In this EDU class, we are reading an article by a man named Kohl in our Educational Foundations book on pages 21-31. He goes through several reason why people choose to teach. I am only going to discuss the ones relative to me.
REASON #1: It is a family tradition. My mother, uncle, great aunt, father, and step mother are all educators. I grew up around it and you might say it is in my blood.
REASON#2: I love working with children. They are enthusiastic, energetic, and for the most part want to learn. There is a quote form pg.31 in the Kohl article that describes what I want my classroom to be like, an environment that is about "knowledge, curiosity, and a sense of community." I might not be able to have children of my own due to medical problems so being around them helps brighten my day.
REASON #3: This is probably one of the most important reasons I want to be a teacher. I am a GLBT activist and a big supporter of protecting the youth of today. As a child I was bullied for my sexual orientation. In college I had to hide my ftm transgendered boyfriend from family and friends for fear of shame or violence. I want to make sure that time of hate and bullying stays out of schools. I want to prevent what happened to me and my friends from happening to others. With the really young children, I would do this in a subtle way. Teach them early on not to judge, and to accept everyone differences and all.
There are many organizations that help prevent bullying in schools. A hot topic in the media was a recent rash of children committing suicide because of their sexual orientations. One such organization is GLSEN. below is an excerpt taken from their anti bullying page.
"OVERVIEW: This lesson helps students begin to think about what a school without name-calling and
bullying might look and sound like. Students will engage in a guided fantasy activity on this topic, and
will then extend their ideas into a group-created plan for what their ideal “bully-free” school would look
like and sound like.
OBJECTIVES:
• To create an opportunity for students to fully visualize what it would be like to attend a school
entirely free of name-calling and bullying.
• To help students move from their visualizations of a school free of name-calling into ideas of
what a bully-free school would actually look like and sound like.
• To help students identify places in and around the school where they know that bullying and
name-calling can and do take place.
• To allow students the opportunity to creatively and cooperatively re-envision and build (be
it with words, pictures, themselves and peers, or other constructive materials) a bully-free
school."http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/antibullying/index.html
This is a basic lesson plan for 30 minute class discussions one or two times a week to help prevent bullying before it starts.
Another organization that started with viral videos on youtube is the It gets better project. This is the quote on the opening home page of their website, "
Many LGBT youth can't picture what their lives might be like as openly gay adults. They can't imagine a future for themselves. So let's show them what our lives are like, let's show them what the future may hold in store for them."
http://www.itgetsbetter.org/Many celebrities, politicians, and other people all around the world have posted videos of their stories. Straight, gay, and any other orientation have come forward to tell the next generation to hang in there and that it gets better. I believe in the positive message behind this but I want to tell educators and students that we can start making it better now.
There are many other websites and organizations dedicated to helping raise awareness about GLBT issues including FCKH8.com.
This image is from one of the FCKH8.com's many videos about the variety of issues that affect the adult and youth GLBT communities today.One such issue affecting what teachers can do to educate their students on gay rights and making anti bullying efforts difficult is a law in Tennessee. This excerpt is from an article about how FCKH8.com protested that law."Angered at the progress that the proposed “Teachers Can’t Talk About Gays” law has made in the Tennessee state senate, gay activists with the website FCKH8.com passed out hundreds of pro-gay T-shirts, wristbands, pins and stickers in front of TV cameras to school children on Tuesday morning in the state capital to protest the law which would make it a crime for teachers to discuss homosexuality.
The website distributed gear from its line of “Don’t B H8N on the Homos” products to crowds of cheering kids at Hume-Fogg high school which is just blocks from the senate building where the anti-gay law is scheduled to be voted on this Wednesday. The website is also donating $25,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project to fight the anti-gay agenda of the bill’s sponsor Senator Stacy Campfield (R-TN)."
( Image, video, and article Found on the website http://queermeup.com/activism-2/fckh8-com-t-shirt-give-away-to-school-kids/)Another video can be found on the FCKH8 website. Be warned there is vulgar language.
As you can see, I am very passionate about this subject and for the well being of our youth today. Is this a good reason to teach though? Maybe not if it were my only motivation.
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