual behaviour support for students with autism, to an emotional regulation perspective to support all students. This session will be strategy focused and will help school teams to rethink their environments and interactions to support meaningful learning for all students in their classrooms. Participants will come away with practical strategies they can implement right away in the classroom setting to promote trust and support learning for all.

This session will explore how the choices we make in regard to the texts and perspectives we bring into the classroom impact our adolescent readers. How might we create opportunities in which students can see themselves in the pages of the books that we choose, whether these are found in our classroom library shelves, in book clubs, or in a whole-class novel? How might these text choices help us create the conditions for the conversations students need and want to have around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion? Finally, where might we find the resources that help inform and guide our text selections?    

ERLC Feedback:  https://www.erlc.ca/programs/district-day-survey/?code=22-DD-FMP-TN-167