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Addressing Unconscious Bias in Schools

2026-09-29 / / 0 Comments

Journal 2026.09.29

CONT 961 – Module 1 – Establishing an EDI Learning Community

The Readings

The Harvard EdCast podcast episode titled “Unconscious Bias in Schools” and the online article “Strategies for Countering Unconscious Bias in the Classroom” discuss how educators need to be aware that they are not immune to acting prejudiced toward racialized students.

Educators likely want to provide quality instruction to all students, regardless of race (Anderson, 2019; Bowman, 2020). However, racist beliefs and habits are developed through societal “indoctrination” throughout one’s life. Learned racist biases need to be addressed in order to provide equitable instruction to all students.

Do the authors agree on strategies for teachers to reduce bias?

Both Anderson (2019) and Bowman (2020) agree that educators must:

  1. acknowledge that they have some bias toward racialized individuals;
  2. be willing to take risks and be uncomfortable to address said biases; and
  3. name their identity as a racialized person themselves.

Both authors employ the use of the term “unconscious bias” to describe racism. Sarah Fiarman explains that this verbiage helps make tackling racism more palatable for white educators, as people tend to retreat when there is an implication that they are racist (Anderson, 2019).

How does our recognition of bias help us to provide an equitable learning experience?

Recognizing bias helps educators provide an equitable learning experience by reducing the outward effects of racist conditioning perpetuated by society. During the Harvard EdCast podcast, Tracey Benson describes an experience with a teacher he hired as a principal. He observed that a group of black students in a classroom with a white female teacher were not participating during lessons, nor were they being called on by the teacher (Anderson, 2019). He noted that the teacher often had her back turned toward the group of black students and therefore did not see them throughout the lesson. A couple of days after informing the teacher of his observation, Benson returned to the classroom and noted that the teacher was calling on students to participate. By simply acknowledging the unconscious bias that the teacher exhibited, the black students began to receive a more equitable learning experience. This example shows that actively addressing potential unconscious bias is a huge first step in creating a more equitable learning environment.

In my own practice.

In my Grade 8 science class, I had a seating arrangement that changed every two weeks. One time, I thought that I had found the perfect seating arrangement. For a few days, the class was on task, collaborative, and engaged like I had never seen before. However, during the latter half of the first week, a student began to act out. This behaviour was uncharacteristic of the student. At first, I didn’t think much of it; I thought that maybe they were having a bad couple of days. By Friday, I could feel a tension whenever I interacted with this student. After class, I had asked them if something was wrong. The student became animated and said, to the effect of, “Mr. Spong, I’m constantly separated from my friends. Look at how you single me out on the other side of the class! Johnny, Jim, Jared, and Josh all sit in that corner. It’s unfair!”

For a moment, I was speechless.

Here I was, thinking the new seating plan was perfect, but actually a student felt I was treating them unfairly by keeping them isolated from their friends. I had no idea that this was a pattern across multiple seating arrangements. I apologized for my actions, assured the student that I was doing this accidentally, and changed the seating plan the next day.

By explicitly acknowledging my unconscious bias toward the student, I showed respect, dignity, and mutual concern, which in turn strengthened our relationship (Evans, 2022).

By asking questions, building relationships with all students, and being aware of others’ emotions, I learned about an unconscious bias I might not have noticed otherwise. This interaction changed how I view seating arrangements and made me much more careful.

Thank you for reading,

Jordan

Works Cited

Anderson, J. (2019, November 20). Unconscious bias in schools. Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unconscious-bias-in-schools/id1062333296?i=1000457358698

Bowman, K. D., West, C., & Toner, M. (2020, August 4). Strategies for countering unconscious bias in the classroom. Association of International Educators (NAFSA). https://www.nafsa.org/ie-magazine/2020/8/4/strategies-countering-unconscious-bias-classroom

Evans, K., & Vaandering, D. (2022). The little book of restorative justice in education: Fostering responsibility, healing, and Hope in schools. Good Books.

Reflection Simulation Lab Activity

2025-05-04 /

Part IV: How does the mirror know?

Try this PhET simulation of a plane mirror

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/geometric-optics-basics/latest/geometric-optics-basics_all.html?initialScreen=2

How does the mirror know?

