Hi #OntEd

A brief thread on significant faith days + lesson planning.

Tomorrow is #YomKippur. This is the holiest day in the Jewish https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🗓" title="Spiralkalenderblatt" aria-label="Emoji: Spiralkalenderblatt">. As a deeply cultural, hard agnostic, sometimes even atheistic Jew, this day still matters immensely to me & I always take https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⌚" title="Armbanduhr" aria-label="Emoji: Armbanduhr"> to observe.

So know that if you choose tomorrow to move ahead with new learning, let alone assessment & eval, you are making a conscious choice to make Jewish students pick between potentially critical learning for their academic success vs. living in the fullness of their identity.

I get that we teach in a public system that purports to be secular...except we don& #39;t. Not only do we have here in Ontario and entire publicly funded Catholic K-12 pathway, but our school calendars are built around our provincial calendar, which inherently privileges Christians.

A Christian student who wants to attend Easter services doesn& #39;t need to make a tough choice about trying to catch up on missed material. The whole system just shuts down for them. Even a secular Christian who wants to participate culturally receives the same privilege.

So please, take the day to do review. And also, I beg you, do not assume you know whether or not you have Jews in your classes. We& #39;re not all named Goldberg or Rothstein. Many of us aren& #39;t Ashkenazi. Many of us are from mixed-faith families.

Many of us had our last names changed at Pier 21 in Halifax bc #antisemitism; that& #39;s why my last name is Teitel and not Teitelbaum.

I know it& #39;s annoying. I know our programming has already been compromised by #COVID19. But that& #39;s beyond our control. This isn& #39;t.

In a yr where many of us have publicly committed to centering #antiracism & #antioppression w/in our pedagogy, this is an equitable action we all can take. This is low-hanging fruit. So just pick it. Choose to make things a little more equitable this week.

Thanks in advance https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙏🏻" title="Folded hands (heller Hautton)" aria-label="Emoji: Folded hands (heller Hautton)">