Jo is a speaker, education consultant, and author of Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies: An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racist Education (2022). Jo consults for education related organizations and offers the following professional learning keynote and workshop sessions:
Wayi Wah! Intersections Between Equity, Indigenous, and Anti-Racist Education
As we respond to the Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we continue to engage in challenging conversations about inequity and systemic racism in our education systems, with the goal of taking informed action to create stronger education systems. This session focusses on some of the foundational concepts included in Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies: An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racist Education (2022) as we briefly explore:
• the intersections between Indigenous education and anti-racism work;
• what Indigenous-specific systemic racism can look like in education systems;
• what it can mean to move from fear to learning to growth in anti-racism in Canada;
• how Indigenous-informed pedagogies can help create stronger education experiences;
• how we can understand the roles of bias and privilege in our work; and
• how we can build on relationships, and use our spheres of influence to create change.
High-Expectations Relationships: A Path Forward in Indigenous Education
How do we eliminate the racism of low-expectations? How do we create education systems that reflect both equity and excellence? High-expectations relationships can be a path forward to ensuring an equitable, quality education system that supports all learners to achieve and thrive in ways that honour who they are. In this session we explore
• the connections between high-expectations relationships and the First Peoples Principles of Learning
• elements and example of effective high-expectations relationships;
• how to challenge deficit-based perspectives of learners;
• impacts of strength-based approaches; and
• how to identify and avoid high-expectations rhetoric.
Beyond the Poster on the Wall – The First Peoples Principles of Learning
The First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL) are making an impact on education systems as a framework for our practice to create more responsive and equitable educational experiences for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners. What are our individual and collective next steps in our own learning journeys as we extend current understandings of what effective teaching and learning can look and sound like when we honour these principles? In this session we briefly examine
• what educational experiences look and sound like when they are grounded in the FPPL;
• how this work is also anti-racist education;
• how Indigenous knowledge/perspectives enhances learning for all; and
• what assumptions we need to challenge in order to do this work well.
Note: For a workshop format, this session requires some pre-readings on a link that will be provided to participants in advance of the workshop.
To request an in person or virtual speaking engagement or workshop, please email jochrona@gmail.com
Jo Chrona 