Our work with schools.

Schools are often the most foundational source of knowledge that children are exposed to. And while we often think of knowledge as being neutral, it’s far from it.

Every year, educators must decide what is worth knowing, who is a credible source, and how information will be taught. These decisions are not only influenced by the biases of individual educators and school boards, they are also shaped by an oppressive history and legacy of power and knowledge dynamics. The result is often a curriculum that centres knowledge created by and for dominant groups (white, able-bodied, heteronormative, etc). In this context, knowledge by or about marginalized groups might be relegated to a single module or month, attached to harmful narratives, taught through the dominant lens, or erased all together. What is worth knowing? Who is a credible source? How should information be taught? These decisions are not neutral. And they carry longterm impacts on how children see themselves, others, and their relationship to learning.

Our work with schools rests on the principle that knowledge can be co-created. We seek to address biases in education by:

  1. Encouraging commitment to anti-racist practice and the decolonization of knowledge,

  2. Centring the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and other historically under-represented groups,

  3. Developing students’ socio-political consciousness and critical thinking skills, and

  4. Creating meaningful opportunities for respectful dialogue and counterstorytelling.

If your school would like to partner with Counterstory on an activity not featured on our website, please email us at contact@counterstory.ca .

  • Speaker Services

    *Please note that all speaker services are only offered virtually at this time

    We are available to speak on the following topics:

    • Meet the Author (ages 8+): Background on the journey behind Trailblazers, live reading, and a 15 min Q & A with Tiyahna Ridley-Padmore (45 min)

    • Meet the Illustrator (all ages): A discussion on the creative process behind illustrating Trailblazers and the importance of representation with Merryl-Royce Ndema Moussa (45 min)

    • Anti-Racist Approaches (students, parents, and/or teachers ): Discussion on racial bias and recommendations for anti-racist learning environments (45 min)

    • Custom: We offer custom talks/workshops built around client needs.

    We also offer the following interactive workshops:

    • How to be a Trailblazer (ages 9+): Interactive advocacy workshop informed by Trailblazers to equip young change-makers with a guide on how to blaze their own trails. (45 min)

    • Collective Storytelling (all ages): The collective storytelling workshop is a participatory process that creates space for multiple voices and experiences to co-create a story. (45-60 min)

    Each workshop comes with a digital worksheet that attendees can keep for future use.

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  • Creative Services

    The story project invites students and/or faculty to tell their own stories. This service can be offered in one of two ways:

    • Student Storytellers: Our team will work with your students to create a custom collective storybook. The anthology can be centred around a specific theme or moment, developed in tandem with creative writing techniques recently taught in class, or paired with one of our workshop offerings. We partner with talented illustrators, writers, and designers to support the project along the way. Participants will walk away with a book product (digital or in print) that reflects them and their ideas.

    • Custom Work: We produce custom creative works for schools. Whether your school is looking to honour its outstanding Black alumni or the interesting history of the school’s surrounding community, we’ll work with you to plan a creative project.

    All creative services are developed by talented creators with lived experience of marginalization and training in antiracism and counterstorytelling.

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