Author: Elena Aguilar

Description: If we hope to interrupt educational inequities and create schools in which every child thrives, we must open our hearts to purposeful conversation and hone our skills to make those conversations effective. With characteristic honesty and wisdom, Elena Aguilar inspires us to commit to transforming our classrooms, lays bare the hidden obstacles to equity, and helps us see how to overcome these obstacles, one conversation at a time.

Coaching for Equity uncovers the ways we engage with our staff, students and the community to uncover their talents and skills. This book helps educators to recognize inequities and then do something about them. This book describes in detail the ways these inequities can be confronted and how people's' beliefs can be changed which in turn will change their behaviour and ways of being.

Purchase: Available on Amazon.ca and Indigo.ca

Dates: Thursday weekly meetings 

• March 27, 2025
• April 3
• April 10
• April 24

Time: 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. EST

Cost: Free

Facilitator: Gurmeet Gill, Peel DSB

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Authors: Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey

Description: Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”

It’s a subtle but profound shift in our approach to trauma, and it’s one that allows us to understand our pasts in order to clear a path to our future―opening the door to resilience and healing in a proven, powerful way.

Purchase: Available on Amazon.ca and Indigo.ca

Dates: Tuesday bi-weekly meetings 

• April 1, 2025
• April 15
• April 29
• May 13

Time: 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. EST

Cost: Free

Facilitator: Asha Rathod, York Region DSB

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Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture

Author: Gaiutra Bahadur

Description: In 1903, a young woman sailed from India to Guiana as a “coolie”— the British name for indentured laborers who replaced the newly emancipated slaves on sugar plantations all around the world. Pregnant and traveling alone, this woman, like so many of the indentured, disappeared into history. Now, in Coolie Woman, her great-granddaughter Gaiutra Bahadur embarks on a journey into the past to find her. Traversing three continents and trawling through countless colonial archives, Bahadur excavates not only her great-grandmother’s story but also the repressed history of some quarter of a million other coolie women, shining a light on their complex lives.

Purchase: Canadian distribution is through Indigo.ca or Amazon.ca.

Meeting on Tuesdays:

• March 26

• April 9

• April 23
• May 7 *Author sends regrets

Time: 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. EDT

Cost: Free

Facilitator: Jasminie Singh, Toronto DSB 

Cultivating Imagination in Leadership: Transforming Schools and Communities

Edited by: Gillian Judson and Meaghan Dougherty

Description: This comprehensive book provides a theoretical understanding of how imagination contributes to effective leadership, as well as practical tools all educational leaders can employ to cultivate their imaginations and the imaginations of others in their communities.

To support these goals, book chapters offer multiple perspectives on what imagination is, why it is essential for educational leaders, and how it can be developed. Contributions by leadership scholars and school-based leaders are organized around three themes: exploring possibilities, poetics of memory, and imagination's role in social justice and equity.

This work can now be used by individuals or within formal or informal learning communities to expand, deepen, and apply concepts. Expanding on Kieran Egan's theory of Imaginative Education, this book will help current and future leaders employ imagination to make sense of and address the day-to-day challenges they encounter.

Purchase: Canadian distributor, UTP Distribution, is offering a 15% discount off list price.

Meeting on Wednesdays:

• April 3

• April 17

• May 1
• May 15 *Meet the authors

Time: 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. EDT

Cost: Free

Facilitator: Lawrence DeMaeyer, Professional Learning Consultant, OPC

Unearthing Joy: A Guide to Culturally and Historically Responsive Teaching and Learning

Author: Gholdy Muhammad

Description: In this sequel to Cultivating Genius, Gholdy Muhammad adds a fifth pursuit—joy—to her groundbreaking framework. Dr. Muhammad shows how joy, which is rooted in the cultural and historical realities of Black students, can enhance our efforts to cultivate identity, skills, intellect, and criticality for ALL students, giving them a powerful purpose to learn and contribute to the world. Dr. Muhammad’s wise implementation advice is paired with model lessons that span subjects and grade levels.

Purchase: Canadian distribution is through your Scholastic Consultant (book order form) or Amazon.ca.

Meeting on Thursdays:

• April 11

• April 25

• May 9
• May 23

Time: 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. EDT

Cost: Free

Facilitators: Franca Ostella and Wendy Banhan, Toronto DSB