成人大片

成人大片鈥檚 2025 Provost鈥檚 Award for Teaching Excellence winners highlight how hands-on, innovative and inclusive teaching turns classrooms into spaces for critical thought, connection and meaningful change.

This year鈥檚 award winners, Jennifer Poole, Janelle Brady and Angela Misri, each empower students to challenge assumptions and shape the world beyond the classroom.

鈥淓ducation goes beyond sharing knowledge 鈥� it is a transformative force that shapes how students see and engage with the world,鈥� says Provost and Vice-President, Academic, Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano. 鈥淭hese educators embody 成人大片鈥檚 commitment to providing education that extends beyond academia鈥攐ne that prepares students to think, question and contribute meaningfully to the world.鈥� 

The 2025 Provost鈥檚 Award for Teaching Excellence is part of the 成人大片 employee recognition program coordinated by Human Resources. These awards are among many employee, research and teaching awards to be presented at the Toronto Met Awards Gala on May 8. 

Janelle Brady

Janelle Brady builds education on real-life experience. Teaching in the School of Early Childhood Studies鈥� BA and MA programs, she grounds her teaching in Black feminism, anti-racist education and decolonial pedagogies. She believes strongly in using both her own and her students鈥� lived experience as the foundation for learning and change.

鈥淚 see myself as a facilitator who is supporting students on their journeys,鈥� she says. 鈥淓veryone comes to the classroom from a different starting point. As educators, we need to bring this out through inclusive and experiential learning opportunities.鈥�

Brady puts this approach into practice through courses like Black Childhoods in Canada 鈥� the first of its kind in the country. Created with Rachel Berman, Brady describes the course as 鈥渁 pivotal moment鈥� in her career that combines her research and teaching foundations. The course deconstructs anti-Black racism through theory and practice and encourages students to think critically about childhood, care and education in inclusive and community-driven ways.

鈥淚 think grounding ourselves in community is very significant, because it pushes back against this idea that education is an individual journey,鈥� she says.
Brady creates inclusive classrooms by using diverse learning methods 鈥� from text analysis and music, to guest speakers and real-world engagement 鈥� where all students feel seen and supported. 鈥淭he classroom can be a space of further marginalization for many students,鈥� she says. 鈥淢any Black students over the years have told me that this is the first class where they felt comfortable raising their hand鈥� and that means we have a lot of work to do.鈥�

Brady says she likes the idea of learning and unlearning. 鈥淚 push back against the idea that educators are experts,鈥� she says. "I come to this process of education through vulnerability, and also model my own vulnerability as an educator鈥� that鈥檚 allowed me to open up and to learn a lot more from my students.鈥�

She hopes to develop critical thinkers who create change. "I hope students will question everything and be curious," she says. 

Beyond teaching, Brady supervises award-winning graduate research, advises across disciplines and founded the Janelle Brady Empowerment Circle, a cross-mentorship network with over 100 members. In 2022, she received the Viola Desmond Faculty Award for her mentorship, research and work with Black communities and students.

Angela Misri

For assistant professor Angela Misri of 成人大片鈥檚 School of Journalism, teaching creates confident, critical thinkers who can improve the industry. Her decade in journalism education bridges theory and practice, preparing students to make informed, ethical decisions. 

After the pandemic, she launched Newsroom Notes, a weekly forum connecting students with working journalists. 鈥淧eople were having a lot of undefinable issues鈥攖hey weren鈥檛 sure what they didn鈥檛 know, but they knew they didn鈥檛 know something,鈥� she says.

The forum addresses gaps in journalism education, like trauma-informed interviewing and ethical crime reporting. 鈥淚 try to bring real-world situations into our conversations to arm students with the ability to take the theoretical stuff we're teaching them and make practical decisions based on it.鈥� 

Beyond teaching the skills of the trade, Misri develops critical thinkers. 鈥淭he goal is to develop students who are creative, critically thinking and powerfully able to communicate.鈥� 

She emphasizes belonging, especially for underrepresented students. 鈥淚 want them to feel like they represent journalism, that they don't feel out of place, and they feel confident about what they're doing.鈥�

As a curriculum committee member, Misri has helped to reshape the program and reimagine newsrooms as collaborative spaces. She embraces classroom experimentation, recognizing that innovation requires failure.

Her dedication to continuous learning is reflected in her completion of the Excellence in Teaching Certificate from the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. She also credits her students with pushing her to question long-standing industry norms. 鈥淭he beauty about students is they ask 鈥榳hy?鈥� And by going through that process of breaking it down鈥攕omething you probably haven鈥檛 done for at least two decades鈥攊t鈥檚 a great process to make sure this is still true鈥� They make me better as a journalist and as an educator.鈥�

Ultimately, Misri aims not to change her students but to 鈥渃hange the industry, to make it better with all these different voices.鈥�

Jennifer Poole

Jennifer Poole, professor in the School of Social Work, is reshaping teaching by challenging norms. 

For over two decades, Poole has focused on critical grief, health and mad studies, decolonial methodologies and accessibility in social work. Her TEDx talk, Sanism, and other pieces on sanism have become foundational resources worldwide, influencing how institutions approach care. At 成人大片, she has developed courses, supervised graduate-directed reading seminars, and led curriculum interventions that ensure social work education remains responsive to emerging scholarship and the realities of practice.

In the classroom, Poole encourages students to examine biases and following Naty Tremblay (2025), 鈥榤ake kin of their mistakes鈥� 鈥� interrupting perfectionism and modelling this reflection in real time. "I cannot ask learners to critically reflect unless I am doing it myself, showing them how, at every opportunity."

Her teaching centres on circle work, an approach she learned from Anishnaabe scholar Dr. Kathy Absolon, where every voice is heard. 鈥淐ircle learning work asks us to take our time, to listen deeply, to make room and space for everyone and the multiplicity of knowledges that we all carry.鈥�

Poole has also led efforts to enhance classroom accessibility, believing Kathy Absolon鈥檚 words that 鈥渉ow we come to know is as important as what we come to know.鈥� She prioritizes empathy and acknowledges students鈥� challenges: 鈥淟earners are dealing with unimaginable pain, loss and fear, but still showing up to class,鈥� she says. 鈥淎 simple, 鈥榟ello, I am glad you are here鈥� goes a long way.鈥� 

This deep care for students extends beyond the classroom. From supporting student-led curriculum change and co-authoring research to supervising graduate students and advocating for systemic reform, Poole creates space for students to feel seen, supported and empowered. Ultimately, what she hopes students take from their time with her goes far beyond any single course:

"I want students to feel encouraged to take their place 鈥榠n the circle鈥� of learning," she says. "To stretch (not tear), to be epistemically humble and curious, and to know that community and connection are always more important than ego."

Reflecting on her time at 成人大片, she adds, 鈥淚 want to say thank you to each and every student I have had the honour to accompany at 成人大片. You have often been my reason to keep going.鈥�

The Toronto Met Awards is part of the 成人大片 employee recognition program coordinated by Human Resources and celebrates the achievements of 成人大片 faculty and staff in teaching, research, administration, service and leadership, and employees who have reached a significant service milestone. Congratulations to all nominees and recipients. To learn more about all the award winners, visit Recognition and Awards. Learn more about milestones on the Service Milestones page.

Awards will be presented at the Toronto Met Awards Gala on May 8, 2025.