On Monday April 24th and Tuesday April 25th, the GEC members delivered workshops to all of the M3s at UTS. I was able to attend four out of the five workshops and was thoroughly impressed with how they went.

The GEC workshop was effective in helping to create socially responsible citizens. I think the workshop opened the minds of the M3 students and allowed them to develop empathy for an “other” group. Its effectiveness was due to the fact that it was student-led, interactive, and because the space was open and inclusive.

As discussed in previous blogs, the GEC was operating under the model of critical global citizenship in many ways. They informed themselves about the ways in which our society puts up barriers for different groups of people, focusing on women and trans people. They unpacked the concept of privilege, and did not simply focus on celebrating the diversity that trans people bring to our society, but rather focused critically on the ways in which these people are systemically oppressed. I was impressed that these students were able to think in this manner, but was curious whether they would be able to convey this thinking to the M3s in their workshop. The goal of their workshop was to inform students about trans and male privilege in hopes of the building awareness, allowing for small changes to be made. Simultaneously, they wanted to build empathy and understanding for trans people, and give concrete ways that students can show respect to non-binary identifying people.

It was the way the GEC members conveyed the information to the M3s that made it so effective, and I was proud of them as they took on the role of “teacher”. My GEC staff member and I stepped back and let them take the lead on everything (except for a few times when we had to tell students to be quiet) and it was amazing to see the M3s learning from their peers and taking the workshop seriously. This notion of peer-to-peer learning is something I want to bring into my classroom as much as possible because it’s such a powerful learning tool. The GEC students did a great job of creating a space for reflection and learning. They simultaneously made it clear that the space was not a place for bigoted comments, but that it was a space for questions. Because it was led by peers, I think students felt like they could ask questions that they might not ask teachers, because they felt more comfortable. For example, when the GEC leaders brought up the notion of someone being intersex, students asked frank questions about sex characteristics. And while the GEC members felt a bit awkward answering the questions, they did, and I think the peer-to-peer environment helped facilitate this question asking.

Pedagogically, the GEC workshop had a great balance of direct instruction and activity-based learning, and the fact that it was interactive contributed to its effectiveness. The privilege walk got students thinking about privilege, and the way that we take for granted things that cause other people a lot of struggle. When we asked the class to step backwards if using gendered washrooms was stressful for anyone no one stepped back. While the participants had their eyes closed, I think just putting this out there allowed students to stop and think. When GEC students delved into the issue of washrooms in more detail throughout the workshop, because the students had already reflected on their own experience with using gendered washrooms, the information hit home more. While delivering information about cis-gender and male privilege, GEC students provided concrete, specific examples so that students could understand how these types of privilege persist in everyday life. For example, they asked students to guess the percentage of a group that women need to take up to talk for 50% of the time. Most students guessed correctly—60-80%––and I think the combination of getting them to think about it first, while simultaneously providing a concrete example of sexism, was effective in generating understanding of the issue. The students concluded the workshop with another interactive activity: a Kahoot that asked students multiple choice questions about statistics regarding the experiences of trans people. For example, one question was: “what percentage of trans people in Ontario have avoided eating and drinking so they don’t have to use the bathroom”. At first I questioned the use of Kahoot, because it creates an atmosphere of fun and competition and the statistics they were informing students about were very sombre. However, as I observed the workshops I saw how the Kahoot allowed for an authentic engagement with the material, especially because the GEC students would stop and unpack most of the statistics. This gave me insight for my own classroom practices: that a “fun” medium can be an effective way to engage students even with difficult material. I think the statistics will stay with the students longer because they were engaged when learning them—they weren’t simply written on the board or in an article they were reading. And it also allowed for discussion about them as they went through the Kahoot.

At the end of the first workshop I observed, I noticed that there was no time allotted for reflection, so I suggested that for the next three, the GEC students give the M3s time to reflect on something significant they learned. They took this suggestion and at the conclusion of the next three, facilitated a think-pair-share activity where students through of one thing that stood out to them about the workshop, and one thing that they might do differently now that they have learned about trans and cis-privilege. The GEC students then asked for some students to share these reflections with the group. I think this was an important thing to do with a workshop like this, because it’s easy to leave thinking, “woah that was a lot”, but without considering more specifically what you learned. A few students expressed that they had never thought about the fact that going to the bathroom could be traumatic for people, and were shocked that people would not eat and drink to avoid something they took for granted. Others expressed that they now understood more about the use of pronouns, and how important it is to use the correct ones. While not everyone shared, it became apparent that the workshop led to empathy-building. I think every M3 left with a deeper understanding of the experiences of trans people, and a deeper respect. Thus, I believe the GEC students reached their goals.

In terms of my own learning through this service learning project, I think I met my learning goals because I was able to gain insight into how to foster student-led initiatives. Although my mentorship was more distant, this position allowed for me to observe and support these students on an effective, student-led initiative. I wanted to ensure that my presence was supportive, and that I could be someone they could bounce ideas off. My relationship with the students blossomed over the course of the year, and I sensed that they liked having a younger adult in the room who got what they were trying to do. I think the small suggestions and ideas I provided were helpful, because they were mostly in regards to how to teach effectively (using images to explain more complex ideas, allotting time for reflection), which is something that is fresh in my mind with being at OISE! At the conclusion of the workshops I spoke to two of the members about the possibility of them doing an altered version for our cohort, and they were honoured. I think for them, seeing a new teacher passionate about the issues they care deeply about, was inspiring. These students are change-makers, and to know that teachers support them is really important for their motivation. Because the issues they were discussing are not issues that every adult is comfortable engaging with, I think my presence was valuable, because it validated what they were doing. If I were to do this service-learning project again, I would try and bring in more outside resources. For example, I might try and connect them with a U of T Transgender group, and perhaps organize for a guest trans speaker to come in to talk to the group. I wish I had used my U of T connections more effectively, and this is something I would like to do next year, as I feel that I would love to continue along with this group next year.

The GEC is a group that would not have existed when I was in high school, and I left the workshops in awe of the fact that these conversations are happening in an informed, critical manner. I am so proud of the students, and I look forward to hearing from them about how the open meeting this week went, whereby they debriefed the workshops, opening it up to all UTS students. I feel lucky to have been part of such an engaged, inclusive community, and I look forward to the possibility of the GEC students doing an altered version for our cohort!