LGBTQ Best Practice

With a focus on students who identify with the LGBTQ+ group, Jey Ehrenhart and Stef Bernal-Martinez highlight some useful strategies for creating a safe and inclusive environment for all students.

Just as we get a look into the lives, identities, and personalities of the white, cis-gendered men in our histories through texts and lessons is school, we should also be representing people of color, Latinx artists, LGBTQ authors, ect. without making students feel “othered.” Stef Bernal-Martinez talks about how many teachers, herself included, have been excited to share lessons on LGBTQ authors but focused on the oppression and failed to explore the author as a whole person with multiple identities. She says that “We want to tell the full story beyond pieces of oppression.” Otherwise, students may feel even more like outsiders. 

Stef and Jey also talk about ways to set up an inclusive classroom at the start of the year: Presenting your pronouns at the start of the year, and asking students to do the same gives the classroom community a sense of safety for transgender and non-binary students. This can come in the form of something as simple as a student survey. This is something I have seen happen in my college classes, but never my secondary schooling. It allows transgender and non-binary students to feel seen without any pressure. It also shows the class that you are an allied and safe educator. Another opportunity to improve classroom culture that Stef and Jey suggest is to create a community agreement with students about what is expected during classroom discussion. Included in this agreement should be the understanding that students will conduct discussion with respect to other students and teachers including with respect to individual identities. 

Stef and Jey recognize that mistakes happen, and even with community agreements in place, there is always the possibility of difficult and uncomfortable conversations within the classroom. 

Misgendering is not always a malicious or hateful act. Often, it is just an accident, but that does not mean it should go unaddressed. If an educator misgenders a student, they should apologize, but Jey Ehrenhart emphasizes that this should be a short apology, and you should quickly move along and refrain from “over-apologizing.” A quick apology ensures that the student feels seen, but over-apologizing and drawing more attention could potentially cause more shame for the student. Stef includes that if this happens and the issue does not seem resolved, the teacher should check on the student one-on-one as opposed to during class.

But what happens if a student misgenders another student? Teachers may reaffirm the student’s pronouns by restating what the student says using the correct pronouns. Jey also suggests correcting the student in a quick and fluid manner.

What about homophobic remarks in the classroom? Jey and Stef are adamant that this must always be addressed. If this behavior is not addressed, the classroom automatically becomes an unsafe place for students. I think this applies to staff as well. If you hear another educator misgendering or presenting homophobic remarks, it must be addressed. Otherwise, you are affirming that it is okay to discard another person’s identity. 

My takeaway:

This webinar has made me more confident in my ability to create an inclusive classroom. It gives me a starting off point and strategies to overcome difficult situations should they occur. I really appreciate that this webinar was conducted by two educators who are part of the LGBTQ community because I got to hear about their experiences in secondary school. Jey had some great inputs from a non-binary person’s perspective who dealt with misgendering and other micro aggression throughout their life. 

I love that the speakers also included HOW to incorporate LGBTQ+ material into lessons. This is something I have struggled to conceptualize effectively in the past. I knew that just adding text that mirrored student identity was not enough, but I wasn’t sure how to fix this block. It is important to discuss minority artists and authors in relation to all of their identities so that they are humanized in the classroom and students can feel seen. Jey gave a great example of this when they said that they remember learning about Langston Hughes in school, but the focus was strictly about his blackness and oppression, but never about his queerness and how that gave meaning to his work.

Hyperlinks:

LGBTQ Best Practices: Classroom Culture and Curriculum

Up? Down? Both? Why? - Harvesting Meaningful Interpretations

 Objectives:

1. Students will be able to Interpret the connotative meaning of a text.

Common Core State Standards:

1. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.3: Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

2. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.

Activities:

1. Have a discussion to review the meanings of connotation and denotation. These vocabulary words will have been analyzed previously.

2. With these words in mind, students read along as they listen to a reading of “Jorge the Church Janitor Finally Quits.” They were to read it as homework the night before.

3. Small group discussion: Ask students to share if they thought the character, Jorge, was a sympathetic(thumbs up), unsympathetic(thumbs down) character or somewhere in between(one thumb up, one thumb down). Once all students have indicated a stance, have students get into small groups to discuss their answers. In order to chunk the work, groups will be assigned one stanza to work on. Remind students to think about how connotation plays a role in how we interpret texts. The teacher will walk around to facilitate when needed.

4. Students will then pick a group member to share out. If students are getting stuck, the teacher will provide “sentence stems,” posting them in the front of class for all to see.

5. Class discussion: teacher will facilitate a discussion on the final action of Jorge. Guiding questions: 

1. Using thumbs, “Was Jorge quitting positive, negative, or somewhere in between?”

2. Connecting the first discussion to this discussion, “How does the connotation in the text reflect these answers?”

Assessment:

1. Formative: Students will be assessed when they share out to the larger group. The teacher will also be looking for students’ interpretations of connotative meaning while walking around the small group discussions.

Rational:

In this lesson, students will be interpreting the connotative meaning in “Jorge the Church Janitor Finally Quits.” I will be using the UDBW method because literary interpretation has much to do with how the reader and the author feel. When we allow students to express how they feel about a character or text, we are giving them the opportunity to draw from their own experiences. I start out by asking my students if they sympathize with the main character or if they do not. Feelings are immediate, and you cannot be wrong about how you feel. This gives students the confidence to participate and gives them autonomy in their learning. From there, I ask students to look for the use of connotative words and phrases that help to validate what they are feeling. These activities will help students connect to the text and go beyond surface level reading.

