Discrimination on Gender Expression and Sexual Orientation

Today my horoscope read, “it’s your responsibility to understand how the world works.” Although understanding the world is a little ambiguous, after reviewing week two’s reading assignments, I can say that I definitely got a better understanding. One of the topics that I read and thought a lot about was from chapter 6, discrimination based on gender expression and sexual orientation. Honestly it is almost 2020, I really thought society has come a long way learning to be more accepting others sexual orientation, but according to Woolfolk, that could not be anything further form the truth. Unfortunately The National School Climate survey states that, “over 85% [sexual minority youth] had heard the word “gay” being used in a derogatory manner, 70% had heard other homophobic comments used frequently at school, 82% had been victims of verbal harassment or threats, 55% had experienced some form of cyberbullying, and 38% were physically harassed or assaulted.” These statistics are too high and extremely alarming! As a future educator I can only hope that my students will consider school to be their safe place, a place they consider to be their second home, a place that they look forward to going to everyday, a place filed with people who love them for who they are, not a place where they are afraid to be at due to their sexual orientation. 

Recently at work, I was asked by administration to facilitate our school’s “connections” room during the last period of the day. Connections is a stimulation room where any student who is feeling overwhelmed in school can go and cool down to give themselves a break, really they are only supposed to be in there for 15 minutes tops. Students also have the options to meet with social workers right next door. How cool and important right? Anyways, on one of my first days facilitating connections, a transgender student barged in the room and plopped down on the bean bag right next to my desk. I could see the tears welling up in his eyes. I have never met this student before, and the only thing I could think to say was “I’m a good listener.” The student hesitated but finally looked up and quietly mustered that his teacher kept referring to him as “little miss” and “young lady". I was absolutely disgusted, maybe I could understand these words coming from a misinformed student but a teacher? Someone who is supposed to lead by example and advocate for their students? With tears now welling up in my eyes, I had absolutely no idea how to handle the situation. I apologized to the student and told him that no one deserves to be treated like that, especially by a teacher. I asked if he would feel comfortable meeting with a professionally trained social worker to talk in depth about what happened, and luckily he agreed. Our book states on page 247, “a teacher’s ultimate goal should be to determine  what a child needs to feel safe, included, and supported.” After dealing with this situation, I can not help but feel that this student’s teacher failed him.

After this week’s readings, I now have the tools and the confidence to handle this situation if it were to ever arise again in a classroom of my own. The first thing our book tells us to do is to listen to our students when they are telling us about what is going on in their lives. After we listen, we should make sure they know they are not alone dealing with this situation. By letting them know there are other people dealing with the same things, it will show them they are not isolated members of their community. The next thing we should do is refer them to a professional who is trained to deal with these types of situations, teachers are not experts on everything, and that is ok. After they are referred to someone that can further help them, we have to address the people harassing the student. It is our job to educate the students who are doing the harassing to prevent a situation like this from happening again. Lastly the book tells us to follow-up with the student. We need to make sure their situation is improving and if it is not, it is our job to figure out what else we can do to make a comfortable classroom environment where everyone feels welcome and respected. 

Now, how is this going to make me a better teacher you ask? A classroom’s diversity is what makes each class so individual and unique. It is important to understand and accept each and every student for who they are and what they bring to the classroom- we are all here to learn from each other. I am no expert on how everything in the world works, but I'm really trying. With this new information, my first order of business is to follow up with the student who was hurt by their teacher. I need to show him that I too am learning and I really care about what he is going through. My heart breaks for him going to that class everyday, and I can only pray that things have gotten better for him after getting a social worker involved. I want my future classroom to be a safe haven for all my students, one where they can seek my advice when needed and most importantly, one where they are comfortable to be themselves.