This week’s updated materials:
Teaching needs a transformation (Paradkar, 2019)
As a Black student, he was told to dream small (Paradkar, 2019)
‘Your name is too difficult’ (Paradkar, 2019)
‘No one is ashamed to be who they are’ (Paradkar, 2019)
All of this week’s updated readings are from the Toronto Star, which is behind a paywall. However, the Star is currently offering free subscriptions for post-secondary students. So, you can read all of these articles by subscribing for the free period (until Oct. 31) here.
Unfortunately, Michelle Shephard has just had to postpone her visit until our Wednesday, Oct. 2 class. However, the outgoing Atkinson Fellow in Public Policy and Toronto Star columnist Shree Paradkar has kindly agreed to step in at the last minute as our guest speaker on Sept. 18.
For those of you unfamiliar with the fellowship, it offers a working journalist $75,000 honorarium and $25,000 for expenses to explore an issue of public policy for one year and write a series that appears in the Star. John Lorinc is the incoming Atkinson Fellow and is exploring smart cities. Previous fellows have included Tanya Talaga (Seven Fallen Feathers) and, somewhat coincidentally, Michelle Shephard.
Shree’s Atkinson series is rolling out this month in the Star and in it, she is investigating the failure of Canada’s public education system to deliver equitable outcomes for racialized and Indigenous students. Her work is global in scope, and she has travelled to the U.S., India and New Zealand to talk to school boards, experts, educators and students addressing these challenges in innovative ways.
We’ll be talking with Shree about the evolution of her project, where she started and the twists and turns she has taken in between. I’m also interested in exploring her solutions journalism approach to the stories, as well as the challenges she encountered in her interviews and research.
Please read the stories linked to before class if possible. I understand that it’s short notice given the last-minute switch. So, do your best and think of the kinds of experiences you might want to hear Shree talk about in relation to your own work on your MRP.