The rights and responsibilities of personhood have not been bestowed equitably on all members of Canadian society. Teaching for Belonging requires instructors to embrace this reality and actively use their power as educators to work towards dismantling systems of power and domination. It is these systems that isolate and exclude students from full participation in the classroom. Indeed, students experience and respond to all-encompassing political, economic, material, cultural and spiritual marginalization as they navigate their lives, and these realities enter the classroom with them. It is incumbent upon instructors to create learning environments that counter these experiences of marginalization and provide spaces in which students can experience a sense of belonging.
Acknowledge your privilege in the identities you hold and actively work to mitigate its impact on the learning environment.
Recognize your power as an educator, and examine personal biases around the behaviours and attitudes you expect of the "good" student.
Recognize the limitations of your knowledge and develop a plan to increase your knowledge.
Critically question your learning materials, teaching and assessment strategies to determine the ways in which they reinforce or work to break down colonialism, racism, heteropatriarchy, ableism and other forms of marginalization.
Encourage student participation in the co-creation of knowledge.
Use empathy to explore the lived realities and experiences of students and their potential impacts on learning.