When students are asked, “What does equity look like in your school?” and “What do learning opportunities look like in your school?” they come up with amazing answers! Over 100 students from grades 7 – 12 came together in their schools to develop puzzles pieces representing their answers to those questions.
They presented their collective voice to one another at a Student Symposium explaining how their puzzle piece was inspired and what it represented. Those pieces came together to form the AMDSB logo.
Student teams had an opportunity to learn from the wisdom and humour of Norman Kunc, who shared his school experience and the historical narratives around disability. He challenged the students to rebel against narratives that tell anyone that they are not enough.
Later the same day, students engaged in activities led by Me to We facilitators to share their opinions, identify values important to them and to plan how to make their school “a place where we all belong”. Our hope was that students left with a better understanding of ways to support one another, while appreciating and recognizing their own and each other’s unique strengths, talents, abilities and differences. Schools continue to demonstrate in creative ways how the students and staff of AMDSB build positive inclusive learning environments.
