Safe Spaces; Making Schools and Communities Welcoming LGBT Youth

This week on my blog I will be discussing about Safe Spaces; Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth by Annemarie Vaccaro, Gerri August, and Megan S. Kennedy. While reading my classmates blogs bout Safe Spaces I really connected with Kyle’s blog, “Inclusion in the Classroom.”  At the end of his article he stated,

 

“Students have to stop feeling like they are different for the wrong reasons. Things like sexual orientation have to be introduced at a younger age in order for children to learn that it is ok and normal to feel or be the way they want. The reason why children make fun of each other would be because they are afraid of what is different. If gay or lesbian isn't a term or concept they understand they will immediately think it is wrong due to that fear of the unknown. The easiest thing to combat this would be to teach them what it is and why there is nothing wrong with it.”

 

I can really agree with Kyle because the whole time I was reading Safe Spaces I was thinking about how LGBT should be introduce to children at a young age so they can understand what it is and accept it. I believe they would also be able to understand the terms that are involve with the LGBT communities like gay and lesbian. In Safe Spaces they talk about a fifth grade teacher name Patrick and his two encounters with a student Derek. Derek used the words gay and bisexual during class and Patrick was there to intervene when he used them. He question Derek what they meant and if he can explain the definition of each word.

 

“Patrick does not scold. He does not snicker. And he certainly doesn’t pretend that he does not hear. He explores the negative usage of words such as “gay” or “bisexual.” He prods and questions, requiring students to define the terms. Patrick’s actions promoted discussion and understanding: he asked students to students to think about the power of their harmful language. We believe that Patrick is right: That is what a teacher does. That is what any concerned adult does.”

 

This here ties to why I agree with Kyle and why I believe LBGT should be introduce to children at a young age because if there was any confusion or question it can be clear up. I also believe if LGBT was introduce at a very young age, children will see it as a so called “norm.” If they see it as a “norm” they can accept it.

 

Questions: In class I would like to ask my classmates would they incorporate LGBT in their curriculum. If so, how would they do it?

Aria by Richard Rodriguez

One of the stories I was assign to read this week was called Arai by Richard Rodrigues. I honestly did not know what Aria mean and I was wondering what the story was going to be about. I actually thought it was a word in another language because the other reading that was assigned this week was called Teaching Multilingual Children by Virginia Collier. After reading the story I still wonder what it meant and thought it was a word in Spanish. In the Google search box I type define Aria. The definition that pop-up said, “A long, accompanied song for a solo voice, typically one in an opera or oratorio.” At first it did not make any sense to me and then I try to search for other definitions. Then I start to realize something and then it made sense to me, maybe that is how Richard felt when he heard people speak in English to him. English was a second language to him. Richard also felt that the English language was force upon him.  I also thought okay usually not a lot of people understand opera and maybe that what he might be comparing that too. To be honest when I hear opera all I hear is a loud man or woman yelling very in a high pitch and it seems like it is going on forever and ever.

Rodrigues stated, “Shortly after, I stopped hearing the high and loud sounds of los gringos. A more and more confident speaker of English, I didn’t trouble to listen to how strangers sounded, speaking to me. And there simply were to many English-speaking people in my day for me to hear American accents anymore. Conversations quickened. Listening to persons who sounded eccentrically pitched voices, I usually noted their sounds for an initial few seconds before I concentrated on what they were saying.” Rereading this section after finding defining the term Aria it give me a reinforcement maybe that how Richard really feels.

Rodrigues also stated, “The silence at home, however, was finally more than a literal silence. Fewer words passed between parent and child, but more profound was the silence that resulted from my inattention to sounds. At about the time I no longer bothered to listen to the sounds of English in public, I grew careless about listening to the sounds family members made when they spoke. Most of the time I heard someone speaking at home and didn’t distinguish his sounds from the words people uttered in public.” Here Rodrigues still talks about the sounds and what he hears. By this time Rodrigues was more use to the English language, to me I feel like something is bothering him but he seems likes he can careless too.

Question/Comments: I wonder if anybody had the same issue as me trying to figure out what the title meant? What were their first thought? What hint and clues did they get from the story?

My Personal Thoughts on "Amazing Grace" by Jonathan Kozol

I found “Amazing Grace,” by Jonathan Kozol to be very interesting. Many things I read in the story did not shock because growing up I did not live in the best neighborhood. I cannot complain because I feel that the neighborhood I grew up in which is Smith Hill in Providence Rhode Island could not have been worse than in Mott Haven in South Bronx New York. Reading Amazing Grace it made me wonder is anybody in the government system pushing to help this city. This story is and eye-opener for me and its making me wonder how the government cannot do anything about it. Now it makes me understand why Kozol said “Amazing Grace; the lives of children and the conscience of a nation.”

As a future health educator I had many concerns and felt pity for the condition that people in Mott Haven have to deal with. Kozol stated, “A city-run institution known as Lincoln Hospital, which had been denied accreditation more than once over the years because of the failure of the staff to monitor patients after surgery and to enter critical data in their records. At least 12 people, including two infants, says the Times, have died because of staff mistakes at Lincoln, which is the hospital relied upon by families in the St. Ann’s neighborhood.” This was very mind-boggling to me. I understand people need some where to go when their sick, injured or ill etcetera, but I believe Lincoln hospital should have been shut down immediately until things were clear up and fix.  It makes me wonder what are the rules and regulations for things like this. What bothers me the most is the hospital was not denied once it was more than once. How long is this going to go on, who is responsible? There were just a lot of questions running through my mind. “

Kozol also stated, “The pastor tells me that the place is known as ‘Children’s Park.’ Volunteers arrive here twice a week to give out condoms and clean needles to addicted men and women, some of whom bring their children with them. The children play near the bears or on a jungle gym while their mothers wait for needles.” This also made my mind boggle. I do not know the whole situation and I do not want to call these mother a bad parent but to me I do not believe that is not a good environment to have your child in. I respect that there were volunteers out there trying to keep people clean and safe but what about the children. What was being done for them? How was their home life? Instead of giving clean needles to encourage the usage what about stopping them for their children? I do not know I just had so much thoughts running through my mind.

About me

Hello everybody :-) My name is Christina Sayavong. I am currently a sophomore at Rhode Island College studying education. I want to major in Physical and Health Education, and minor in Coaching. I am really excited about this year because I am going to start indoor and outdoor track and field. Seems like the semester just started but I feel like mid-term has just past. I am currently taking five courses and it is a heavy load. I am taking four courses for my major and one general enducation class. One of the classes I am taking for my major is FNED 346. I am taking this course because it is require for me to take it for my major. I also do not mind taking it because I know I would like to do the Service Learning Project. I love working with students and helping them. I wish it was summer time so I can have sometime to relax! What am I thinking about relax, this pass summer was no where near me being relax! I worked a lot and I had some restless nights too. I work three jobs which were at Gillette Stadium, Pizza Hut and The Autism Project. I like all my jobs but what job I really like during the summer is summer camp with autistic children. I love that The Autism Project gives autistic children the opportunity to do things that they can't do on the daily.