In this episode, we speak with educators Kateri Marandola, Dr. Christina Belcher and Farah Slimati about how their work has contributed to the development of narratives that push back against traditional ways of framing student learning and ways of knowing.

In this conversation, we look specifically at two articles from Counternarratives of Pain and Suffering:

1) Self-Location as a Disruptive Counternarrative in Teaching and Learning by Kateri Marandola
2) Easing Anxiety for Adults in Higher Education: Regaining Self within Subversive, Interdisciplinary Bibliotherapy, and Visual Journaling by Dr. Christina Belcher

Kateri Marandola has been an educator for the past 18 years. Her passion is social justice and she is currently working on promoting allyship as a focal point in education. Kateri began her education in the Francophone system and later switched to English stream education, but continued to pursue her French education as an educator, having taught core French and French Immersion as well.

Christina Belcher holds a Master of Worldview Studies (ICS Toronto), an Master of Educational Studies (NICE Australia), and a PhD in the Philosophy of Education (Monash University, Australia). She has been involved in education at the elementary public, private, tertiary and university levels of teaching. Christina's publications and research interests include higher education, worldview, children's literature, culture, technology and the use of literature for students on the ASD spectrum. She has an eclectic appetite for learning and enjoys working collaboratively.

Farah Slimati has been an educator with PBSD for eighteen years, holding a variety of different roles. She identifies as a Muslim African Indigenous (Berber) Arab, Hispanic, Francophone Canadian Settler, Cisgender Woman. Her intersectionalies have helped her develop a deep understanding of critical consciousness through which she demonstrates the culturally responsive behaviours required to be an anti-racist school leader. Farah works with the school community to create inclusive learning environments that are affirming of all students’ identities.