The IT Nerd

How to include Black experience and diverse perspectives in learning

February 2025

In helping educators plan for Black History Month and their lessons all year round, Nelson, Canada’s leading and longest standing education content provider, has updated a series of content in Edwin, the company’s digital learning platform.

Earlier this month, Nelson authors and brother-and-sister team Greg Birkett (history and English teacher, guidance counsellor, author and poet) and Coleen Birkett (teacher, writer and author) shared some of their thoughts with Nelson in a video interview addressing the following questions:

1. Why is it critical to include the Black experience and diverse perspectives in the classroom?
2. How does this contribute to a more equitable and inclusive learning environment?
3. What advice do you have for district leaders?
4. How can you appropriately and respectfully incorporate the Black student experience into teaching?
5. What are first steps for educators to apply this knowledge?

A few takeaways from Greg and Coleen:

• Since Canadian classrooms are so diverse, diversity needs to be reflected in the learning and in the curriculum. Every student needs to have the opportunity to see themselves reflected in the curriculum and have the opportunity to learn about who they are in class. That helps students get along with each other and be better prepared for life. 

• It’s really important students are able to understand different cultures in a safe space. Often their understanding of culture is through media or sources which may have an agenda that does not always give the most accurate representation of a particular culture. That’s how stereotypes are spread. It is crucial for students to be able to engage in discussions about culture and understand culture in a safe space.

• Sometimes educators are apprehensive that they may not be presenting the topic in the most authentic way. With the opportunity to use trusted and accurate materials to create content that educators can use in an authentic voice, both students and educators can have the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions in classrooms about culture.

• Teachers don’t have to depend on themselves or what they have been exposed to – which we believe is where their apprehension comes from. We often hear teachers say “we don’t know what we don’t know.” Sometimes they don’t even realize they have experts right in front of them. For example, students themselves can be experts or they have the means to bring experts or resources in through their family or community. There are a lot of Black Canadian resources available – either through Edwin or through the community. We recommend bringing in experts from the Black community and taking students out to the community on field trips.

• Educators must look at how they can incorporate and infuse this learning — not just broad sweeping, general representations — into their curriculum for different subjects. 

Some practical tips for inclusion for educators:

• Use Real-World Examples: For example, during the hockey playoffs, show clips about the Black Hockey League and its influence on the NHL.

• Highlight Diverse Black Figures: For example, in science class, include Black scientists as examples for research projects.

• Collaborative Learning: Be willing to learn alongside your students. As you bring in diverse perspectives, integrate diverse resources, or go into the community on field trips to foster a sense of shared discovery.

For the complete interview, visit:

Embracing Diversity in Education: Insights from Coleen and Greg Birkett

In a recent conversation on The Dr. Vibe Show, Coleen and Greg responded to a question about how they felt about having a special platform to openly speak and teach about Black existence and its place in the world. 

They said, “We are trying to have it woven into every fabric of our curriculum so it isn’t just a special month or a special class. Right now, we do have a Grade 12 course that speaks about the Black Canadian experience. We both co-authored a textbook with Rosemary Sadlier which is being used in some school boards here in Ontario and Nova Scotia. What we want to do is to take a cross-curricula approach, from kindergarten, when children are most ready, open and willing to learn and make it age appropriate, all the way up to Grade 12. We don’t want it to be a special platform; we want it to be a natural, organic part of the curriculum. It is Canadian history, it’s not Black Canadian history being taught in February in a particular class for kids with vested interest. It needs to be woven into every subject, across disciplines and across curriculum from K-12.”

Live Lesson: “Every Voice Counts: Equity in Education”

On February 26, 2025, Nelson will host a Live Lesson called “Every Voice Counts: Equity in Education” for teachers and students where they will talk about how bias shapes our educational experiences. The lesson will highlight the importance of inclusion and fairness in education and how they impact our daily lives. Through real-world examples and interactive discussions, they will uncover why inclusion matters, how to recognize and challenge bias, and the steps we can take to ensure every student feels valued and heard. 

Register today: https://classroomsuccess.as.me/everyvoicecounts

Resources for Black History Month and All Year Round

Teachers are having to do a lot more than ever and to bear more responsibility. They need accurate, vetted and consistently high quality content so they can design lessons to accommodate individual students’ education needs. Edwin contains Canadian curriculum-aligned content that teachers can use – among other resources – to plan their lessons, not having to worry about relying on GenAI, Google search or purchasing non-Canadian materials. 

Please see the three collections in Edwin for users (see screen shots here):

Black Canadian Communities
Black Canadian Culture
Black Legacy and Leadership (previously called Black Excellence)

Did you know? 

• “Black Excellence” was the #1 most accessed content in Edwin in February 2024
• “End Racism Today” was the #2 most accessed content in February 2024
• “Black Canadian Communities” was the #1 most accessed content overall for the last school year 
• Forty per cent (40%) more students and teachers have accessed Black Canadian content in Edwin, the company’s digital learning platform, this September 2024-January 2025 compared to the same period last school year 
• In a national survey conducted in January 2024, teachers reported saving almost one hour per week in lesson planning, finding resources and creating assessments by using Edwin, an equivalent of one prep period per week or one full week a year. They gave an A or A+ to Edwin’s subject content, classroom success and support.
• The company has seen an almost 40% increase in active users in Edwin compared to this time last year. 
• One month into the school year (end of September), Nelson has already seen an 89% increase in the number of teachers trained on Edwin at the end of the first week of school this year compared to last year. Edwin hit a record high number of daily users ever on October 29, 2024 – a 26% increase compared to the best day of 2023.

About Nelson

For over a century, Nelson has worked in partnership with Canadian educators to develop quality resources that are tied to curricula and that meet provincial learning expectations. As Canada’s largest education content provider, Nelson dedicates its business efforts to the creation of quality, innovative solutions that empower learning success by supporting the needs of every student and educator. For more information, visit https://www.nelson.com/.

To learn more about Edwin, visit https://www.edwin.app/.

This entry was posted on February 20, 2025 at 5:46 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Nelson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.