Article: GLSEN Report: NYC Respect for All Trainings Increase Staff Competency at Addressing Anti-LGBT Bullying Author: www.GLSEN.org

**Hyperlinks**

I picked this article because although the whole site could be useful to anyone who decides to read it, I thought that this would be very useful to us as future teachers. This article was about an education program that they used in New York that was developed to help them be more prepared for “awkward situations” in the classroom regarding a student’s sexual identity or sexual orientation. It trained them about how to handle the situation, for example what terminology to use when approaching that type of situation. While I was online I decided to do this type of post and I went searching for articles, videos, pictures, and other information that would relate to this topic and here is what I ended up with...





-These two videos, which you may have already seen on tv, both respond to the misuse and negative connotation of the phrase “That’s so gay”. I think they related to this article because it is all about finding the right terms and calling something gay because it is different or you don’t like it or it isn’t right is not the right use of the word. Instead of using “that’s so gay” to describe something, we should use real adjectives. If we don’t and we continue to use “That’s so gay” we are just contributing to a downward spiral of subconsciously spreading homophobia and also making the word gay a synonym for adjectives like different, wrong, ugly, etc. It is all about wording.



-This video is a students personal viewpoint on Gay-Straight Alliances within American Public Schools. This relates to the article I read because this student is strictly emphasizing how important it is to educate people and especially those in public schools who deal with children. Ignorance of the topic just leads to fear and uncertainty among both teachers and students. This student is gay himself and uses his own experiences to express how difficult it is for LGBT students in public schools, admitting that he didn’t even “come out“ until his freshman year of college though he knew he was gay in middle school. He was just scared and worried about what would happen and what people would say and/or do. He even shows pictures of two young men who were murdered because of their sexuality. I think this video does a good job of explaining how important education of this subject is and how much influence one person can have if they know how to behave/know what to do in a given situation.

And last but not least…



-This video is another one that was made by a student. In the article it mentions teachers supporting and engaging in organizations like GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance). This female student was president of the GSA at her high school the second year it ran as an organization/club in her high school and this video takes you through what it was like for her and the members to gain support and recognition through the school, committee members and the community. It is pretty interesting and I thought it related directly to the text.

Aria

Aria by Richard Rodriguez-----*Reflection*----

I chose to do reflection for this article because although I do not personally relate to this article as I only speak one language, I thoroughly enjoy listening and being around bilingual people. I have many friends here at RIC that are bilingual and just by watching them I am in a trance and wish that I could do that too. I find it interesting, beautiful and I guess I envy people who are bilingual.
Rodriguez talks about how once the teachers came to his home and tried getting his parents to encourage their children to speak English his family started to drift apart...Well from my perspective its no wonder this happened. No wonder that once the kids started to speak English all of the time when the parents still spoke only Spanish they started to lose their “closeness”.
That is why I am often against telling people to speak in English. Even if they are right in front of me and holding a conversation in Spanish like my friends do when I’m working in the dining center. They can be deep in conversation and I just watch in amazement at how fluent they can be in more than one language. Sure they could be talking about me but I don’t care  I just enjoy listening to it and hearing how beautifully it flows together.
While it doesn’t seem that important in every day situations, I can see where it could become an issue in the classroom. This is where I feel that the teachers need to understand, accept and welcome diversity. Not everyone is going to have the same home life, the same background and talk exactly the same. Never going to happen. What everyone does have in common however is that we are all different. No two people are the same and we need to embrace that. I do think that one should become fluent or at least learn the prominent language of the country that they are living in but I do not feel that we should shun them from their culture by telling them that that is now the only language that they can speak. Embrace diversity because you cannot escape it.

Diversity Video:

And I really like this one...especially the lyrics that play in the abckground...

About Me :)

Hey everyone! My name is Amanda and I am a freshman here at RIC. I live in Warwick and commute to school. RIC was my first choice school and I am very excited to start the education program as well as work towards the Feinstein School. Can't wait to be a teacher :)
My intended major is early childhood ed. combined with special ed. At first I was considering majoring in middle or high school English but last year I worked in an Autistic summer program and I fell in love with it. There were 7 boys, first and second graders, with various levels of Autism. We only needed 15hrs with a mentor but I ended up doing 47hrs because I enjoyed it so much. So needless to say those boys changed my whole outlook.
I absolutely love kids. I have always been around kids, starting from when I was young. My mom worked in a day care so we would go to work with her (this is probably where my desire to be a teacher comes from). I've been babysitting for 7 years and I spend as much time as possible with my niece and nephew who are 3yrs old and 2yrs old.
Other than babysitting, I work at the Dining Center on campus on the weekends, open to close both days.When I am not in class or working, I love hanging out with my friends and family. Whether it's shopping, movies, talking, or just hanging out- I just enjoy being with them. I'm a very easy going person and I just try to enjoy life.Sure it may not always go smoothly and I know I will screw up time to time but I just learn from my mistakes and move on. Live life to the fullest and live without regrets :)