Talking Points #3: Tools and Tips for Education

GLSEN

(Connections)

Before this assignment, I never knew this site existed like this online. Yes I was surprised about it but I feel it is completely necessary for new or becoming educators such as myself to be aware of these issues and to always have a backup plan just in case a problem dealing with gay, lesbian, or straight issues comes up in our own classrooms.

I took a look at “The Educators Guide to LGBT Pride” part of this website. Here it talks about celebrating LHBT pride month one day in June before the end of the school year. This is so no matter what you are you are able to show it off and be proud of it. I feel that this is a great idea because there seems to be a holiday for a great deal of things in this country. I like the fact that this will give everyone a chance to celebrate themselves and others all together.

While I do agree with this method, I do think it would be a little challenging in an elementary classroom where I plan on starting my education process. At that age you’re still in the “confused” stage of what you are and where you think you belong. So I think if this was to be done, it should be at least with the other middle school kids if not start on the high school level.

While reading this, I thought about “Aria” by Rodriguez. In that article he talks about losing himself and his culture when going to school because he felt that he wasn’t able to be himself. Even though he wasn’t dealing with being gay, lesbian, or straight, he was still dealing with something that made him feel as though he was an outsider to everyone else in the classroom. This could always be related to “Teaching Multilingual Children” by Collier. She talks about the features teachers “should” use when dealing with students who don’t speak English as a first language at home. Here she makes it seems that those who don’t know English are the outsiders compared to everyone else in the room, and that shouldn’t be the case. Yes they are different, but the one thing that all of the kids in the desks have in common is that they are all my students. And because of that, no matter what language they speak, color they are, or sex they want to be with, they are still my students and should be treated as such.

Along with this site, I also found another site that coincides with this. It has another article that talks about teachers accepting homosexual students, and i felt it was very informational.

Teaching Acceptance in Schools-How Teachers Can Help Gay Students

Talking Points #2: “Aria” and “Teaching Multilingual Children”

“Aria” By Richard Rodriguez (Quotes)

This article was a very easy read for me. Rodriguez really reached me in the fact that I had sympathy for him for what he had to deal with during his time in school. School is supposed to be a fun place to learn and meet new people.  But for him it was a place were he felt uncomfortable and left out. 

Rodriguez came from a Spanish-speaking family. In this article, he talks about how when he was in elementary school, he was told he had no choice but to learn English like everyone else, and was told he must forget hat he knew about Spanish. I agreed with the fact that he needed to learn English so he would be able to communicate with the other English-speaking students, but to forget about Spanish completely was just a bit much. "The old Spanish words I had used earlier-mama and papa-I couldn't use anymore. They would have been too painful reminders of how much had changed in my life." This quote really stuck out to me. I really disliked the fact that he felt as though he couldn't use the words he was used to anymore. It hurt me even more that he was so young going through all of this and that jut makes it even worse. 

Something else Rodriguez said was "At last, seven years old, I came to believe what had been technically true since my birth: I was an American Citizen." When I thought about this I wondered why this was present to him beforehand. I feel as though he should always know we is, was and always will be an American citizen. I feel like he thought this because he didn't do the same things at home as other students because he was Spanish. But part of being an American citizen is knowing that everyone is different but still part of one. 

Something that really bothered me was when he said, "Fortunately, my teachers were unsentimental about their responsibility. What they understood was that i needed to speak a public language." This didn't really make sense to me. He's making it sound like its a good thing that his teachers weren't completely aware of the situation he was really in. The thing is is that they should have been aware of this situation, and they should have done everything in their power to help him feel as equal as possible. If I was his teacher I know I would have. 

I took some time to look online about different situations such at Rodriguez' and I found a site that gives strategies about those kinds of situations.
Click here if you'd like to take a look. :)