Teachers: Allies to the LGBTQ Community

Source: giphy.com

Since the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015, there has been a passionate and public explosion of LGBTQ pride. People are "coming out" with less fear and unapologetically being themselves. As teachers, we may be seeing the earliest signs of our students "coming out" in school. Some teens tend to feel more comfortable displaying their sexuality at school than at home, especially if they face the possibility of parental rejection. For some others, the opposite may be the case. They may feel scared to be themselves as a result of the possible bullying may occur in school. Regardless of the situation at hand, it is imperative that teachers provide support and frown upon bullying. However, teachers are human too and sometimes we are unsure of how to provide this support, especially with myths and mis-education on the topic of homosexuality. In this blog post, I will be providing some facts that educators should know and some tips for making these students feel safe with help from articles by  Laura Erickson-Schroth, Sabia Prescott and Joe English of Education Weekly and Casey Leins of US News.

Who are Members of the LGBTQ Community?

According to gaycenter.org, "LGBTQ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning. These terms are used to describe a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity" (Gay Center, n.d.). Just knowing the definition of LGBTQ already puts you on the path of better understanding but in many situations, that is not enough. As a teacher, the number one way to avoid offending a student is by doing your own research. This research can help debunk a lot of the misunderstanding and myths about the people of that community. 

Myths about the LQBTQ Community

Source: Tenor.com

There are numerous myths about the people of this community. The one that stood out to me the most in my research was that there are no laws protecting these people. According to Laura Erickson-Schroth, "Although transgender identities are becoming a more visible and accepted part of American life, laws are not keeping pace. There are no federal laws protecting transgender people from discrimination in employment, education, or health care" (Erickson- Schroth, 2017). From a teacher's perspective, this is saddening because there aren't any laws to protect our students from this mistreatment. The bright side is that, like I said earlier, through education there are less chances of offending students. That being said, there are states that are making it mandatory for schools to teach LGBTQ history. In my opinion, the more that this lifestyle is normalized, the less cases of bullying there will be. Bullying occurs in most cases to students who are different. By incorporating same-sex and trans education into education, there should be less cases of lesbian, gay or other being bullied. As Casey Leins cited in her article, These States Require Schools to Teach LGBTQ History, ""One of the best ways to overcome intolerance is through education and exposure to different people and viewpoints," said bill sponsor state Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago), according to the Washington Examiner"(Leins, 2019).  This is exactly my point. The way to debunk these myths is through education. 

Tips for Teachers of LGBTQ Students

Source: buzzfeed.com

Beyond just being an ally, I feel like the biggest thing for me as a future educator is knowing what to do or not to, what to say or not say to my students. This article by John English, 10 Tips for Building a More LGBTQ- Inclusive Classroom was very useful at easing my worries. The 5th tip that he shares is to trust the positive intentions that you have in understanding your student. He continues by saying, "An imperfect advocate is better than a silent bystander. Kristin, an 11th grade English teacher, described her embarrassment after asking her lesbian student if she preferred to use male pronouns: "I turned bright red when I realized how ignorant that sounded." Her student, however, saw genuine compassion underlying Kristin's comment. Terminology is easy to fix when one's heart is in the right place. Students will understand this" (English, 2019). Hearing the story of this English teacher made me really put myself in her shoes: How could I properly ask a student something like that? An idea I had to possibly make it less embarrassing is by making an announcement or having students fill something out on the first day of school. This would allow them to tell me any names they'd rather be called and any pronouns they'd rather be referred to with. This builds in with the 10th tip that John English offers: "Build in substantial free response and open discussion time"(English, 2019). Allowing students to be able to share things with you will boost your relationship with those who need support and even those who don't. I've learned in all of the education classes I'm taking and in all of the workshops that I've attended this semester that creating a community in the classroom, opening the floor for discussion and making yourself available can make all the difference in whether students sink or swim. 

Source: Giphy.com

In this blog, I also wanted to connect what I learned in my articles to the things we have studied in critical issues. The first thing that comes to mind is the prejudice and bias module. We watched the Laramie Project, which is about a young gay man who was tortured and killed because of his sexual orientation. As an application, it may be useful to show this film to older students. For example, I watched it in my 10th grade English class. It provides a morbid but very real perspective for students. The content is advanced yet packs a punch. To support this, I'll quote John English one more time. His 1st tip from his article was, "Know that your students are ready to discuss LGBTQ issues"(English 2019). These students need to be exposed to this information to them more formidable and understanding adults. 


To close, teachers have this huge responsibility to protect and educate their students but sometimes, students may require more support. It's up to us to do the necessary research and provide the necessary resources in order to be considered an ally. 

