Resources designed to set the table for courageous conversations and deepen learning about equity and justice in classroom settings
We hope that this arc + elements of a workshop support and inspire you in creating workshops and lesson plans of your own.
Check out the following clips featuring youth facilitators about things to consider before the workshop.
It might also be advisable to give members of marginalized groups a heads up before you dive into these topics–to ensure that they have the time and space to emotionally prepare. This is especially important in school communities where there are very few racialized or marginalized students.
Watching these videos might help get you into the zone to steward this critical work.
6 Ways to be an Antiracist Educator
Educator Dena Simmons on engaging in antiracist work in the classroom.
Building Critical Consciousness for Educational Equity
On a critical exploration of marginalization, Nicole leads us through what social change in schools would lead to in a truly equitable education system.
We encourage you to make the acknowledgments heart-felt and personal; to do them in way that meaningfully reflects the importance of naming the traditional territories upon which the workshop is taking place, and situating this practice as part of ongoing work to unsettle deeply internalized colonial relationships to the land and each other.
Check out these sample Territory Acknowledgments with KimMortal + JB The First Lady:
Go to native-land.ca to find out the Territories that you are learning on.
When making land acknowledgements meaningful, authentic and personal, consider adding some of the following:
Get the goods on why acknowledgments matter, and how to make them real and heart-felt: https://raventrust.com/territorial-acknowledgement/
You might also consider screening these videos with your students:
Our Shared Territories: A short film featuring local Indigenous leaders that helps us to dig a little deeper into why Territory Acknowledgments are so important.
Baroness von Sketch, the all-female sketch comedy show, humourously calls out the ‘check-box’ approach to Territory Acknowledgements.
Here are a few of our ‘go to’ ice breakers.
Time: 7-10 minutes
Resources needed: Whiteboard, pens, post its
Aims:
● To get people moving and ready to learn
● To get to know each other
Instructions:
“Let’s see who’s in the room”…
On the board/flipchart post-its (allow for anonymity) note:
● The languages we speak
● Places we were born
● Nationalities/ethnicities we carry with us
● Religions, spiritual beliefs, ethical practices
● Other important aspects of our identities we want to share
Debrief:
What are your thoughts about the diversity in this
room? Is there more than you expected?
Time: 7-10 minutes
Aims:
● To get people moving and ready to learn
Instructions:
● Participants stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a circle, placing both hands in the center.
● When the whistle blows everyone grabs the hands of someone else, being careful not to
grab both hands of same person or the hands of someone right next to them.
● Once everyone is connected, the object is to untangle the knot, without releasing the
grip, except for permissible pivoting, as long as touch is maintained.
● One pair will be instructed to release their grip.
● Try to form a straight line.
Human Chain
Time: 7-10 minutes
Aims:
● To get people moving and ready to learn
● To get to know each other
Instructions:
● One person begins by standing up, introducing their name, and then describing things
about themselves (e.g. “I love to sing”).
● The first person who feels like they have that in common with the speaker walks over
and connects arms with them (*note: multiple people might have things in common but
only one person [whoever is first] connects arms).
● The new person then continues the process by introducing their name and describing
things about themselves until someone else feels like they have something in common
with them.
● This process continues until everyone in the room is linking arms in a chain.
● The last person introduces themselves and describes themselves until the first person
who went has something in common with them, linking the two ends of the chain
together in a circle.
Facilitator tips:
● Pay attention and make sure everyone is getting a turn
● Consider ways to make the game accessible if not everyone can run or move about
3
Move Your Butt
If you really knew me…
Time: 10 minutes
Resources needed: Paper and pens, heart stencil
Aims:
● To get to know one another
● To practice active listening
Instructions:
● Get into small groups of four or five.
● Each person in the group takes turns finishing the sentence “if you really knew me” for
1 min.
Debrief
● How was the exercise for people?
● How was it speaking?
● How was it listening?
Time: 7-10 minutes
Resources needed:
chairs
Aims:
● To get people moving and ready to learn
● To get to know each other
Instructions:
● Arrange chairs in a circle and have one less chair then there is people in the room.
● Start in the middle of the circle and say something that’s true for yourself and
might be true for others
● Everyone the statement rings true for has to change seats
● One person will be left in the middle, having been unable to find a seat
● It’s now this person’s term to make a “move your butt statement”
● Keep going for a few rounds
Facilitator tips:
● Pay attention and make sure everyone is getting a turn
● Consider ways to make the game accessible if not everyone can run or move about
AMES boosts the imaginations and skillsets of young digital activists and creative change-makers by providing them with unique opportunities to MAKE and SHARE meaningful media.
Our media-making intensives provide young people with open and supportive spaces to reflect on the issues affecting their lives, develop concrete skills, and produce creative work that prompts courageous conversations.
Angela Brown speaks to the empathy-building value of using youth created video and media as conversation starters in your classrooms.
Our programs primarily engage young people with lived experience of systemic inequities. Connecting with youth means engaging adult allies, mentors and community workers who also work to support them, and amplify their voices.
Our media-making intensives provide young people with open and supportive spaces to reflect upon issues affecting their lives, develop concrete skills and produce media artworks that spark conversations about creating conditions for change. Most of our outreach activities are school-based, involve sharing videos, resources and workshops designed to refine our collective equity-lens.
We are a registered charity run by a small group of dedicated staff and core collaborators that is guided by a Board of Directors composed of educators, artists, activists, community workers, students, and filmmakers.
Here are some of the complete Educational Resource Guides we’ve developed to go with Videos made during our Media-Making intensives
Vimeo showcase: https://vimeo.com/showcase/8486512
Resource Guide: HumanEYES Guide; Palm Tree Colouring Sheet
Vimeo showcase: https://vimeo.com/showcase/1568361
Resource Guide: YouthMADE-Guide
Vimeo showcase: https://vimeo.com/95926895
Resource Guide: R4R guide
Vimeo showcase: https://vimeo.com/96534488
Resource Guide: Expressions-of-Aboriginal-Youth
Vimeo showcase: https://vimeo.com/97893262
Resource Guide: OUTlet-guide OUTlet-guide
Due to the pandemic, Access to Media Education Society is not booking workshops for the time being. AMES is currently translating existing workshops, and creating new online versions to better serve youth. Contact ames@accesstomedia.org for more information on when online workshops will be available.
Learn more about the key elements of a typical AMES workshop, and the thinking behind them to support you in building your own:
Developing skills for courageous conversations
Developing skills for courageous conversations
