The WhyPAR Podcast
Episode 7: “If we really learned like this in school, school would be so much better”: On Building Generative Classrooms - A Conversation between Maddy Ross and Jaden McGregor, Luisa Gonzalez, Annie Silva, Lainey Rios, and Valeria Pineda (Part One)
Citation:
Ross, Madeleine. ““If we really learned like this in school, school would be so much better”: On Building Generative Classrooms - A Conversation between Maddy Ross and Jaden McGregor, Luisa Gonzalez, Annie Silva, Lainey Rios, and Valeria Pineda (Part One).” Produced by Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández and Sarah Switzer at The Youth Research Lab. The WhyPAR Podcast. October 4, 2021. Podcast, MP3 audio, https://youthresearchlab.org/whypar
Note on attribution:
Ross, Madeleine. ““If we really learned like this in school, school would be so much better”: On Building Generative Classrooms Where Youth Can Thrive - A Conversation between Maddy Ross and Jaden McGregor, Luisa Gonzalez, Annie Silva, Lainey Rios, and Valeria Pineda (Part One).” Produced by Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández and Sarah Switzer at The Youth Research Lab. The WhyPAR Podcast. October 4, 2021. Podcast, MP3 audio, https://youthresearchlab.org/whypar
Host: Welcome to The WhyPAR podcast, a project of the Youth Research Lab at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
Music
Host: In the WhyPAR podcast, youth participatory action research practitioners discuss the ethical dimensions of conducting YPAR. In our podcast, we explore issues of co-leading YPAR projects, building relationships, power dynamics, and sharing our work together. The Youth Research Lab is located in Toronto on the traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River.
Valeria: If we really learned like this in school, school would be so much better. Teachers might look at it like extra work, but realistically, if the students do good, the teachers do as well.
Host: Welcome everyone! My name is Maddy, and this is my first episode as co-host of the WhyPAR Podcast. I’m a PAR practitioner and currently a research assistant here at the Youth Research Lab.
When I think about what inspired me to do a Master’s in Education, I always come back to my first experiences in YPAR projects nearly a decade ago as a high school student. Just like the amazing young people in today’s conversation, the process of collaborating with my peers to gather data, make meaning, and drive change was a transformational learning experience.
Today’s conversation is the first in a two-part series with five youth researchers in T’karonto. Valeria, Luisa, Lainey, Jaden, and Annie all got their start in YPAR in the Youth Solidarities Project, a night school-based project of the Youth Research Lab that brought together Urban Indigenous and Latinx high school students to better understand and address challenges youth face in schools. Since then, they’ve graduated from high school, began post-secondary studies, and have taken on the role of facilitator in other YPAR initiatives. Most recently, they came together in the summer of 2020 to explore how Indigenous and Latinx youth in their communities are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this episode, the youth researchers focus on their high school experiences in a YPAR classroom. Together, we discuss how the relational ethic of YPAR shaped a generative learning environment that was distinct from their other experiences in education. We talk about power dynamics in student-teacher relationships, the value of students having autonomy in their education, and lessons from YPAR that teachers can bring into their classrooms to better support the success and wellbeing of all students. This conversation was recorded over Zoom. And with that, let’s jump in!
Host: Thank you for joining us and let's start with having you go around and introduce yourselves.
Valeria: I can go first. So my name is Valeria. I'm a first-generation Mexican immigrant. I started YPAR, I believe in 2018 during my last year of high school. And I joined again for my fifth year during high school and participated in the research project we did at the beginning of the pandemic, and I'm currently studying social services, for immigrants and refugees.
Luisa: So hello, my name’s Luisa Gonzalez. I started YPAR in my, in Grade 11, so, and wasn't able to do it in Grade 12, but then rejoined the project again. And now we, I also participated in the recent project around COVID and currently I'm finishing my first year at Ryerson with a Bachelor in Social Work.
Lainey: Hi, my name's Lainey. I have been doing YPAR for about three years now, I think. I also started in Grade 11 and I did the night school program for two years then after joined this group. I am currently finishing up my first year of university at the University of Guelph, and I am doing a Bachelor of Science.
Jaden: Hello, my name is Jaden McGregor or Wasseyaa giiwe nibin, I am an Indigenous and Jamaican Torontonian. I have been a part of YPAR for the last two years. I started in 2019, initially in the night school program. And now I'm a part of this group, am currently studying Geography and Aviation at the University of Waterloo. And I'm just finishing up my first year.