 I have to admit that before reading the first chapters of Hammond’s “Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain,” especially the sections on understanding culture, I did not really know where to start when it comes to introducing/incorporating diverse cultural backgrounds into the classroom. The way Hammond talks about the three layers is illuminating. The “surface culture” layer is made up of observable elements of culture (22). In other words, you do not need to develop any sort of relationship with your students in order to witness these elements. You can decorate your room and add books to your library that seem to represent your students on this surface level.

Instead of this shallow approach, Hammond insists that educators get to know their students and build rapport and trust and community within the classroom in order to allow students to feel confident and safe, become more open-minded and empathetic, and embrace a collectivist outlook. It is important for classrooms to incorporate culture awareness on a deep level in the classroom so that students may succeed in a diverse world.

We are living in a world that is increasingly becoming more diverse, and in an education system that caters specifically to white students, we are seeing a learning gap that continues to expand. Hammond says,

    "Rather than stepping back, looking at the ways we structure inequity in education, and interrupting these practices, we simply focus on creating short-term solutions to get dependent students of color to score high on each year's standardized tests. We don't focus on building their intellective capacity so that they can begin to fill their own learning gaps with proper scaffolding" (31).

We are not helping students become intellectual and independent learners by preparing the for standardized tests: we are are instead trying to uphold an image and letting our students down. Culturally responsive teaching promotes meaningful learning for all students.

Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s Critique on the education system:

Dr. Gholdy Muhammad says that teachers often solely focus on teaching “skills” measured on standardized tests in the classroom. She says that, while teaching skills is important, students are not going to be engaged and curious about their learning unless we make it a point to teach identity, intelect, and criticality as well. Dr. Goldy Muhammad points out that CHR is especially important for students of color because they have oftentimes been misrepresented or underrepresented in their own schools and classrooms. She says that we are not reaching black students, and in order to do so, she insists that “the classroom needs to be a space for students to affirm and celebrate and validate who they are, so that they know they are enough, so they know they are brilliant and excellent and beautiful. Because society doesn’t tell us that all the time.” This is the starting point. She says that the system is “grounded in whiteness” and in racism, and we need to rebuild it. 

I especially appreciate how Muhammad uses teacher modeling as an example of how to teach the four layers of her framework. Jennifer Gonzalez says that  "If you’re a teacher who is modeling just a curiosity about the world, a love of learning, an appreciation for just new facts to learn about. That’s going to bleed over, particularly if the students already respect you and admire you as a person. Then they’re going to see that joy that you get just from learning and knowing things about the world, and then applying that in different ways." I currently work with preschool aged children, and I can say that this rings true for all age levels. I model behavior for my preschoolers. I model respect, empathy, listening and sincerity. Modeling gives our students the opportunity and the confidence to be successful. 

Dr. Muhammad talks about CHR

How an educator might teach ELA using Muhammad’s Framework:

In order for students to be fully engaged in the classroom, they must find it relevant. If students do not see THEMSELVES in the curriculum, they may check out and find it difficult to find true meaning to what they are expected to learn. Muhammad says that we should start with Identity. Muhammad says that identity is a combination of who you are, who you want to be, and how others perceive you. We can learn about ourselves and each other through community building exercises. Students need to feel that their voice is being heard in order to participate in authentic learning. Learning content skills is close to impossible if we are not teaching the other three layers because they will hold little to no meaning to students if they are not relating to the content. When we talk about intellect, we are talking about what we want our students to become smarter about. This does not mean memorization or what facts they can spit out. It means that students are learning how to apply what they know to the real world. This means that we must bring the community and students’ real life experiences into the classroom. Criticality helps students understand how power, privilege and oppression function in society and history. Muhammad says that “criticality is helping students to read, write and think in active ways as opposed to passive.” Students need to be taught how to look at different texts from different lenses and make decisions for themselves. We do not want to just feed students information, we want to teach them the skills to read in between the lines and question what is being presented to them.

"Nothing can be Changed Until it is Faced"

 The conversation had between James Baldwin and Paul Weiss on Cavvet's show fills me with guilt. I know this conversation far too well, for I have attempted it with older members of my family, who have similar views to Weiss, without avail. Baldwin articulates his thoughts in a comprehensive and powerful way. Baldwin speaks of the dangers black men and women face in everyday society due to systemic and institutional racism to which Weiss becomes defensive. He says that not all white people, not all cops, and not all bosses are against black people. He also argues that one's ability and work ethic play into how they are treated and "Why must we concentrate on color?" Baldwin comes back and asks him how he expects him to trust american society on the basis of the theory of meritocracy when he has never seen it in practice.

Weiss and many others are uncomfortable with these conversations of race because it is hard to swallow the fact that we, as white people, have benefited from structural racism while black men and women have suffered in ways hard for us to understand. 

James Baldwin writes poetically, "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." In order to be an anti-racist ELA teacher, I must admit to my privilege, use that privilege, and face these issues head on.   

Advocating for Change in our Community

    Marg Wells conducts a critical literacy project that encourages students to look at what matters to them and what concerns them and then she leads her students into the exploration of local civic action based on those concerns. It is essential to keep in mind student interests in order for them to be truly engaged in their learning. This lesson may be adapted to fit a high school classroom by giving students more autonomy when it comes to what local issue they want to focus on. 

    I see this subject as a perfect opportunity for students to develop argumentative essay skills. The teacher can start by asking students to bring in an artifact or a picture that represents a social issue in their community. Students will share their artifacts and start to develop a claim. Students will get together and help each other come up with counterclaims on the same issue. Students will develop an argumentative essay supporting their claim with evidence in order to advocate for social change in their communities.  

    Marg Well did not stop at addressing an issue, she  also included real community members and workers in her lesson. In a high school classroom, the teacher will give students an opportunity to share their work with the class to promote the sharing of ideas. The teacher will also encourage students to reach out to community workers and voice their concerns and get involved. 

Cranston Forward --> Get Involved!!