Presenter: Kim Tran, Matt McDonald & Ixchel Bennett
Workshop Description
As new teachers who embrace antioppression enter into the field of teaching, they often find more challenges than opportunities to enact their visions of liberatory education. Whether they are told that best practices learned at the faculty are not the “real world”, or whether they are treated with condescension that implies naivete, there are many stated and unspoken systems of oppression that are used to silence the hopes within teachers who dream of a better way to do education. Similar stories are heard from administrators who enter management with hopes of bringing more connections between communities and schools. How and why do these systems exist? Why and how do they continue to perpetuate? How might we come together to recognize and discuss our experiences, and how might this discussion of experiences help us to overcome these challenges together?
Please join us for honest discussions of experiences, strength, community, and joy to help us to dream collectively for liberatory outcomes for our students and for our staff.
Bio
Ixchel Bennett
Ixchel Bennett is Indigenous Nahua/Zapoteca from Mexico City. She has been in the field of education for over 18 years serving in different capacities. She was recently the centrally assigned vice principal with the Urban Indigenous Education Center and Kâpapâmahchakwêw, Wandering Spirit School. She was also the vice-principal at Eastview P.S. that has a large Indigenous community. It is the only dual-track school at TDSB whereby Indigenous and non-Indigenous people interact in a respectful and reciprocal environment. Ixchel was seconded at York University as a course director and practicum facilitator for the Keele program and the first Waaban Indigenous teacher education cohort. She is a graduate from the first cohort in the M.Ed. in Urban Aboriginal Education from York University, where she explored ways of interweaving Indigenous education into schools. Ixchel is a student in the first Indigenous Ph.D. cohort at York University, researching Indigenous students’ experiences in Indigenous Teacher Education Programs.
Kim Tran
Graduated in 2020, Kim Tran has and continues to explore various directions in Education. Now a teacher with Peel District School Board, she is completing her Master’s in Education at York University while working part-time as a Research Assistant and Project Coordinator for two projects on Indigenous-led conservation and the Critical Transitions Project. Most recently, she is a provincial workshop presenter for the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) and was serving as an advisory member for the Black Persons and Persons of Colour Advisory Work Group. As a new teacher, she is deeply passionate about equity and challenging the status quo. All things considered, she is a strong advocate for balancing mental health and wellbeing, especially as new educators enter a dynamic field. As a lifelong learner, she looks forward to sharing and co-learning with everyone.
Matthew McDonald
Matthew McDonald is a Master of Education candidate at York University and a secondary school teacher for Peel District School Board. His teachables are Environmental Science, Geography and Mathematics. He was the former co-chair of the York Graduate Students in Education (YGSE) and a student member of the Anti-Black Racism Committee (ARBC) in the Faculty of Education. He was also on the executive team for the Faculty of Education Students’ Association. McDonald does equity and advocacy work with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) as an advisory member for the Black Persons and Persons of Colour Advisory Work Group (BPPCAWG). His interests lie primarily in policy analysis and creating a more equitable future for racialized peoples.