Here is what some past participants of the program have said about TEACH, their experiences, and the impact the program has had on them:
“TEACH gave me the confidence to be the teacher that I wanted to be!”
“TEACH gives you a sense of community within your program and it gives you the confidence to know you can bring challenging issues into your classroom and work towards makings changes in a positive way.”
“TEACH is not just a program, it is a space where you can meet and exchange ideas that you may not have a chance to really explore in other settings.”
“TEACH is a safe space to be who you are. It’s a space to develop skills and strategies that allow you to take complex issues into broader contexts.”
“TEACH was a great way for me to not only learn about the wonderful initiatives and groups that exist in the Peterborough community, but also get involved. Through my TEACH placement with Rock Camp 4 Girls* Peterborough I immersed myself into an amazing group of volunteers and staff who provide young girls, non-binary, and transgender individuals with the opportunity to play music and take risks. I had such an amazing experience that I ended up continuing volunteering with RC4G* at Rock Camp during the summer as a member of the 2018 Rock Squad. TEACH gave me the tools, connections, and confidence to explore ways of learning outside of the classroom effectively. Not only did the TEACH program provide me with practical strategies to add to my social justice toolbox, but also an avenue to connect with my community, and I am so grateful for the opportunities that I have had thanks to the program!”- Melissa, TEACH Participant 2017/2018
“TEACH was a great opportunity for me to engage with experts speaking on behalf of topics that interested me and my teaching. The monthly meetings with teacher candidates helped provide a fresh and insightful forum for ideas that I was directly able to apply to my classroom. It is a local resource that I will continue to utilize in my program each year.” -Elementary teacher with PVNC
“Going into the first workshop, I found that I did not know what social justice education would look like. I had some ideas but they were fairly abstract. As I have progressed through the program and had the opportunity to implement some of the learning on social justice I have done, I realize that social justice education is not just about helping students become aware of the issues that exist, but also about becoming aware of what my students are experiencing and how issues related to social justice affect them or even how they do not affect them. Additionally, it means that I must examine my own ideas and biases on these issues.”
“One of things I really enjoyed about TEACH is being exposed to a variety of perspectives about, and reasons for, becoming a teacher. The important work of a teacher is not just giving information to students, it’s also about building a diverse community and working towards a common goal to create positive spaces.”
“I definitely recommend TEACH Outside the Box, because there are so many issues today in society that need to be addressed and by being part of TEACH you really get involved with a community committed to addressing those issues.”
“The TEACH program really interested me because I have always had a strong interest in social justice. The program covered such a broad range of frameworks and theories. It was great to have the people who do social justice work facilitating the workshops because instead of just learning about theories we saw how social justice work is put into practice.”
“I didn’t know what to expect when I started TEACH, but I was excited to be part of something new. Over the course of the program I have developed a real understanding around issues of anti-oppression, Indigenous knowledge and popular education…frameworks that I was interested in but really knew very little about. I’m really excited to take those frameworks into the classroom and share them with students. I want my students to learn about things I wasn’t taught.”
“I love children and want them to feel that in my classroom what they think, and what they feel, matters. I have always wanted to be the kind of teacher that welcomes different perspectives and different backgrounds and being in this (TEACH) program has really helped me to start to develop that part of my practice.”
“I suffered from anxiety as a teenager and often found myself terrified at school when I had to present in class or even just share my ideas. I was fortunate enough to finally have a teacher in my final year that worked with me to find my voice and helped me to feel confident about my ideas. The TEACH program has helped to find my voice as a teacher. I care deeply about issues around anti-oppression and inclusion but didn’t know how to express those theories. Now I feel much more confident in expressing those theories and frameworks and incorporating them into the classroom.”
“Social Justice inspires me in my practice because I can challenge student’s beliefs gently and with compassion and provide opportunities for direct engagement with new ways of thinking. I am inspired by the thousands of communities, linguistic groups, and Indigenous nations in Canada. […] I am inspired to bring forth a message that we need to examine what are the physical and emotional aspects of being discriminated on a systemic level. I am inspired to seek funding for afterschool programs, and would like to inspire others by establishing a school-community team, that will focus solely on making school community connections by scheduling guest story tellers, bringing in field experts; such as scientists, nurses, engineers etc. and advocates for social justice causes around the region. I am compelled to bring learning outside of the classroom by bringing forth a cultural capital where students can experience things not only through research and stories, but by going out and experiencing things first hand by volunteering for community events that are culturally significant and then bringing that enrichment back in to the classroom. […] Hence, I am always inspired to “teach outside the box” and guide students in building new meaning/ways of knowing, and thinking towards how we can manage and change social systems and behaviours to create a better future.”
Teach Outside the Box 