Teaching ‘Transformatively’ Toolkit

Edith Lando Virtual Learning Grant
Co-Primary Investigators — Angela Reynolds, Chris Rugo, Anneke Nussbaum, Dr. Keri Ewart:

Teaching ‘Transformatively’ Toolkit: Critical and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy for Queering Curriculum & Practice for Rural and Remote Education

Edith Lando VLC’S latest grant recipients will be developing a digital toolkit intended to support educators from rural and remote communities in creating more critical and culturally sustaining classrooms that center on intersectional, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour), and 2SLGBTQIA+ (Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and other) identities. In doing so, this project will contribute towards a broader commitment of advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization, and anti-racism (EDIDA) by providing practical tools for educators and administrators to transform their practice.

With the increased ubiquity of media and the access afforded to youth, learners need to cultivate a critical, culturally and inclusive lens during their formative years. At the same time, learners need to see their complex identities reflected in the discourse and content explored within their learning environment.

With the funding provided the grant recipients intend to create the following resources for teachers and students:

  1. A website that will offer multimodal digital learning resources, lesson plans, and an online affinity space for teacher and students and students in rural communities
  2. A podcast documenting their process and the impact of their work
  3. An open educational resources (OER) repository to promote the access, sharing, and adaptation of these resources in a wide range or contexts

The goals of this critical work include:

  1. Serving rural and remote communities
  2. Creating a support network for educators and students
  3. Offering multiple multimodal access points
  4. Fostering awareness and cultivating action
  5. Supporting student safety, wellness, and belonging
  6. Facilitating access to ready-made, actionable materials
  7. Cultivating a community of inquiry and practice
  8. Modeling an iterative approach by design
  9. Creating an inclusive, represented, culturally responsive, and culturally appropriate resource that can be accessed by all