Annie: Hi, my name is Annie Silva and I am from Colombia. I started a YPAR my last year of high school, Grade 12. I did the night program there and then I went on and did the research opportunity, the one we just finished. And I'm currently studying at the University of Toronto Arts and Science Program.
Host: So you've all briefly mentioned some of the projects that you've been involved in, night school, other classes. So why don’t you give us an idea of what brought you to this work or how you first started doing YPAR?
Valeria: For me personally, when I first, when I first was introduced to this, the YPAR program I participated in, I was very intrigued. Because I remember it, mentioned it was for Latinx and Indigenous students and throughout my whole like, high school and elementary school, education, I never really saw any programs or anything dedicated to the Latin American community. So, I didn't know exactly what YPAR was, but I was pretty excited because of that. And yeah.
Lainey: Yeah, similar to Valeria, I heard about it from a friend. She had just started the program and she seemed really interested in it and was excited about it. So I asked if I could join, I emailed directly one of the teachers, cause I was really late to the program. I kind of begged her to let me join because it was the very first thing I've ever heard of for Latinx students. And I was kind of excited to meet more Latinx students as I lived in pretty like white neighborhood with not a lot of Hispanic people. So, I was really interested about it and that's how I joined.
Luisa: For me, my guidance counsellor at the high school I was at, called me down. And my first, honestly, I thought I was in trouble, but it was for the opportunity to meet one of the recruiters for the YPAR project. And, I actually met with Kaitlind and we had a conversation about how the course would be carried out as we were getting a credit that counted towards our graduation. And, I remember that she explained that we were able to structure our own learning and, like request what we were going to be marked on. And she presented it as something that like ‘you had a say in your education’. And that was really not the case for the courses that were mandatory in high school. You were mostly just given a syllabus or instructions, and this is going to be this, this is going to count towards this, but it was nice to have an, an opinion towards the curriculum. And that's honestly what caught my attention.
Annie: So yeah, I knew about it in Grade 11, but I couldn't join it. I was too late, but then in Grade 12 I had the opportunity to, you know, be part of it. And I thought it was really interesting and I met a lot of new people, which I really liked. And then yeah, they offered me, well, you applied to go into the other research one that we just finished and that's how I started at YPAR.
Jaden: I, like I said, I started, I joined the program in my last year of high school and I'm always looking for opportunities like this to connect with youth who have like an interest in research and also just like more learning and such. So, one of my teachers actually found the opportunity and they kind of presented it to me and I was like, this sounds really cool. It could be fun to do. And so far, I really enjoyed it, because it's a different way to learn as well as allowing me to have my own way to kind of understand other people in my community as well as, just overall kind of research wise. Yeah.
Host: I think part of what also makes your experience unique is that all of this, all of the participatory action research that you've been involved with has been in a school setting or initiated in a school setting. And I'm curious about, when you first started participating in this class, how you felt and how it was different from your other experiences in school or in education until that point.
Luisa: For me, it felt more personal because, I remember it would normally start at four. And, when we got there, normally most of the time there was food ready for us to eat and they were very, like, the instructors were very like interested in you and it was a small group, but it was still a good amount of people that like, you know, it was, it would have been easy for the instructors to just kind of, you know, sit you down, whatever, do your thing. But I really liked how, as one by one we came in, they would always be like, how was your day? You know, and how are you doing? And we had these activities, it was called a Rose and a Thorn, and we would share a good thing that had happened in the week and a bad thing. And I felt like I actually really got to know everyone.
Lainey: Yeah. Kinda what Luisa said. The instructors really did remember what you kind of said, your thorn was last day or something good that's going to happen. They kinda follow up and ask you how it went. You had a test, they’d ask you, ‘Oh how was your test?’ you know? They really tried to remember and build that connection with you, which is really nice. In terms of the setting, I did think it was weird. I remember the first day of class, we, we got put into groups and then they told us, okay, you guys are going to make your own rules. You guys are gonna make a list of your classroom rules. And I looked at my friend. I was like, what? We've never done this before. Like, this is kind of weird. It was fun though. You got to meet new people because you were put in random groups and we stuck by those rules.
