Reading, Part 1 (Intermediate/Senior): Black Literatures Focus

This Additional Qualification course supports Ontario educators in advancing adolescent literacy while centering the study of Black Literatures. Rooted in the Ontario Curriculum and guided by frameworks such as Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Critical Literacy, Universal Design for Learning, and Anti-racist Practice, the course equips teachers with the tools to design equitable and inclusive learning environments.

Participants will engage with diverse texts, poetry, plays, novels, nonfiction, and music, by influential writers including Achebe, Adichie, Baldwin, Brand, Morrison, and Walcott. Together, candidates will explore themes of joy, resistance, love, liberation, and identity, while critically examining how Black Literatures challenge colonial legacies and disrupt dominant narratives.

Through collaboration, critical reflexivity and portfolio-based assessments, educators will strengthen their capacity to foster students’ creativity, amplify students’ voice, and affirm students’ multiple identities. By the end of the course, participants will be able to integrate Black Literatures into their classrooms in ways that promote achievement, wellbeing and belonging.