WORKSHOP D

Embracing Diversity to Form an Inclusive Environment

Teachers are encouraged to use differentiated instruction tailored to an individual’s skills, attitudes, and emotions, while recognizing that not all individuals are the same. This improves students’ competencies, and our ability to meet complex demands.

Wendy Craig

Dr. Wendy Craig is a leading international scientist and expert on bullying prevention and the promotion of healthy relationships. As co-founder and co-Scientific Director of PREVNet (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network), she has transformed understanding of bullying and effectively translated the science into evidence-based practise, intervention, and policy and had a profound influence on communities across Canada .In recognition of her work, she has won numerous awards such as an Investigator Award from Canadian Institute of Health Research, the Canadian Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Community Service, the Queen’s Excellence in Research Prize, Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council Impact Partnership Award. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was recently awarded the Order of Canada for her work on bullying, victimization, and knowledge mobilization. She is a Professor and Head of the Department of Psychology.

Workshop: Addressing Bullying from a Trauma Perspective

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Peer victimization is a chronic stressor that has been conceptualized as a type of interpersonal trauma that occurs within peer interactions. Psychosocial maladjustment associated with victimization may be better understood through a trauma model, which suggests that trauma is an emotionally painful, distressing experience that may have lasting effects. When individuals experience interpersonal trauma, there is an initial fear response, which is followed by maladaptive social cognitions and emotional and physiological dysregulation. Peer victimized youth often have difficulty regulating emotions such as anxiety or anger and can experience heightened emotional reactivity, shame, and guilt. They also exhibit physiological arousal in the face of social stressors and blunted cortisol responses. The goal of this presentation is to increase understanding of peer victimization as an interpersonal trauma and to provide strategies to support those who are experiencing this interpersonal trauma.

Alana Butler

Dr. Alana Butler is currently an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. Her research focuses on low-income, immigrant children and youth, low-income parents of school-aged children, and diversity and equity in schooling. Dr. Butler earned a Ph.D. in Education from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 2015. She is the primary investigator for a 2019 SSHRC Insight Development Grant called "Beating the Odds: An intergenerational examination of cultural barriers to post-secondary education for low income Ontario youth"

Workshop: Strategies for working with ‘at-risk’ children and youth

Brief description: This workshop will introduce students to vulnerable child and youth populations and will explore ACEs (Adverse childhood experiences). Topics will include poverty, Indigenous children and youth, racialized children and youth, mental health, abuse and neglect. Participants will be introduced to strategies to work with at-risk populations and foster resilience.

Mary Reid

Dr. Mary Reid is an Assistant Professor of math education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. With over 25 years of teaching experience, she was a classroom teacher, instructional leader, education officer at EQAO, vice-principal and principal. Mary has published research in the areas of math content knowledge of elementary pre-service teachers, math anxiety in the classroom, the gender gap in STEM, and building efficacy for math teaching. Her most recent study critically examines the gender and race gaps in math performance, specifically the intersectionality of being female and of colour. In 2018, Mary was the recipient of University of Toronto’s Excellence in Teaching Award. Last year she won a federal grant of $54 000.00 from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSRHC) to investigate math knowledge for teaching in pre-service courses. Her math research and findings would be of interest to those seeking to enhance math teacher education through building math capacities of pre-service and in-service teachers.

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Workshop: Fostering Identity-Safe Math Classrooms

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Math is often viewed as a neutral discipline about facts and figures and therefore free from bias. However, much of the literature states the contrary. This workshop will share research findings that highlight some of the systemic challenges girls of colour face in their math schooling. During this session, participants will examine barriers experienced by racialized females, such as math stereotyping, limited access to resources, lack of social capital, implicit bias, and lack of STEM role models. Participants will examine how gender and race intersect in math classrooms and address the implications for teaching interventions to close the race and gender achievement gaps in math education.

Darcey French

Darcey has been an educator for 25 years working to advance the learning of students and looking for innovative ways to create engagement, relationships and skill development with students at the core. He has worked as a secondary and elementary teacher, as the Secondary School Reform Coordinator at a Central Office level and currently is the proud Principal of St. Mary Catholic School in Trenton Ontario. Darcey has and continues to be active in provincial level programs and initiatives to advance student learning and was also invited by the Gates Foundation and Sutton Trust to be part of an international Think Tank to reform teacher education globally. 

Workshop: The School as The First Door: Building Powerful Relationships for Student Wellness

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Through his presentation, Darcey will share his passion for creating strong bonds with student’s and their families to instill a sense of wellness, personal safety and high levels of school engagement for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Lee Airton

Dr. Lee Airton is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Their public scholarship includes the blog They Is My Pronoun, the No Big Deal social media initiative, and the book Gender – Your Guide: A Gender-Friendly Primer on What to Know, What to Say and What to Do in the New Gender Culture (Adams Media - An Imprint of Simon & Schuster). Dr. Airton’s scholarly articles appear in the journals Gender and Education, Sex Education, Curriculum Inquiry, Teachers College Record, and the Journal of Education Policy. Their current SSHRC-funded research project explores how Ontario K-12 schools are responding to the inclusion of gender identity and gender expression protections in human rights legislation, including implications for teacher education.

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Workshop: Supporting and Learning from Transgender-Spectrum Students in Ontario’s K-12 Classrooms

Today, it is a given that an Ontario K-12 teacher will have transgender-spectrum students in their classroom at some point in their career, likely sooner rather than later. While the current incoming generation of new teachers has more knowledge of and exposure to gender diversity than any cohort that has come before, there is lots to know from research and existing practices about fostering a gender-friendly and trans-inclusive classroom. In this workshop, Dr. Lee Airton outlines teachers’ legal responsibilities in this area, offers an overview of the emerging diversity underneath the transgender ‘T’ in the LGBTQ acronym, and leaves you with some concrete practices.