Valeria: Similar to what Lainey and Luisa said, I thought it was really nice that we got to kind of choose how we wanted to go about the course. I feel like, it, like the facilitators kind of were, they cared about our different types of learning. Cause I know some people, for example, they are better at tests and some people are better at assignments. Some people are more artistic and you know, everyone has different ways of learning. And I feel like that's something that lacks in our education system and I feel like it gave students the opportunity to kind of really show what they were good at and that they can actually, you know, go about a course if they're given the opportunity to present their work in a way they can. So I really appreciated that. And like Luisa said as well, like the facilitators cared about our wellbeing, the Rose and the Thorn I feel like impacted everybody in a really positive way because they created like a sense of trust. And, you know, it created a positive environment where everybody can come and feel like they can, you know, share something personal about their weekend. And I can tell that throughout the course, people opened up more and more and it, and yeah, I feel like it's just a good thing because a lot of people go to school and teachers don't really care. And, the students don't work well with people that don't really care. So I feel like it created a good dynamic between the facilitators and the students.
Jaden: One thing I really liked is it is, it didn't feel like they were teaching us. It felt like we were discussing things together as a team and a group. That was something I really liked and comparable to other schools. Like they're kind of, they're telling you what to learn and telling you what to look at and understand. But with YPAR and our groups that we've been a part of. We kind of come together as a team and figuring out what we want to focus on.
Annie: Yeah. One thing that really interested me was, you know, as everyone said, the learning dynamic, because all of the courses that I took in high school were very like, academic-oriented. So it was very much like your regular, your, your teachers there, everyone's facing the teacher or you're writing down notes as fast as you can, to try to like understand everything. And then, you know, the test comes and you have to memorize a lot of stuff. And at the end of the course, well, a lot of sticks, a lot of things stick with you, but others, no, you don't remember as well. But I remember a lot about what we used to talk about in, our night school, I think mostly because as it was said before, it was more of a conversation that you had instead of, like sit down and learn, but I'm giving you all of the answers and you have to memorize everything. So that part was really interesting for me. And it was a big, like change because not, it felt more relaxed, but at the same time, you were still learning a lot and it was really interesting how everything connected at one point when, when we, ended up at the end, everything connected, and it was always really interesting to go to class.
Luisa: Something that really stuck with me was that, for, it was like when Lainey mentioned that we made a list, we, the instructors asked us, asked us, do you want an exam? And even though like Valeria said, there's so many people that have different ways of learning, and I'm a hundred percent sure that in that group, there was all of them. Right. But we all immediately agreed on no exam. Like there was no argument, like there was no, no pushback. And I think that, that really shows how the education system really doesn't even understand students because if a group of practically strangers, it was our first class, was able to agree on one thing. And at the end, it benefited all of us.
Host: It sounds like the dynamic between the facilitators and the youth researchers was very different from the normal teacher-student dynamic and that you were able to guide your own learning. Talk a little bit about how that relationship formed between the facilitators and the students.
Luisa: I think an important thing was that you saw that they had your best interest in mind. It wasn't just like you have to get through the course. We have to, you know, get over this and you have to just get your credit. It was very like personal. I don’t know, that's the only way that I could think of describing it. They were very, aware of your perspectives, of your opinions and everything.
Valeria: Yeah. I agree with Luisa. I feel like, like she said, I feel like from before they even met us, they already had the goal that like, they want us to succeed throughout the course, like, each and every one of us. So obviously, you know, the facilitators are researchers as well. So I feel like from what they've learned or experienced, they know, they know as well that students can thrive better in that type of environment and that's what they created for us. So I feel like it was just their end goal to make us as comfortable as we can.
Lainey: Yeah. Just to add on to that, one thing that I remember a lot of was towards the end of the program, we have like a big project, like our research project, and this project could be on anything that you really wanted to do. And I feel like normally we can do like these big projects at the end of the year, and you kind of need approval from your teacher. You know, you kind of ask them like, oh, is this okay? Is this aligned with the curriculum? But when I remember, if I ever asked any of the instructors, they wouldn't tell me yes or no, they would say, do you want to do that? Can you do that? Is this something you want to do? It was very like, just about the students. So I thought that was really, really nice of them. And as Valeria said, I think from the beginning, the classroom was focused around us and the students, not around the teachers, they really let the learning kind of flow wherever it was. Like, like wherever it went, that's where we'd kind of go with it. Like if we start talking about one topic, but it went into another like way different direction, we'd go with it. Like they wouldn't stop because oh, we have to get back on track. Then they kind of let us lead our own learning.
