Alternatives to Punitive Discipline for Educators

This workshop begins by explaining the connection between anti-Black racism and punitive discipline, beginning with exploring the use of punitive discipline in the “the breaking of a slave.”  Participants will explore connections between enslavement and incarceration, the criminalization of Black people, the concept of the school to prison pipeline and schools are carceral spaces for Black people.  Participants will also learn about educational activism for police free schools and educational activism focused on bringing transformative justice into schools.  Educators will explore how to explain transformative justice to children using books such as Rastamouse and Afrotina and The Three Bears.  Finally, educators will learn to rethink “discipline” and will learn to conduct transformative justice circles and processes in their classrooms.

Black Liberatory Pedagogy for Educators 

This workshop provides a framework for educators on how to teach from a Black focused perspective using the 8 tenets of Black Liberatory Education in Canada: Focus on Black Histories of Resistance, Arts Based Learning, Family Building, Transformative Justice, Intersectionality, Disabilities Justice, Land Based Learning and Spirituality.  Educators will learn to create year plans, unit plans and lesson plans employing these tenets.