Classroom and Culture

Friday, April 17, 2015

Re-Imagined Classroom

For this portion of your portfolio you will return to your Imagined Classroom and work to (re)imagine it in light of the things we have learned in class. You will also include a reflective piece that describes why you made changes (or didn't) to your original classroom description. In addition to being part of your on-line portfolio.

1. Five images (you can take them or they can come from the Internet [provide proper credit]). These images should reflect, in some way, what you imagine your classroom will look like once you are a teacher. Please annotate your images by providing a description of the image and how it relates to your future classroom.

The students will sit in groups. (http://www2.mcsdk12.org/kam21/the%20classroom/desks.JPG)

There will be inspirational posters on the walls. (http://aboveaverage.me/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/motivational-posters-3/0079-believe_1920x1200.jpg?8d7c13)

There will be a box where students can submit comments, questions, and concerns. (http://www.challahcrumbs.com/images/questionBox.jpg)

I will have bread, peanut butter, honey, and granola bars for when students need food. (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2298/2274417055_1f824c2388.jpg)

There will be a bookshelf with books that students can check out if they want to learn more about science. (
http://www.teamamericaprops.com/TeamAmerica/TeamAmerica_GarysBookshelf.jpg)

2. Imagine the surrounding in your classroom. What does the room look like? What resources are available for students? How are the resources used during the lesson?

The room is decorated with inspirational posters as well as science ones. It looks organized, and desks are organized into groups. I also have a bookshelf filled with books that students can read for fun as well as for extra credit. I also have an anonymous concerns and complaints box next to the box where students can turn in assignments.

During the lesson, there are labs. I also want to have a small motivational thought at the beginning of class so that students know that I care about their well-being beyond how they do academically; so whether I use a quote on the wall or just write one on the board, I'll use inspirational thoughts. Students can turn in slips of paper into the concern box after class as well as check out books.

3. Describe the students in your classroom. What are their backgrounds? What are their interests? What are they doing during the lesson?

My students are typical. They are varied in ability, background, culture, interests, and interest level as far as my class is concerned. Honestly, my image of my classroom looks like the classrooms that I went to high school in. Students are more concerned with socializing than the lesson. A lot of them don't speak English, and they don't necessarily value education. On the other hand, there are students that try really hard to pay attention despite the chaos. They are also interested in TV shows, gossip, and sports. They hate being patronized by teachers, and if you do speak condescendingly, your class turns against you and you can't get anything done. So during the lesson, I hope to incorporate a lot of their interests so that they will feel more inclined to pay attention. For instance, as a physics teacher, I want to take a popular film and apply it to all of the units that we go through.

4. Describe you classroom policies. What are you classroom rules? What is your discipline plan? What are your homework policies?

Besides enforcing school wide rules, the main rule in the classroom will be based on respect. So interrupting, teasing, and ignoring people will be against the rules. The main thing though is fostering an environment that facilitates respect. Disciplinary action will probably be something that I discuss with the class at the beginning of the year, and the consequences are decided on as a class. I find that when people participate in creating something, they are more likely to uphold it in the future. Since learning is the primary objective, they can always do alternative versions of homework assignments to improve homework grades (the alternative versions will probably come from different textbooks than the ones that the students use) or come in for an oral discussion about the subject matter. Students can work together on homework assignments, but they have to show their own work. Homework can be turned in late up to three weeks after their original due date.

5. Describe a typical lesson you will teach in your classroom. What will you teach? What is the topic? Why did you choose this topic? How will you teach it? What is the main thing you want students to learn during this lesson?

My lesson plans will follow a three day pattern, I think. The first day will be about concepts, the second day with math and problems behind the concepts, and the third day will focus on labs dealing with teh concepts. So if it is about gravity, the first day we will talk about constant acceleration. The second day we will do problems about dropping balls from buildings and calculating speed and such. The third day, we will do a lab dropping balls. The topics will be physics topics since that is what I will teach. I teach it mostly through discussion and hands on activities where students investigate the laws of physics themselves. The main thing that I want my students to learn during this lesson is that acceleration is constant while velocity increases as things fall.

6. Imagine your work as a teacher during this lesson. What are you doing during the lesson?

I am walking around helping with labs and leading discussions. Generally speaking, I encourage students to ask each other questions first, and I follow the flow of discussion that students want as long as it is related to 1)physics, or 2) topics that will help them treat each other and themselves better. While I teach physics, there are many other problems that hinder student learning, so if I can ameliorate those other factors, then I will. I keep an eye out for disrespect among the students; I don't want anyone to be marginalized because of ethnicity, orientation, class, or any other factor.

