Hi #OntEd

A brief thread on significant faith days + lesson planning.

Tomorrow is #YomKippur. This is the holiest day in the Jewish . As a deeply cultural, hard agnostic, sometimes even atheistic Jew, this day still matters immensely to me & I always take 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'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'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're not all named Goldberg or Rothstein. Many of us aren'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's why my last name is Teitel and not Teitelbaum.

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