A viral internet question about mirrors has been making the rounds.

Using the information you’ve learned about rays and mirrors, predict how the mirror ‘knows’ you are there, even if you can’t see yourself.

@bethanyking68

I have the best husband in the world. I am legitimately curious how this works and he is so patient. Made by #SpikesStudio – 30% Coupon – Spikes30OFF

♬ original sound – InFaith Fashions💕Bethany💕🙏

Watch the video below for a clear explanation of how this works!

@seandreww

The viral “how does the mirror know” illusion explained

♬ original sound – Sean Andrew
Pictured: Austin (middle).

Ed Tech Reflection 7 – A Reflection on EDCI 336

2024-12-03 /
The Obsidian Logo

Michael may have completely changed my life he stressed the importance of writing down and keeping our thoughts organized. In passing, he mentioned this app called Obsidian. I have only been using the note-taking app for about a month, and am already noticing the fruits of keeping an organized file system alongside a linked note-taking application. I’ve heard colleagues ask, “Do you know where to find x thing that y said about in that lecture last week?” and I will jump in and say, “Yes! just a moment,” I’ll open my notes app and find a link to the resource they are asking about by traversing a web of linked ideas. It is so empowering to be able to utilize my all-over-the-place way of thinking in a tangible and practical way.

I made a gif of my obsidian video!

Trevor Mackenzie discussed inquiry-based learning, which I had never heard of before. As a prospective science and mathematics teacher, I’ve been skeptical that it is possible due to the amount of content that we are required to cover.

Months later, while completing my final draft for my Professional Resource Project, I started using simulations as the primary vessel for teaching my tutoring student. We both realized that allowing the students to determine the definition on their own with subtle guidance from the teacher, led to a richer (and quicker) understanding of the material presented.

Light bulb icons
by Vector Stall – Flaticon

Then I had an aha! moment. This could be the bridge between inquiry learning and science/math. I am so curious to research this more and present my findings.

Later in the course, Jeff Hopkins of the Pacific School for Innovation and Inquiry spoke to us about their teaching philosophy, which flips traditional schooling on its head. Students attend this school with very little guidance, follow their own inquiry projects, and hit curricular competencies through interdisciplinary learning. It seems to me that Jeff has proved that an inquiry-based environment can provide an excellent way to teach students. It makes me wonder if our system of drawing hard lines between subjects (i.e. physics does not come with chemistry, which ia completely different from social studies) is the best approach? Perhaps this is the post-modern approach?1 I’m not sure, but for now, I am grateful for the opportunity.

I haven’t been to work yet, but I’m certain I’ve chosen the right profession.

  1. I love to say things are post-modern, but sometimes I question if I truly know what that means. I think of post-modernism as a philosophy that does not adhere to rigid structures and boundaries. That everything is connected. I could go on-and-on about these sorts of things. ↩︎

Reflection 6: AI, Ethics, and Education

2024-12-03 /

On November 26, 2024, Michael led a class discussion focused on AI. As a class we considered some social, economic, environmental, and educational implications of AI technology. My colleagues and I shared our experiences with AI, homing in on how it has helped them (or hasn’t).

Photo by Rock’n Roll Monkey on Unsplash

The potential to diminish motivation for students to learn and cheating on assignments are the two most common themes I noticed during our class. Some people shared experiences that they have had with cheating students, and their opinions on the best way to approach this kind of situation.

My colleagues state that it is not difficult to spot if a student has been using AI inappropriately because:

  1. The AI does not ‘speak’ in the student’s voice. AI is often boring and devoid of personality.
  2. AI will ‘hallucinate’ incorrect information, and present it as fact.
  3. Students will not be able to explain what they have handed in.

Here’s an interesting fact from Wikipedia:

Analysts estimated that chatbots hallucinate as much as 27% of the time, with factual errors present in 46% of generated texts.

Chatbots & hallucination in 2023, Wikipedia

In the classroom, teachers should have clear expectations of when it is appropriate to use AI. Teachers should have a sound rationale as to why and how it could harm learning and a course of action if a student is suspected of unreasonable AI use.

An AI generated image of a robot writing… something. Notice the double sided glowing pencil! No mistakes here.
From The College Contemporary student magazine.