7. Imagine your students again, what are they doing during the lesson?

They are discussing the topic with me as well as with each other. They are drawing pictures and dropping balls. Some people are goofing off, and if they're off task for too long, then I'll say something to them. Some people will probably be confused or frustrated, in which case, I will ask them if they have any questions.

8. Imagine how you will assess your students' learning and achievement. How will you know they have learned?

I will know that they have learned when I can introduce new situations to them, and then can conceptually tell me what will happen. For instance, I'll ask them what happens when I drop things on the moon versus on the earth; if they can tell me that the objects fall at the same rate, I'll know that they've learned something. I'll mostly use their ability to explain with words, because I understand that the ability to manipulate equations shows more understanding in math than in physics.

Reflection on changes:

The first change I made was omitting any expectations of specialized or advanced technology. I now know that it is unreasonable to expect lab equipment, projectors, or smart phones in my classroom. And if all of my students can't use smart phones, then I shouldn't assign things that require a smart phone; sounds logical, doesn't it? I'll make do with ordinary objects to start with, and then move from there depending on the sort of school that I'm at.

Secondly, I added the fact that I would have food available to students. As a college student, I know how hard it can be to concentrate when you haven't eaten breakfast, let alone if you're used to deficiencies in food; it's probably even harder when you're younger and aren't as practiced in extended concentration. I don't want to punish students for things that they can't control, so I'll have food available for when they need it.

Thirdly, I'm different when I envision my classroom. I'm more aware of prejudices against minorities, different sexual orientations, and perhaps my subconscious tendencies. I want to be more aware of how I treat boys versus girls, if I try to press gender stereotypes on students, and if I'm more impatient with minority students than white students. At the end of each day, I want to take a half hour or so to review my behavior; I know that I have a long way to go, but I really do want to be a good teacher that treats ALL of my students the way that the deserve to be treated. I think that probably the best thing that this class gave me was a greater awareness for the fact that ALL human beings have prejudices, therefore I can never be done trying to be fair and kind and than I am.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Book Review for "Bad Boys"

If you want to remember that you're a human being capable of intense emotion, read this book. Honestly, I spent a lot of time being angry while reading this book because of the hypocrisy that I saw on all ends.

For one thing, I found the dichotomous standards between black males and other people appalling. In the school itself, the hegemonic culture of the institution conflicted with the life skills that a lot of black male students were learning at home, inflaming the subconscious racism inhibiting student development. The hegemonic culture of the school desired students that completely confirm to middle class white values, clashing with the counter-hegemonic cultures of the poorer black males who were taught to stand up for themselves rather than being submissive. Black male students could not sell candy at school, while other students were ignored while doing the same thing. Black male students in general were "adultized", so their mischeivous acts were percieved with greater condemnation than acts of other students. The author brings up a valid concern that the institution should NOT work against an entire group of its students.

On the other hand, I think the author failed to really acknowledge some of the dichotomies the skew the story slight.Teachers in the school--whether white or black--were condemned for their power plays with students (an unhealthy coping mechanism for dealing with students that test authority), while Mariana Tompkins was portrayed as a victim for the consequence of whipping her seven year old son in the street (I acknowledge that she was worried about him and loves him); Mariana herself kicked her son out at ten years old for a while because she didn't want to deal with his attitude, but she is portrayed more compassionately than teachers who wanted to give up too. All people need to acknowledge weakness; I say all people because racism and prejudice exist everywhere. In my opinion, both teachers and the mother aren't completely wrong or right in this situation, though the author would argue that society and the institution are more to blame than any other factor

This is true to the extent that people form reactions and defenses in response to their environment. Helen, Horace's mother, learned to be "impolite and disruptive" (116) in order to be heard in a society that dismissed her for not having the academic language to express her legitimate needs and concerns. In turn, her son Horace learned to fight back at school because he picked up this. Often, in fundamental attribution error, people believe that bad behavior is a result of innate badness; this is not true! Black male students, especially poor black male students, just come to school with cultural capital for an economy different than the school environment, so to speak, so their behavior is often inappropriate for the school institution as it currently functions. And on the flip side, teachers come to school with preconceived notions about their black male students because of the media and other experiences, and these notions influence their actions which influence their black male students to become the dangerous stereotype that society projects. Because of these pressures, the system fails black male students at an alarming rate.

