Structure of the Program
This certificate program includes a workshop series and a community placement for B.Ed. students with one of our partner organizations. It is designed for both B.Ed. teacher candidates, other education students, and community educators interested in or currently involved in social justice education.
40 Hour Certificate: Involves full participation in our in-person workshop series and program tasks (without a community placement) for community educators and non-B.Ed. students.
Note: This alone does not meet the B.Ed. Alternative Settings Placement 75 hour requirement
Workshops and Tasks (40 hours): Includes five Saturday workshops (Oct., Nov., Jan., Feb., March.), four weeknight reflection sessions, creating an activity/lesson, and ongoing workshop reflections.
Community Placement for B.Ed. Students (35 hours): timelines to be confirmed with each partner organization, but typically occur in the fall and winter. Participants who complete the community placement will receive a 75 hour certificate. Community placements are mandatory for B.Ed. students.
Workshop Topics and Dates (2023-2024 Program)
Format : 40 hours between workshops, meetings, and tasks
Orientation (at Trent University on Tuesday, October 3rd – Room TBA)
Saturday Workshops (@ Sadleir House in Peterborough from 9:30am-3:30pm – mandatory).
Workshop #1: Education for Change: The Theory and Practice of Social Justice Education (Sat., October 14th, 2023)
Workshop #2: Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning
(Sat., Nov. 4th, 2023) Outdoors Location: (Camp Kawartha by Trent University)*
Workshop #3: Anti-Racism in the Classroom: Building Resilience through Uncomfortable Conversations (Sat., Jan. 13th, 2024)
Workshop #4: Queer Intersectionality in the Classroom (Saturday, February 3th, 2024)
Workshop #5: The TEACH-In – Program Consolidation and Celebration (Saturday, March 23th, 2024)
Additional Dates (TBA)
Four, one hour Reflection, Action and Dialogue Sessions (RADS) on ZOOM on a weeknight following each workshop (Dates TBA, and will be recorded).
Workshop Descriptions
Workshop #1- Education for Change: The Theory and Practice of Social Justice Education and the Role of Mindfulness’
Facilitators:
Sam Rockbrune, Executive Director KWIC with special guest and storyteller
Chris Cavanagh, Catalyst Centre and York University, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (formerly Faculty of Environmental Studies);
Yishin Khoo, Program Director True Peace Cavan Common Good Initiative
Julie Cosgrove, Volunteer (KWIC & Common Good Initiative)
- What are the opportunities and challenges of social justice education?
- What is our relationship to power?
- What are the connections between social justice education, poverty…radical love?
- What are dominant narratives? How do they shape our collective understanding of issues such as poverty or food insecurity?
TEACH Workshop #1 will introduce you to the concepts and tools of critical pedagogy and popular education through the work of Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire and others to unpack the challenges and opportunities in social justice education. This workshop will also delve into repeated dominant narratives surrounding poverty, which hinder meaningful progress on equity and justice. Using food security as an anchor, the workshop will illustrate how dominant narratives are shaped by the most privileged groups and can be unpacked to better understand how they function.
Workshop #2: Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning
Facilitators: TRACKS Staff
- Why is it crucial for educators and students to engage with Indigenous histories, cultures and teachings as a foundation within their learning journeys?
- How can Indigenous and non-Indigenous people build respectful and reciprocal relationships with the land so that we can lead our teaching practices from a place of connection?
- How is environmental justice intrinsically tied to Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing?
- How do we move beyond performative learning/teaching when it comes to present-day Indigenous environmental justice?
This workshop will focus on how Indigenous Knowledge is relevant to all educational spaces and settings. By engaging with topics such as land-based learning, relational pedagogy, and identity, we will work through what decolonial educational spaces can look like. In this workshop we will incorporate hands-on learning, talking circles, and examples of land-based activities to introduce Indigenous principles into your educational practices. We will also offer further resources for you to continue this work long past the workshop!
Workshop #3: Anti-Racism in the Classroom: Building Resilience through Uncomfortable Conversations
Facilitators: Kharington Petgrave and Reem Ali
- How can a Social Justice framework ground our work in classrooms?
- How can a DEI lens support a more inclusive approach to education?
- How does white supremacy culture operate within the education system?
- How does universal design create safer classrooms for BIPOC learner?
- How does one prepare students to be socially-conscious global citizens?
- How does one modify curriculum to be implicitly and explicitly centre diverse perspectives?
This workshop will offer perspectives on anti-oppression and anti-racism by inviting us to reflect on our knowledge and actions at the individual and community levels, as well as question some of the challenges that we face in the work that we do. Through social justice theory and practice, we hope that participants will gain a better understanding of white privilege and systemic racism; develop the willingness to dive deeper into conversations about our historical contexts of privilege; and acknowledge the work that is needed in order to build resilience in a community of practice.
Workshop #4: Queer Intersectionality in the Classroom
Facilitators: Karleen Pendleton Jiménez, Associate Professor,
Trent University School of Education Professional Learning and guests
- What teaching strategies help to affirm desire and love?
- How do you include queer representation across the curriculum?
The fourth workshop will explore how intersectional queer representation can be included in your teaching practice. We will explore teaching strategies, resources, policies, ideas, and questions that protect and value gender and sexual minorities in our classrooms. We will continue to add to our social justice educator toolkit and reflect upon the program ahead of the final workshop.
Workshop #5: The TEACH-IN
- What successes and challenges have you experienced incorporating social justice education into your teaching practice?
- Which tools will you use to create welcoming, equitable, and inclusive classrooms and to facilitate important conversations?
This final workshop is a celebration, reflection, and a creative sharing space to explore the successes and challenges of integrating social justice education into your teaching. Candidates will be asked to come prepared to share their two lessons/workshop plans with a small group. Participants will also bring in a personal reflection based on their experiences over the course of the program, to be shared with an understanding that all experiences – positive and negative, will provide us with a rich opportunity for dialogue and learning. Students who have completed their certificates and alternative placement hours will receive their Certificate of Achievement at this time. Students who are still completing their community placement hours will receive their certificate when completed.
Teach Outside the Box 