ABOUT

• May 2025 Anti-Racism in Education Panel, Urban Alliance on Race Relations

• Feb 2025 Reading for the Love of It Conference - "Infusing Equity and Inclusion in the English/Language Classroom"

• Nov 2024 Niagara University, Guest Speaker in Pre-Service Program - "2SLGBTQ+ Inclusion in the Ontario Curriculum"

• Nov 2024 TVO Queries Podcast, Interviewee (on the topic of queer and trans inclusion in Ontario Catholic schools)

• Apr 2024 Kapwa Rising: Anti-Asian Racism Conference - "Building Your Anti-Racism Toolkit"

• Apr 2024 Voices that Challenge Conference (TCDSB Youth): "Building Your Anti-Racism Toolkit"

• Nov 2023 Safe Schools Symposium, co-presenter (elementary and secondary), 2SLGBTQ+: We All Belong

• Feb 2023 Pinoys on Parliament, presenter, "How the Search for Good Pedagogy Brings Us Back to Our Roots"

• Feb 2023 Leaders of Your Own Learning (PD directed towards secondary educators) - "Supporting Students Outside of One's Lived Experience" 

• Nov 2022 Philippine Teachers Association of Canada (PTAC), "Why Philippine Teachers Need to Talk about Indigeneity"

• July 2022 FilipiNEXT Conference (York University), Faith & Religion Panelist, "Counter-cultural Community spaces as Activism"

• May 2022 Niagara University Faculty of Education, Guest Speaker, "Using What You Don't Know: Leveraging Your Limitations for Effective Teaching"

• May 2022 Anti-Asian Racism Presentation to MAPA Staff Members (TCDSB), co-presenter

• Mar 2022 International Women's Week Celebration at James Cardinal McGuigan Secondary School, presenter, "The Future is Filipina"

• Feb 2022 Leaders of Your Own Learning (PD directed towards secondary educators) - Using What You Don't Know - Leveraging Your Limitations for Effective Teaching, presenter

• Feb 2022 Leaders of Your Own Learning (PD directed towards secondary educators) - 10 Things You Don't Know about Your Philippine Students, presenter

• Mar 2021 New Teacher Induction Program (TCDSB): Workshop Leader - "Improving Student Outcomes through the PASSOC Project"

• Mar 2021 Voices that Challenge Conference (TCDSB Youth): "Staying Rooted: How Heritage Education Makes Strong Leaders"

• Feb 2021 Pinoys on Parliament, "Issues in Philippine Education in Ontario"; co-presenter with Dr. Marissa Largo

As an equity resource teacher at the TCDSB, Aileen has engaged in professional development and facilitation of the following workshops below. If you have a specific request not on this list, email santiaa@tcdsb.org.

• Having Race Conversations (2 hour session): In this session, white and/or racialized educators develop their understanding of how to navigate conversations around race, especially when working with racialized students who are most impacted by racism in education. 

• 2SLGBTQ+ Inclusion in the Curriculum (1 hour minimum) : Participants develop their understanding of 2SLGBTQ+ communities, knowledge of the legal and curricular foundations for queer and trans inclusion in Catholic schools in Ontario, and some strategies for navigating difficult conversations and representation in the curriculum.

• Building Your Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Practice (5 hour session): This session clarifies what anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice in the classroom looks like for educators by facilitating reflection on the ways in which we are all impacted by racist and oppressive systems and the power we hold to change them.

• The Power of Language in Building Inclusive Spaces (1 hour): In this session, participants develop their understanding of microaggressions and the ways in which identity-affirming language can build inclusive spaces as a community.

• Responding to Student Behaviour as a Classroom Community Builder (1.5-2 hours): How do we discipline students in a way that is just and ethical? This session clarifies how to use restorative practices in building classroom communities and identity-affirming responses to misbehaviours.

• Teaching Students with Socioeconomic Stress in Mind (1 hour): This introductory session clarifies definitions of "poverty" in Canada and raises educator awareness of how socioeconomic stress presents itself in classrooms and the implications for educator practice.

• Understanding Anti-Asian Racism (1 hour): Anti-Asian racism is not often visible and rarely discussed in schools. This session develops all educators' understanding of anti-Asian racism, its legacies, and ongoing impacts.

• Why Newcomers Need Equity Literacy (1 - 2.5 hours): Education for newcomers often focuses on basic language acquisition, with minimal attention given to teach learners how to navigate racist and oppressive systems that affect them. This session raises educators' awareness of the racism underlying Canadian identity and models how to disrupt cycles of harm by teaching learners strategies for recognizing and redirecting implicit bias.

• Understanding Racism and Oppression (45 minutes to 1 hour, best for grades 5 to 8): This session helps students understand racism and oppression as systemic in order to become better community members. An intersectional approach is taken so 2SLGBTQ+ oppression, ableism, and colonization are mentioned.

• Let's Talk About Anti-Asian Racism (45 minutes, best for grades 5 to 8): This session defines anti-Asian racism and provides concrete examples of its different dimensions: institutional, systemic, interpersonal, and internalized. Students' knowledge is guided towards agency and change-making to dream of a better future.

• 2SLGBTQ+ Inclusion (1 hour, Grades 7 and up): This session answers students' common questions around 2SLGBTQ+ and explains why inclusion matters, especially in Catholic schools.

• Student Councils: Be the Change (45 minutes, Gr 9-12): This session motivates students to be the change they want to see, providing some youth role models as well as a strategic framework for creating change.

• "The Journey at the Centre of Identity: Supporting Transgender Students' Exploration", in OCSA Magazine (2024). Link to manuscript here.

• "Phantom Pains", in Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing (2024). Link to poem here.

• "Towards a Racialized Settler Pedagogy: Decolonizing Pedagogies for Philippine Communities in Canada." Course paper.

• "The Activism of Countercultural Racial Affinity Communities". Course Paper.

• "From Allyship to Ethics - Reimagining Social Justice Agency." Course Paper.