CTL Newsletter - September 2024

Dr. Rishi Krisnamorthy, Assistant Professor in Science Education
As a science educator and learning scientist, Rishi's work draws on critical, Indigenous, feminist new materialist and postcolonial theories to investigate how power dynamics structure learning environments and science phenomena in and outside of classroom settings. They examine this through two strands of research: 1) a focus on the ways in which ideologies from larger social worlds shape how inequities are (re)produced through everyday science teaching interactions and 2) designing school science curricula that explicitly recognizes science teaching and learning as political towards creating solutions for resisting and fighting systems of oppression in learning environments.

Dr. Ashley Moore, Assistant Professor of Language Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Settings
Ashley will be joining CTL as of January 1, 2025. His research program has two main strands: the first pursues the realization of queer-inclusive and -affirming language education, and the second introduces and explores the concept of linguistic dissociation, which he defines as a psychosocial process through which an individual or group distances themselves from certain linguistic resources within their existing repertoires because those resources have come to connote intersubjective disharmony. He is passionate about enacting equitable and socially just change across the institutions, organizations, and fields in which he is embedded.

Dr. Shakina Rajendram, Assistant Professor of Language Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Settings
Shakina is newly appointed as the LLE program coordinator and previously served as the Coordinator of the LLE Language Teaching Field and the Course & Curriculum Development Lead for CTL7019 Supporting English Language Learners from 2020-2022. Shakina's research centers on teacher education, with a focus on preparing teachers to support multilingual learners across K-12 and higher education contexts through translanguaging and multiliteracies pedagogies. Drawing from her background as a teacher and researcher in Malaysia, Shakina’s research includes a focus on decolonial critical perspectives stemming from the Global South. At OISE, Shakina teaches in the areas of multilingual education, second language teaching methodologies, and second language curriculum development.

Dr. Thursica Kovinthan Levi (LLE)
Dr. Kovinthan Levi’s scholarship and teaching include supporting students with refugee experiences in K-12 settings, multilingual language learners, peace & conflict education, and teacher education. Her current research explores the role of trauma-informed pedagogies in teaching about Truth and Reconciliation for newcomer multilingual language learners in Canada. Dr. Kovinthan Levi has worked as a teacher with the Toronto District School and as an education policy analyst with Global Affairs Canada.

Dr. Vijay Ramjattan (LLE) 
Dr. Vijay Ramjattan's teaching and research interests focus on the intersections of language, race, and work within the context of education. His most recent work deals with accent as a site of racialization and work under neoliberal capitalism. Prior to joining CTL, Vijay worked as an EAL specialist at the University of Guelph, where he developed anti-racist training for faculty and staff who work with international students who use English as an additional language. When not teaching, Vijay will be working on his first monograph, which explores how international teaching assistants conceptualize and perform an accent as part of their academic labour.

Dr. Neil Ramjewan (C&P) 
Dr. Neil Ramjewan (he/him) is an Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) and scholar of childhood, a path he found by way of curriculum studies. Understanding children and those positioned as childlike as the subjects of education, his work seeks to bridge childhood studies, curriculum, and pedagogy. Neil's scholarship interrogates dominant social constructions of childhood, often imagined as innocent, ignorant, and yet, a domain of hopeful social agency. Significantly, his work aims to reconceptualize and decolonize the dominant curriculum of childhood by turning to peripheral, marginal, and liminal cultural imaginaries. Pedagogically, Neil aims to invite adult learners to examine child-adult power dynamics within educational settings by confronting affections for childhood that condition their future teaching practices.

Dr. Alex Calvacante, C&P Program Coordinator
Alex Cavalcante has agreed to serve as C&P Program Coordinator for a 3-year term beginning July 1^st. Alex brings to this position a keen interest in academic administration and leadership. Not only does he have a robust research program in financial literacy and mathematics pedagogies, he has served on a wide range of C&P and CTL committees and was just appointed incoming director of the Centre for Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education.

Dr. Shakina Rajendram, LLE Program Coordinator
Shakina Rajendra, well known to many of us after her years of service as a CLTA, is joining us as an Assistant Professor and will also be the Program Coordinator for the Language and Literacies Education Program beginning July 1st. Shakina joins us with over 12 years of experience teaching linguistically and culturally diverse students in the K-12 and higher education levels and current research focuses on teacher education and supporting multilingual learners through translanguaging and multiliteracies pedagogies.

Dr. Gurpreet Sahmbi, MT Program Coordinator
Dr. Gurpreet Sahmbi into the role of MT Program Coordinator. Gurpreet has been a member of the MT Leadership Team since 2022 as the J/I Academic Coordinator, and as the Chair of MT Admissions since 2023. In her role as MT Program Coordinator Gurpreet will continue as a member of the MT Leadership Team, Chair of MT Admissions, and a number of other aspects of MT program coordination and development, including MathPlus and J/I Dance and Drama integration. Gurpreet brings remarkable skills, knowledge and insights to her work and we look forward to her continued leadership and contributions.

