Through our Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Inquiry Grant group, we investigated: How might we support learners in developing an understanding of identity?  How might a stronger sense of identity help to foster a sense of belonging, and thus support students in their learning? Our group of teachers designed school-wide activities to help foster an increased sense of belonging and community at Blair.  One of our resources was Gholdy Muhammad's Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching.  

To help highlight and celebrate individual identity during this activity, we focused on the question: What parts of my identity do I share at school?  What helps me feel like I can share my identity at school?  We discussed with students situations where people feel like they belong, and how we can support a sense of belonging in our community.

Earlier in the year, we created the Human's of Blair visual boards in the school, and we revisited the activity from last year where students examined personal "artefacts" of individuals from a "Museum Experience", all to help reinforce the values of a community and different communities that we are apart of.

In all of our divisions, we met in buddy class groupings to Explode the Image.  The activities were supported by discussions around feeling apart of this community of learners, and the broader Blair community, that everyone brings individual gifts and strengths to their communities, and we can use these gifts to help people feel welcome in our communities.

The Explode the Image activity had groups of students view different images about "Community" from various sources.  Students were invited to contribute responses to the various images from the provocations provided.

Our final step was having students consider their personal goal about how we can all care for each other and include everyone, celebrate our differences, and build our community together.