Host: What are some lessons from PAR that teachers can take and bring into their classrooms?
Luisa: I think an important thing is to not rush the learning, to not push people to fit into the box, even though that is hard given the standards that there are, curriculum and stuff. But try and make it a little bit, a little bit, at least in some way, a little bit more personal, even if it's just a, ‘Hey, how are you?’ to your students and actually paying attention. I think that something small like that at least would make a big difference.
Valeria: Yeah, like we mentioned a lot of times, the importance of recognizing the importance of students. I feel like impacts the learning of students, but also like how the dynamic that is created for the classroom. I feel like there's mutual, more mutual respect between facilitators and students. So like Luisa said, asking the Rose and a Thorn is such a perfect example because it shows that we all care about each other, our well-being, and before we learn, obviously our well-being is first, you know? And being understanding of students. I know many times some students and even myself, we were kind of like maybe a bit more tired or, you know, we weren't working our best. I can, I know, like some of the facilitators realized, like when I was feeling more down or when I was looking tired and stuff, and they would ask me about it rather than judging me, because I feel like in school when you're not working well and maybe you're having a bad day, teachers instantly judge you and you know, kind of base their thought of you on that instead of asking what's wrong or how things can get better. So, yeah, I feel like recognizing the importance of students and the importance of showing them kindness can have a good impact in their learning and in teaching.
Lainey: Yeah, just to add on what Valeria said, I think having that personal connection with your students and having some sort of relationship with them really helps when they're feeling down or, you know, what works best for them at the end of the day. A lot of the times the facilitators or teachers would kind of pick up on things, like a couple of times if I was down or I looked like I wasn't doing well, they told me to go home early. And they would always say, oh, you need to complete a certain amount of hours in order to get the credit. They, if I left like 30 minutes earlier, an hour earlier, they wouldn't tell me, oh, you need to make up the time. They were very considerate about that. And they understood if you needed to be somewhere else. If you couldn't make it one day, they would either give you an assignment or they'd ask you kind of how do you want to make it up? I think I had to make up a class one time. And they're very, very understanding. And I think that helps because you can easily come to them when you have any problem, you can, you can talk to them versus when you are in high school and taking let’s say a science course. I know that I was stressed out and I would never ask my teachers for an extension. I just felt I couldn't. Like I probably could have, but I didn't have that relationship with them or I thought that they would actually understand me and give me an extension or let me write the test like a day later. So I think that's really important.
Luisa: Just to add onto what Lainey said, I think it's very important to build an environment where your students don't fear your authority because normally, sometimes if you were to ask for an extension, it's, you’re given this whole interrogation. And it's understandable that there are sometimes reasons, and, but you also have to be, I think, understand the circumstances. Like, is this a student that has always done what they're doing or are they actually maybe going through something? So I think that it's important to establish a relationship so that your students aren't just fearful of you.
Annie: And I think going back to the science and math courses and connecting with… The fact that we had a Rose and a Thorn, it was, at first I kind of saw it as a waste of time in the beginning of the class because I thought it was just, you know, people are just making things up or like or like it's just a way to just move on or waste a little bit of time. But at the end, I would like even after a couple of times that we did it, I think it was very helpful for myself even to get some, even if it was a small thing like, oh, I didn't like the weather today or the weather was beautiful today, just getting something out like that was really helpful. And hearing someone talk about their day was, too. And sometimes, I think I saw it as a waste of time in the beginning was because every course that I would go to, like a math or science courses, like you sat down, you waited for the teacher and they started talking. They started teaching the lesson. And there was no connection between them or you in any way. And they were always like, OK, we have to get through this. We're not going to waste time. We have to get through the unit like all of this. And yeah, it was really hard for me to even ask them you know a question, because I just thought that, ‘Oh, I should understand this already’ because of the way that they presented this information was like you had to know it, you had to know. But taking the time for even your students to, for the teacher to be reassured that the students know the information is just I think is very important as well, because I think even as a teacher, I think it's a reassuring yourself that you're being a good teacher if your students are understanding the material. But yeah, even if it takes just a little bit more time than usual, it'll go a long way. For the students, yeah.