My colleagues recommend having an open dialogue with students suspected of using AI to cheat on an assignment. Essentially, be inquisitive as opposed to accusatory – direct but not confrontational, and brainstorm alternative ways for a student to prove their knowledge. According to Michigan Highschool professor Aaron Romoslawski, most of the time students use AI because they are struggling, and don’t know what to do. We need to be empathetic!

For me, the most impactful part of our conversation was when we discussed the water/power usage of AI queries. According to this article cited by the World Economic Forum, AI uses 33 TIMES more power than task-specific applications. The power required for AI computations doubles roughly every 10 days.

AI also consumes a lot of water due to this power consumption and for data centre cooling purposes. According to OECD, every 10-50 queries consumes roughly 500ml of water. In July 2010, the Independent claimed that a single Google search uses 0.5ml of water. Assuming both of these numbers are accurate today, AI queries consume 20-100 times more water per-query than a simple Google search.

Since learning this, I am hestitant to use AI at all due to it’s potential impacts on our environment. Currently Microsoft and OpenAI intend to combat this issue by opening nuclear power plants. The upside is that perhaps this is the step toward a nuclear-powered future. I believe that we will figure this out.

Belton Brothers putting a house on a barge.

Technology Tutorial 1: File Curation Methods

2024-11-30 /

Rationale

As teachers, we will be constantly collecting information from various sources and thus need to be intentional about storing and organizing our thoughts, files, and bookmarks.

As the administrator for a local house moving company, file organization is a high-priority subject. To date, I have been naming folders by year, and then nesting folders within them.

I chose this system because my intitial task was to organize the company files for the past 7 years. After I created a file-name convention this system worked great … until recently.

Notice that there is no way to view projects on their own. Any given client may have an unsigned contract, signed contract, multiple invoices, receipts, and permits to keep track of. I bold the word permit because this is the real kicker of the issue.

Why is file organization important to Mr. Spong?

To move a house, I need to receive two permits from the Ministry of Transportation for travelling on provincial highways and a permit from any municipality where we need to travel through their roads.1 For provincial permits, I need to receive approval signatures from four sources (hydro lines, cable lines, telephone lines, and district authorizations), and include a date range indicating when the move is projected to take place. With some recent legislation changes, I need to create schematics and detailed traffic management plans as well. Don’t ask me what happens when there is a delay.

If it seems like a lot to juggle – it is. And that’s just the province! Every municipality requires a different set of information. At the time of writing, we have about 4 moves on the go. This is unusually high, especially for the fall/winter months.

An example of a schematic diagram I made for a recent house move.

To do my job effectively, I’ve been looking for a file organization strategy that includes a way to group together current projects while maintaining some level of rigid organization. I also find myself referring back to old projects often because they provide a precedent for me to work off of.

There’s a lot going on in my files.

What is the point of this rambling?

Well, first it’s to vent a little bit. This can all be quite stressful at times.

Second is to illustrate that files today may not represent files tomorrow, and, perhaps more importantly, files rarely sit in one neat category. Our lives are nuanced and multidimensional; our files should represent this fact.

My Solution

I’ve taken a deep dive into the world of file management (and it’s associated gurus). Here is my method for organizing my files.

The PARA Method

PARA stands for “Projects, Areas of Responsibility, Resources, Archive”

The Projects folder is for active projects.
I use the Areas of Responsibility folder, or Areas folder, as a place for my general files that are for areas that are responsibilities or hobbies that I have to attend to all the time. For instance, I have a School, work, people, sports, and health folder.

So far I mostly use the Resources folder for bookmarks. Saving things to folders of various areas of interest. I have Recipes, Literature, Bookmarks, Learning, Teaching, as my folders, but this is an area that will definitely change as I use the system more.

Lastly, the Archive folder is used as a dump folder for small ideas, pdf’s and pictures.

The Johnny Decimal System

This system is a simple numerical system that uses decimals to create an ID for each of your folders and sub folders. The idea is that you use base-ten numbers for the ‘big idea’ folders, and then your first set of sub-folders is a single digit. Then you have a third subfolder set which is where you actually store your information. It’s easiest to explain using a screenshot.

