Dare To Dream, Dare To Teach

Originally Published in Free Dreams, Issue 5 by 1919 Magazine. February 26th, 2021.

When I was young, I would drag an old whiteboard my mother had to the living room and sit my cousins and siblings down. With promises of doing chores for them for a week, they would sit and listen to me explain what I had learned at school that week. I was obnoxious, drawing diagrams and saying big words simply to mimic my teachers. But in the end, they understood what I tried to teach them, and nothing seemed to get close to the thrill that brought on. I dreamt of having a classroom of my own one day, teaching real students that I didn’t bribe with a week of chores.

As I got older, the dreamy world without limits I created had to take on a more realistic design, with consideration to my position in the world and what I thought I could do and who I could be. My dreams became constrictive, and I wrote, dreamt and advocated less. I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but where was the money in that? I wanted to be a teacher, but who would hire me? And how could I teach a curriculum that didn’t recognize truth, reconciliation and equality for all?

Undecided if I could create the change I dreamt of as a kid, I found a request permit in the Ontario Archives for coloured schools for a sociology class on Blackness and freedom. The request, addressed to the Department of Education, was made by a Black teacher, Miss Ella Gooderich from Sandwich, Ontario in 1887. Miss Goodrich who self-identified as a Black woman in the letter was a qualified teacher, proficient in both English and French, yet made the request to teach at a coloured school. Knowing the discrimination and alienation she must have felt, she still pushed against the boundaries set for her for the betterment of her community.

Sandwich, Town of. Request for permit for teacher Miss Ella Gooderich for colored school, Department of Education select subject files. 1885-1913

The use of formal education and teaching continues to be means of disrupting imposed narratives and creating agency within Black educators and students alike. Miss Ella Goodrich not only dreamt of teaching coloured students but took the necessary steps to educate and create a safe learning space for coloured students.

Her efforts are my dreams, to teach, learn and protect Black students while encouraging them to dream without boundaries as well. The sense of community and the empowerment students will receive from being taught about Black issues in the curriculum, both from the past and present by Black educators like myself is a reclaimed dream similar to Miss Goodrich’s. A dream that must be worked on in all areas, including what is taught and by whom in Canadian schools.

This month is my first month as a teacher, with my own class and students I did not bribe. While our world looks vastly different right now, I’m thankful and consistently inspired by educators like Miss Goodrich who dared to dream of classes taught by Black women, for Black students to see. I share her dream and I am now living it, for our new future.