References

English, J. (2019). 10 Tips for Building a More LGBTQ-Inclusive Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/10/11/10-tips-for-building-a-more-lgbtq-inclusive.html

Erickson-Schroth, L. (2017). Five Myths About Transgender Students Educators Need to Unlearn Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/07/11/five-myths-about-transgender-students-educators-need-to-unlearn.html

Leins C. (2019). These States Require Schools to Teach LGBT History. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-08-14/states-that-require-schools-to-teach-lgbt-history

Gay Center. (n.d.). Defining LGBTQ. Retrieved from https://gaycenter.org/about/lgbtq/

Prescott, S. (2019). What Teachers Need to Know to Do Right by Queer Students. Retrieved From https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/06/24/what-teachers-need-to-know-to-do.html

Prejudice, Bias & School Violence

An Introduction to School Violence & Prejudice and Bias

For the past two weeks, we have been examining two extremely common issues both in schools and in the world around us. Being as though we will be dealing with the nation's youth as teachers, it is crucial that we grow a sensitivity to these issues in hopes of being more culturally competent. To begin, let's define both of these issues and give more context. 

Prejudice

Prejudice can be defined as "an idea or opinion that disregards basic facts. It's akin to ignorance, or a lack of knowledge, experience or education. It's something that should not be tolerated, as we all strive for betterment and higher learning" (Your Dictionary, 2020).

A good example of prejudice is in the film, The Laramie Project. This film features a theater group, Tectonic Theater Project, attempting to do a report on a boy named Matthew Shepard. This movie is based off of a troubling event that took place in the town of Laramie, Wyoming. Matthew Shepard was an openly gay university student, who was a victim of a hate crime that cost him his life. Two men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, met Matthew Shepard at a bar, took him, tied him to a pole, beat him and left him for dead. Sadly, he then died after being found the next day still tied to the pole. The people of his town that were interviewed never saw Laramie as a hateful town towards homosexuals. However the movie uncovers that although there wasn’t outward hate, there was prejudice towards anyone who was different. A case like this unfortunately has many implications in the school environment. Almost all of the time, this prejudice is based on disregarded facts.

 Another group of people that are constantly experiencing prejudice, especially in this political climate is Muslims.

Source: change.org

Just from this image alone, it is obvious how media portrays people of the Muslim faith. There are constantly generalizations being made about Muslim people and even with the travel ban imposed by Donald Trump, there seems to be some biases towards people from the Middle East (where the majority of the people from this faith originate). I believe that this bias was born through ignorance and miseducation. Sadly this is where most bias originates. According to the Education Week article, Hate in Schools, "Muslim students, particularly girls, are often targeted. One reason: Wearing a hijab, the traditional religious head cover for Muslim girls and women "(Vara-Orta, 2019). Thanks to media, Muslim people's religious apparel and appearance are attacked, potraying them as "scary" or "terrorists". We all know that these generalizations are not true and through education, we can hope for those lies to cease. 

School Violence

According to the CDC, "School violence is youth violence that occurs on school property, on the way to or from school or school-sponsored events, or during a school sponsored event. A young person can be a victim, a perpetrator, or a witness of school violence. School violence may also involve or impact adults" (CDC, 2016).


Every parent, student and teacher's worst fear is a school shooting. They happen so often in the media that its almost desensitizing, but the fear is still very much there. This fear comes to life while watching the movie, Bowling for Columbine. This film follows Michael Moore in his research about not only what happened at Columbine High School in Colorado, but also the gun laws in Colorado and in America in general. As a future teacher in adolescent education (grades 7-12), the issue of school violence greatly impacts me. High School teachers get a great deal of students who are closer to being adults than children and because of this, they feel deep emotions. High School years are also the years that students go through hormonal changes and experience bullying and prejudice. Teachers have the responsibility of being an ally to their students and making sure that they are being supported. Students who feel like outcasts and have no support system are more likely  to be bullied, be the bully or even participate in more serious forms of school violence. School violence will be a constant thought in my mind as a future teacher. I will take it among myself to know the safety protocols for if there is some sort of situation in the school that I teach at so that I can protect myself and myself students in the unfortunate case that something happens. But also, I will just make sure that I create a sense of community in my classroom to ensure that there won't be any students that feel like outcasts. 

 Connecting the Two

These past two weeks we thought about both prejudice and bias as well as school violence. I believe that these two ideas are similar in the fact that they can affect the livelihood of the students and the teachers. When there is prejudice or any form of violence in schools, there is a stunting of the learning process. But also, there is fear surrounding the possibility that someone may be treated differently or hurt on school grounds. As a future teacher, my number one responsibility is to create a safe sense of community in my classroom. We can do this by engaging students in exercises such as group work or some other fun ice breakers. These type of behaviors such as prejudice would be hopefully weeded out in the beginning of the school year and through active classroom management, the classroom would be a safe place of respect. This is an ideal scenario and I do acknowledge that this isn't always possible but this way of thinking is necessary in the new and upcoming educators of today because violence isn't the answer. 

Source: relforcon.org

References:

Examples of Prejudice. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-prejudice.html

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention (2016). 
Understanding School Violence. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/Schoo
l_Violence_Fact_Sheet-a.pdf

Vara-Orta, F. (2019, July 19). Swastikas. The N-word. 'Go Back to Mexico.' What Hate Looks Like in Schools. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/projects/hate-in-schools.html