So you can see that I have my PARA folders numbered as 00, 10, 20, 30 ,40. So, I have in my Areas folder, a School subfolder, and within that I have my courses numbered starting at 01, increasing by 0.01 for each new folder. So if I want to get to my Ed-Tech folder, I go to 20->22->22.05. ‘Belton’ is my work folder which has various permitting resources and notes from conversations I’ve had with customers.2

Here is another example in my resources folder for bookmarks. Again, this is a work in progress, but for now, it’s okay, and I can easily change it in the future to match what I feel is best.

This system keeps my files very ‘flat,’ i.e, my files are not more than 3 sub-folders deep. If I was to adopt a ‘deep’ file system (which is what I usually use), there can be sub-folders on sub-folders. Some of my work files are 4-5 subfolders deep, which can get very tedious.

Why should you care?

As teachers, it is important that we stay organized. We will collect information from conferences, professional days, one-off conversations with colleagues, and other sources. Without a system to organize our files, the likelihood of us losing that information to the void is high.

Additionally, if we don’t have a system that works for us, finding the files we know we have can be time-consuming, taking away brain power that we could be putting towards lesson plans or well-deserved break time.

There are many file organization strategies out there. I have opted to combine the PARA method and the Johnny Decimal System. I recommend that you research different file systems and decide for yourself. The best file system is one that works for you and your needs. Here are some other resources to get you started:

Building a Second Brain (PARA Method)

Johnny Decimal System

Sebastien Dubois – Personal Knowledge Management + Obsidian Info

8 Ways to improve your file management Strategy

Microsoft Best Practices for File Management

I hope you enjoyed reading and can use some of these tips in your practice.

Jordan

  1. I apply for permits called a CVSE 1052 and a CVSE 1049 ↩︎
  2. After writing, I realized that it isn’t the most illustrative to give my grand reason for adopting these file systems as work-related and then only show school stuff. I hope the point still gets across nicely. I have three folders in projects: 11 Work, 12 School, and 13 Personal. My subfolders in projects are organized by client/job name, so there is a confidentiality issue with screenshotting them. ↩︎
A photo of an electric wheelchair with someone in it, by a road.
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Reflection 5 – Inclusion in the BC Education System

2024-11-28 /

What happened?

On November 18th 2024, BCEdAccess Society founder Tracy Humphreys and volunteer Kaori Lau discussed some of the systemic challenges that people living with physical, mental, or learning challenges face within the BC education system, what ableism is, and how BCEdAccess promotes equitable education practices.

BCEdAccess is a volunteer organization which seeks to “ensure equitable access to education for students with disabilities and complex learners in British Columbia.” They achieve this by providing resources to families, hosting webinars, community engagement programs, and more.

How do people living with disabilities receive asssistance?

First, a teacher, guardian, or the learner must recognize that the learner may need extra help due to an ongoing illness, mental health or physical challenge. Many students live with an undiagnosed challenge for years before it is recognized.

Next, the learner needs to apply for a psychoeducational assessment. This process can take years and cost families a significant amount of money. Tracy says that an evaluation for autism currently takes 2-3 years and costs roughly $4,000. Once they are assessed, they are assigned a “designation.”

A designation is a categorization based on the type of special education deemed appropriate for the disability. The Ministry of Education gives each category a set amount of funding to the District, which disperses these funds to schools. Abbotsford School District has posted these categorizations along with their funding amount.

Abbostford-DesignationList-FundingDownload

What Now?

Tracy mentioned that her child didn’t receive a designation until after grade 12. She and her child decided it would be best to homeschool instead of attend school because they didn’t understand what worked for them in a learning environment. The school system therefore excluded the learner based on their disability, which was not detected/recognized until after their schooling had ended. This is very difficult for me to think about. I have member of my family who went through their schooling with a disability, but because we knew that they would have difficulties before entering school, they were able to receive a designation early on, and enjoyed their time in school because of it. The fact that this is not the case for most learners really breaks my heart.

This means that, as teachers, we need to be aware that learners may be deserving of extra help or a designation, but may not have access to it due to wait times or financial challenges. We must ensure that we promote an equitable and inclusive practice that utilizes classroom and pedagogical design that works for people with many challenges.

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