Dr. Kim Jensen, MT Program Coordinator
Dr. Kim Jensen has been appointed as the MT Program Coordinator, starting August 1. Kim was a member of the MT instructional team in 2023-24 and the year prior Kim was a Program Officer with OCT’s Accreditation department. Kim’s career of 25 years in the Toronto District School Board included classroom teaching at the middle and high school levels, followed by over 20 years as a VP and then Principal. Kim’s board and system-wide leadership brings a depth and breadth of experience, expertise and perspective to her role as MT Program Coordinator. Kim will be a member of the MT Leadership Team supporting various aspects of the MT program development including curriculum renewal.

Alex Merrick, Coordinator of Practicum, Partnerships, and Experiential Education
Alex Merrick has been appointed as CTL’s Coordinator of Practicum, Partnerships, and Experiential Education. Alex brings a wealth of experience to this role and a deep commitment to relationship building, partnership development, stakeholder engagement and the student experience. Alex first arrived to OISE last fall when she joined the ROSE team responsible for overseeing the OISE Student Success Centre (OSSC), career counselling and development, and the Professional Preparation Conference. As an active member of the 2023-24 MT Teacher Education Liaison Committee (TELC) Alex worked closely with MT Leadership and students, building relationships with MT union and MA-CSE partners. Prior to OISE, Alex’s work in student life and leadership development at the University of Toronto included teaching conflict resolution, designing and evaluating experiential learning, and building networks with university and community partners. We are very excited to have Alex join CTL in this new role, which includes being a member of the MT Leadership Team!

Dr. Jennifer Brant, Associate Professor
Jennifer Brant has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Jennifer belongs to the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk Nation) with family ties to Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. Her research focuses on Indigenous maternal pedagogies as liberatory praxis, and she has been recognized with the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education “George L. Geis Dissertation Award" (2018). Dr. Brant is the current faculty co-chair of the Indigenous Education Network as well as a Faculty Editor of Curriculum Inquiry. Jennifer recently co-edited a new publication titled "Rematriating Justice: Honouring the Lives of Our Indigenous Sisters."

Dr. Cassie J. Brownell, Associate Professor
Cassie Brownell has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Cassie is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research critically considers the politics of identity, literacies, and civics in contemporary schooling. She teaches courses in critical literacies, digital literacies, and elementary education. Cassie was also named a 2024 National Academy of Education / Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and will return to the Lansing area from September to May of this year to continue my longitudinal study related to kids' experiences during presidential election years.

Congratulations to Dr. Michelle Lui! Dr. Lui is the recipient of a 2024 Connaught New Researcher Award. The award will support Dr. Lui’s research around the design and application of multi-user/collaborative Virtual Reality (VR) simulations in tackling challenging STEM concepts in the classroom. An exciting opportunity to learn more about the potential of VR to transform in-person and online learning! 

Congratulations to Dr. Qui Alexander! Dr. Alexander is the recipient of a 2024 Connaught New Researcher Award. The award will support Dr. Alexander’s research that centres Black Trans knowledges and histories to “create alternative modes of study that fundamentally reconceptualize education as a process and a discipline.” An important project that will mobilize Black trans ways of knowing to reimagine education! 

Professor Kathy Bickmore and co-researchers in the U.K. and Croatia have been awarded a Transatlantic Platform Grant from the 2023 “Democracy, Governance and Trust” call for proposals. The proposal titled "Learning Amidst Disinformation and Social Conflict" is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, U.K. Research and Innovation and the Croatian Science Foundation. The study “aims to address the growing gap between young people’s lived experiences and their schools’ citizenship-relevant curriculum practices, in the contrasting contexts of England, Croatia, and Canada.” Congratulations to Prof. Bickmore and team! 

Congratulations to Dr. Cassie J. Brownell! Dr. Brownell is the recipient of a 2024 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship on Growing Democracy: Examining Children's Civic and Rhetorical Practices in Election Years. The award will support Dr. Brownell’s research “to trace how U.S. children’s civic and rhetorical practices evolve across time, age, and political landscapes.” The project will reimagine how classrooms support children’s civic practices and participation. 

Dr. Fikile Nxumalo was awarded a SSHRC New Frontiers in Research Fund for her grant titled "Participatory design for climate change adaptation". Fikile is the Principal Investigator of an ambitious new federally funded community-based research project that brings together interdisciplinary research partners from South Africa and the U.S. to co-create a community-based design for climate literacy in South Africa. With a funding envelope of over $2M from SSHRC, the National Science Foundation and South Africa-based National Research Foundation, the project will explore climate change in partnership with communities and address the climate risks that disproportionately impact young vulnerable Black children by developing climate-smart Indigenous food gardens in primary schools in South Africa, among other activities. For the full story, please see OISE’s post on Prof. Nxumalo’s project. 

Professor Jim Slotta was awarded a SSHRC Connection Grant for his outreach project "Critical Action Learning Expo (CALEx): A global event for critical educators." Founded in 2019 by Prof. Slotta at OISE, Critical Actional Learning Exchange (CALE) is both a research platform and community of teachers and scholars invested in pedagogical approaches that empower students as they navigate major socio-environmental issues. CALEx will draw on partners in India and Egypt to actionize a set of strategic international activities for CALE and host three events in Canada, India and Egypt that support that supports teachers' design and enactment of critical action lessons.