Blog Post 5: Quotes- August

"Classroom walls create a dichotomy- the academic arena within, the personal arena without."

I took this as, both children and teachers come into their classroom bringing their personal being and represent who they are. When they leave the classroom they are brining what they absorbed, into their world. Both academic and personal experiences are made and taken beyond the walls of the classroom. When I think of a classroom I expect it to be safe and an all around learning experience. The word "dichotomy" stuck out to me. After looking if up, and re reading this sentence, I found it very interesting and a good way to look at the walls inside a classroom.

"Perhaps adults need a Ready-To-Teach initiative."

This quote was in the paragraph discussing the children T.V series "Postcards from Buster". It talked about how in an episode Buster visited a family who had two moms. This caused controversy among some viewers. I think it is sad how some people get so offended by people simply being themselves and happy. I like how they said adults need a Ready-To-Teach initiative because it is so true. This is the world we live in and children will get introduced to these types of things whether the parent likes it or not. Keeping your child in a bubble and not sharing that other families are different is a cruel way to shut them out from the world and leave them without any knowledge on this. It can also cause them to agree with their parents as they grow older and not be ok with others being gay. I will say however, I think it is wrong to not accept people but, I don't think it has to be overly shoved in young children's faces making it a huge deal. I think if it comes up or once they are in elementary school, make them aware that some people are different and like the same sex and express that it's ok and allow others to do what makes them happy. I agree with it being ok that this T.V series did this episode but I don't think it's necessary to start talking about LGBTQ when your child is just learning their own environment around them. Sometimes I think it is forced rather than a natural topic. 

"Marcus decided to explain to another child in his group that his mom is gay... This kind of discussion is not acceptable in my room."

As a teacher, reading what this teacher had to say about one of her students is terrible. Why is a child sharing that he has two moms "not acceptable"? I think this is when conversations like these are acceptable. This conversation about being gay was brought up in a natural way and could be used as a teaching moment. That would be a great opportunity to share that other families do not need to have a dad and a mom to make them complete. By being so negative about the boys home life, this could make him deflect and feel negative about going to school or sharing stories about his family. Like I said, I don't think it needs to turn in to a huge thing and have an entire lesson on LGBTQ but, to have a simple conversation normalizing it, should absolutely be accepted and shared.

A few years ago I had a student who had two moms. One of the moms had the child call her dad. She was not going through a sex change but had plans to. She still very much looked like a girl too. When other students heard the child calling one of her moms dad they corrected her by saying "that's not your dad, that's your mom". This is very understandable why anyone would question that, especially a two year old. I would correct children by saying "that is her dad". There was not much more to say because she still identified as a women, this made it hard for not just the children but me as an adult because it was different to me as well. As the child got older the dad got a sex change to male and it just was a normal thing to everyone else in the classroom and no questions were asked. In the future, being an elementary school teacher, I don't see myself having a lesson on sex orientation because I don't believe it needs to be talked about it such an unnatural way. If someone were to ask about it, then it can be an easy discussion. If I were going to be teaching an older group where they would be exposed to this more, than that's different but as for 6 year olds, I don't believe it should be in the lesson plan to make it a point to discuss. Maybe in the future, my opinion will change but as for now, that's my thoughts. Everyone should feel welcome and "normal" walking through the doors of a classroom and it should be ok to everyone with who you are and what your family represents. You are who you are!