“I celebrate teaching that enables transgressions — a movement against and beyond boundaries.”- bell hooks On a cold February day, groups of teachers huddled into different sessions at the TDSB Beginning Teacher Equity Conference in downtown Toronto. They were warming up with topics such as “Anti-bias education in early years” and “Questioning school dress codes” and “Culturally relevant teaching in early years.”In one session, Sharla Falodi and Farah Rahemtula, both learning coaches at the Toronto District School Board, were speaking on “Microaggressions in Schools: Making the Invisible Visible.” “The micro refers to the everyday regular mundane reactions, not its severity,” said Rahemtula. “The severity comes … in its cumulative effect. It can really impact the quality of life over time as it’s happening again and again and again and again.”An example she cited is of a teacher who says, “Your name is too difficult. Can I say it this way instead?” Or asks the class, “What did you do with your mom and dad over the weekend?” (thereby not considering the nuances of sexuality and different family structures). The first thing teachers are asked to do after bias-awareness training is to self-reflect. Learning about microaggressions and the difference between intention and impact helps in the mental investigation of those unthinking assumptions and biases. They also help teachers identify and unearth what is known as the hidden curriculum at their schools.An explicit curriculum is the formal framework of content teachers are expected to impart. Then there is the hidden or invisible curriculum.This curriculum operates through verbal and non-verbal microaggressions, such as a teacher’s tone or even gaze, or what cultural values are held as the norm — for instance, are prejudicial behaviours tolerated.These unarticulated values are uno ...
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