Fraser Valley – Students enrolled in the secondary-level cohort of UFV’s Bachelor of Education program are filling a gap in BIPOC-focused curriculum material. In honour of Black History Month, they have created a series of videos highlighting Black Canadians and Americans.
Events of the last year, especially the global reaction to the brutal killing by police of George Floyd, have heightened society’s awareness of systemic racism and its impact on BIPOC.
This in turn has led to educators seeking curriculum materials for their students that not only focus on issues of systemic racism but also celebrate the significant achievements of Black people.
The students have made the videos available to the schools where they are completing their teaching practicums.
“As part of BEd programming, we ask our teacher candidates to consider ways that they can ‘give back’ to the schools who provide them with a practicum placement,” notes Dr. Vandy Britton, Teacher Education department head at UFV.
“Given the complexities of organizing large-scale activities during COVID, our secondary teacher candidates decided to put together a series of videos highlighting the accomplishments of Black Canadians and Americans, both past and present, in honour of Black History month,” says Britton. “The videos were shared with the principals of the schools where the teacher candidates are placed, in hopes that this information would be passed along to teachers and their students.”
The 19 videos, featuring notable Black citizens such as Viola Desmond, Harriet Tubman, Oscar Peterson, and even the newly famous young poet Amanda Gorman, can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ALjlxN4c16WBfIoUG2BiFngCXe_w0_hXUChwb4tdnXs/edit?usp=sharing