Lainey: To add onto what Annie said about the Rose and the Thorn, when you're sharing and somebody else is like, oh yeah, I'm stressed too about exams or yeah the mood has me feeling down. It gives you a sense of almost validation that your, your kind of problems are valid. They're not just dismissed and you're not the only one. That was a big thing that came up in our COVID project. But I think a lot of people think part of it is that they notice that they're not the only ones going through these problems. They're not alone because in COVID you feel very isolated from everybody else. So, I think I just connected to that, that even the Rose and the Thorn brought that to us. You know, we're all students who are going through similar things.
Valeria: Yeah, I want to add on to what pretty much everybody said, I feel like I was thinking about it as well. Like, you know, if we really learned like this in school, school would be so much better. And but I was thinking, like, you know, teachers might look at it like extra work, but realistically. If the students do good, the teachers do as well, and I feel like it creates mutual respect and it just makes class not fun, fun is not the right word, but maybe more, I don't know, more educational, more positive rather than like, ‘Ugh I have to go to class. And I don't like this teacher’ and things like that. Like, you know, I feel like it's difficult on a lot of students. And I feel like every student goes through difficult times in school. And I feel like if these extra little efforts were put into teaching and into the students, I feel like more students would be able to do well. There'd be not a lot of people dropping out and things like that. So I feel like putting in that extra work to being kind and acknowledging your students and maybe accommodating them a little bit, like it goes a long way.
Host: I'm really hearing the importance of mutual respect between the researchers and the facilitators, and how community building is not just a nice to have part of the process, but actually essential to doing PAR in itself. Can you think of any other essential components of the process that really make PAR a meaningful learning experience as a student?
Jaden: I think the ability to discuss things and have that very space that feels very open and not just one way to do things, but having those, being able to hear those other perspectives and hear those other ideas and still incorporate them into that, I guess, let's say the greater idea of what we want to do. And for example, the latest project we've had, we all came in with a bunch of ideas about what we wanted to do but we were able to incorporate all those separate ideas into the final project and create something that we all liked and enjoy it. I think it's important to have that space of discussion and have a very open space and not have it restricted to one right way of doing things.
Annie: I think also, though, the teaching styles, I think we would go over it, maybe we didn't realize it, but we would go over the same theme or the same topic several times, but in, even in different environments and in different ways that we did it as well. Because I remember we would meet in two places, we would meet at the OISE or we would meet at the school. And sometimes we would even talk about the same things. But weirdly enough, they would present it differently, but, and at different locations. But it would just stick with me a little bit more. So going through topics more than once or teaching it different ways was also, I think, a really good strategy that they used for teaching.
Lainey: Yes, to add on what Annie said, I think that was a really important part of YPAR was different styles used. Even though in the moment you don't realize you're learning. That's the good part about it. They use so many different ways to teach us things that we didn't even know we were learning. Like I remember we did a graffiti wall and, you know, we kind of just I was, oh, you know, fun. We just kind of have to draw on the wall. But you actually kind of got to think about what you're drawing about. They gave us like a question or a prompt. We even did, like body maps. And, you know, they brought in Elders to talk to us. We did like, one time when we went into OISE we kind of broke out in different groups and we all did different activities. But as Annie said, they're all around the same things, but these different teaching styles make you look at it in different ways. So I think that's the really important part that they incorporate into the program.
Host: How has your engagement in these PAR projects changed or shaped other aspects of your life?
Luisa: For me it had a really big impact. In Grade 11, when I first joined, I was actually, I was thinking about university, of course. And, I was actually thinking about going into nursing and, I was taking, you know, all of the sciences and all of those advanced programs. And I honestly like had never realized that even if it wasn't, you know, something like in medicine or a law or, or those things that are like that are viewed as success, that you could still do something and have an impact and be successful. And, it really helped me focus more towards my social science classes. And that is how I ended up in a social work program. So I'll personally, I think it had a very drastic change in what I was doing in life.
Lainey: I think for me personally, it kind of opened the door of research for me. I had never really thought about it in high school. They, I was not like Luisa in Grade 11. I was not thinking about what I was going to do after high school. I chose very last minute. I didn't know what I wanted to do. But I really liked research. And then towards the end of Grade 11 and Grade 12, I discovered that I really enjoyed science. And in science you could also do a lot of research. So I think it also helped me just to realize how much I would love to incorporate like science and research together. I’ve tried to look for other opportunities similar, but I think it's a little bit harder to get into science research opportunities because there's a lot of people trying to look for that. But I think it impacted like my decision of what I want to do later on. Like, I definitely want to continue doing research.
