Introducing the Listen & Learn Community of Practice

Building Next Steps in Our Practice of Indigenous Education

 

In January 2017 I began Listen & Learn, my free newsletter about Indigenous Education, with the goal of sharing resources and questions I am currently exploring while highlighting the work of other educators. Five years and over 1500 followers later, I have decided to expand the world of Listen & Learn to include a monthly Community of Practice.

This Community of Practice evolves out of my ongoing inquiry about where I, as a Settler of Italian-Canadian descent can be useful in the field of Indigenous Education. As an educator and coach, I am excited to hold space for others as we deepen our commitment to Indigenous content in our teaching; while simultaneously navigating how our identities and experiences can get in the way of, spur on, and inform that work.

While I imagine this will evolve to meet the needs of participants, I am excited to welcome a first cohort of educators to join me for three sessions, once a month beginning in early 2022. This time together will be an opportunity to examine our blocks and fears, while charting the next steps in our practice of teaching Indigenous content.


Description:

Are you committed to Indigenous Education in your classroom but fear that you will make a mistake or might do “something wrong”? Do you want to expand your teaching in this area but feel blocked or unsure of your next steps? If this resonates with you, I invite you to join me and a group of your peers in education for a deep dive into our own practices of bringing Indigenous content into our curriculum.

Our first cohort will meet once a month for three months. Each meeting will be 90 minutes long. You will be guided through activities to

  • Excavate our own histories, influences, and education with respect to Indigenous histories, cultures, and current communities

  • Discuss how our influences impact our teaching, where we feel blocked, and what might be holding us back from going deeper in our teaching of Indigenous content.

  • Lay out next steps for our teaching including actions we can take and where we can find support.

The workshops will combine independent journaling, circle sharing, and group coaching. Please come ready to write, share, and learn from others.

What is a cohort?

I will be launching four different cohorts which will take place on different nights of the week. They will correspond to the grade level you teach so that you can connect with educators who share similar concerns.

Please sign up for the session that matches your grade-level assignment.


Organizer:

Hi! I’m Dr. Angela Nardozi. I’m a Settler on Turtle Island, with both sides of my family originating in Italy. I am a certified teacher and received my Ph.D. from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in 2016. My passion for working alongside Indigenous communities began in 2008, after living and working in a Treaty Three First Nation.

I have been working alongside Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators in teacher education since 2011 to mentor other educators in their work of bringing Indigenous content into their teaching.

In 2016, I trained as a coach with Tammy Neilson from Creating Realities, and have been both in private practice with individual clients and leading groups in collective coaching experiences for the past six years.

You can read the full bio of Dr. Angela Nardozi here.

I currently Lecture in the Masters of Teaching Program at OISE/UT, and taught a course in the Masters of Education Program at St. Francis Xavier University in Summer 2021. This year, I am the Goggio Fellow at the Frank Iaccobucci Centre for Italian-Canadian Studies and co-director of the Indigenous-Italian-Canadian Connections project.

As a teacher-educator, I am engaged in ongoing research regarding teacher's willingness and readiness to teach Indigenous content. My experiences of running this workshop might be incorporated into future publications as I interrogate my own practice and its impact on teachers. I will be referring to anonymous contributions from participants in my research, such as, written jamboard contributions and written feedback after the workshop. However, the participants themselves WILL NOT be under study. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to reach out!


Testimonials:

I was honoured to facilitate a workshop at the Surrey Teacher’s Association Convention in Spring 2021 where I piloted techniques for this Community of Practice. Below is some of the feedback I received.

“Dr. Nardozi was such a passionate and engaging speaker! She connected with every session participant, valued our ideas and questions, and shared her knowledge, experience, and excitement with respect and understanding of each of our unique contexts. Lots of ideas and resources were shared on camera and in the chat to help participants develop and walk away with clear thoughts on how to proceed with our teaching of Indigenous topics.”

“Fun, interesting, informative, time flew by.”

“Your engaging and supportive communication style was very much appreciated. You created the space for us to safely enter into conversation which resulted in rich and productive dialogue. Each person was respected and honoured for their contributions. The charts/slides were also simple to create/follow which allowed me to actually think about the content as I was filling them in. The breakout rooms times were also an appropriate length - not too rushed. Thanks very much!”

“You have a wonderful energy, and I think your use of personal reflection activities, and break out rooms worked really well.”


Details:

Meetings will be 90 minutes in length and hosted on Zoom.

Please sign up for the session which aligns with your teaching assignment (see form below for more details).

Enrollment will be limited to ensure a rich experience for participants.

I am happy to offer a sliding scale of $150 to $300 for the series of three 90 minute meetings. I invite you to pay what they can on that scale. If you find the cost prohibitive and it is blocking you from attending, send me a message.

Payment can be made via e-transfer to angela.nardozi@gmail.com upon receipt of confirmation email. We are open to payment plans with 100% being due on the Friday before we begin. Let me know what works for you. Refunds will be issued up to 3 days  prior to the first meeting.

Use the form below to sign up, or ask questions! Please also let me know if you require any accessibility modifications, and indicate whether I can contact you to ask questions about them.


Please fill out this form to reserve your spot in one of the groups. You will be contacted within 48 hours as confirmation of your spot.