Jaden: For me. I always kind of saw research as it's very big and complicated thing. So YPAR kind of, I guess simplified it, it doesn't seem as like scary, I guess, or like very like grandiose, it's more of like a thing that I can kind of do in my own life, I guess, the skills and the, that sense to my own life and kind of build on that also, I didn't really know, like research that much. But also like doing this YPAR has kind of inspired me even in my program, there isn't that much research aspect, but it kind of makes me want to like, pursue further education and research perspectives and kind of just see what I can find and learn about.
Valeria: For me, I was always very interested in like social justice issues, um, and things like that. And from what I had read about the description of this YPAR program, I understood that we were going to learn about colonization and decolonization and things like that. So I was like, that's kinda what caught my attention. And I feel like it increased my knowledge a lot about Cana-, like about Canadian history, about colonization and things like that. Like in my upbringing, my Mom always taught me about colonization and always made sure we knew about our ancestors, my family, my siblings, and I, so I felt like really happy when we were learning this in this class. And it also, I wanted to be a social worker for a while and I feel like it bettered my experience. And also it also opened my eyes on, you know, how I can work with the Indigenous community better and how I can be, you know, respectful to the land we're on and things like that. So yeah, it kinda opened my eyes a little bit more to like future projects I would like to do. And of course the facilitators, I feel like they were very good on advice and they're very helpful. So I learned a lot from them. That I learned things that I know I can use in the future.
Host: What is your advice for folks who are interested in doing this sort of work, participatory action research with young people?
Jaden: For me, I would simply say dive in and have fun and see what you find.
Luisa: Yeah, I would say it's, they should do it. Like whether it, you know, it gives them a drastic change in their life or not. I think it's a wonderful experience and to get to know people that are in the same community as you, for example, like I didn't really even know many people that were Latinx at my school or anywhere near, let alone Indigenous people. So I think that it's important to join it so you can, you know, get to at least get to know new people.
Valeria: Um, I would say the same. And also I feel like for facilitators and participants, I, I feel like they should know the great impact and, um, that this project has on students. And I feel like facilitators as well. It's, it's very positive and I feel like it's very needed and useful in our communities. So I feel like it's, I hope there's future YPAR projects. And I hope there's people around that get to participate in these YPAR projects because I feel like it can have a very impact, a very, a very good impact for, for youth and for other people. And it can be like lasting, a lasting impact that can, you know, possibly make them feel better or anything like that. Yeah.
Lainey: I think for facilitators, I would say, go for it, do it. I think it will be very beneficial to their students and I assume it must be hard to do something that not a lot of teachers do, or that it's not really appreciated or seen as normal in the curriculum, but I think it's a great opportunity, students should definitely try and be a part of it. I think they will appreciate it highly and facilitators as well. Once you kind of see what impact do you give on your students... I think it will make them feel good as well. And also like don't be afraid to kind of make it personalized. I feel like that's the beauty of YPAR you can take it in different, routes. You can do it about science, you can do it about, social sciences or art or anything. So it's not like this box you're trying to fit into, it’s more like thinking outside of the box.
Annie: Yeah. And I think for students, there's always that sacrifice, you know, cause it's not in school. Of it being, you know, either you have to travel certain amount of minutes or hours to do it and you have to take time of your day. But I think it's very useful at the end of the day because, you know, if the facilitators do it right, well even if there's a right way to do it, cause you know, everyone has their own different ways, but the way I experienced it, it was so much fun. I learned so many things and I met so many people in the process and it really got me thinking about a lot of things, especially just how much of a space they gave us as marginalized communities that, you know, in my school, it was a, not a very, it wasn't, it was a very white school as well. And just having that space within people that you can connect to one way or another was just really great.
Music
Host: Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the WhyPAR Podcast. This conversation was a powerful example of how YPAR can be an inclusive pedagogy that creates conditions for youth to thrive in their education. I learned so much from these youth researchers about how YPAR in schools moves away from traditional teacher-student hierarchies by embracing young peoples’ inherent knowledge and by centering their agency to create change in their lives. Be sure to stay tuned for Part Two of this series, where Valeria, Luisa, Lainey, Jaden, and Annie discuss their experiences conducting YPAR during the pandemic and the subject of knowledge dissemination.