The chicken or the egg? Which came first? At first, I was trying to understand who was to blame and who was not, but that's too black and white and besides that point; it doesn't matter. We need to all focus on fixing the problem, not just pointing fingers. And despite the fact that I sometimes felt like this point was overlooked, the author does try to acknowledge the complexity of the situation; in the very beginning, she says that she will include the dichotomous information so that we as readers can understand the struggle in reaching a consensus on what is going on and what we should do.

The tendency to demonize people, on either end, prevents us from learning from what this author is trying to teach. All of the stories that seem unbelievable happened with real people; it would be arrogant of me to assume that I'm not capable of these things that aren't right. So thinking about this book from a teacher's point of view, I thought of a few things;

The black male students expressed anger that teachers could have "attitude", but when students responded with attitude, it wasn't ok. One of the students described it this way; “The way they talk to us. Like they yelling up in your face and pointing at you--and you want to do it back and you get in trouble. But they don’t want want that done to them. No! they think they’re it.” (69) This is a trap that if I got really frustrated, I could fall into. So along with respecting my students as human beings, I plan to have a class discussion that establishes rules and consequences as the beginning of the semester--before anyone has acted up--as well as have box where students can submit comments, questions, concerns, and complaints. In one of the videos that we watched in the semester, a Latina student named Amanda was elected as liaison to the school board, and she said that the best thing they did for her was giving her an outlet for her anger. By always giving students a chance to present their view point as well as have a part in class rules, I hope to give them a constructive way to help me teach them better.

Students also turned to trouble-making because they couldn't make a positive reputation within the hegemonic system. They often didn't understand the academic language or receive enough help or attention to learning. So as a teacher, I'm going to try to focus on what exactly my goal to leave the child better than I found him or her. In order to do this, I can't see my students as enemies to be ruled over or controlled with power plays. I need to persuade them to learn rather than use unrighteous dominion. I also need to build on the capital that they do have so that they have the tools to learn my subject.

Because in the end, I have one main conclusion; as a teacher, I need to participate in critical self-reflection so that I can avoid the hypocrisy and unfairness that angers students more than anything else. As long as I'm fair while honoring the student as a person, I shouldn't have to deal with too much true rebellion.

Monday, March 2, 2015

My Culture

1. This is a picture of the Salt Lake Temple. As a Mormon, this building is culturally iconic; numerous ancestors were married there, including my grandparents.

2. This is a typical LDS church building. It is small, reflecting Mormon desires to have small wards and congregations so that everyone can feel needed and cared for.

3. As an American Mormon, I feel like this is my culture; a large majority of American Mormon kids are forced to learn to play piano, and in church, pianists are needed every Sunday.

4. As silly as it seems, I believe that this oil vial is a part of my culture. No other culture, as far as I know, has its members carry around a few teaspoons of oil. This represents the Priesthood, the power of God.

5. I included this as a representation of some ideas in American Mormon culture. She is modestly and attractively dressed, and she seem happy. These are expectations/stereotypes for girls in my culture. But on the flipside, it can also show the preference for blond, white girls and the tendency towards perfectionism. When I look at college campuses that my nonmember friends go to, people look very different; often they are less modest, but they also put less effort into looking perfect.

6. Boy scouts is definitely a part of American LDS culture; almost all boys at least start boy scouts, though not all get their eagle scout award. It actually is concerning to people who are actually hard core about boy scouts; the worry that the ill-trained and ill-prepared LDS troupes bring down the overall image of Boy Scouts of America.

7. This is a picture of the Stay family, an LDS family that was murdered in Texas last year. I choose this picture because when I saw it last year, I automatically thought that the family was Mormon, even though the news article had mentioned nothing about it and they were residents of Texas. The traditional family unit, lots of kids, matching clothes, smiling faces, and physical closeness in an outdoor setting is reflective of how we view families. We want our families to have a mom and dad, lots of kids, and a sense of perfect unity, as reflected in the smiling faces, matching clothes, and physical closeness. But notice that the mom and dad are not overly close to each other; we have misgivings about parents showing too much affection to each other while other people are around.

8. Mormon missionaries! There is an expectation in my culture that all able young men go on a two years mission, and there is a rising cultural expectation that young women go on a 1 1/2 year mission.

9. You can't ignore the food! LDS culture has a thing for jello, and not just jello, but putting all sorts of weird things in it like green beans. My sister, a highly intelligent mechanial engineering student, was asked in a class if strawberry jello was a heterogeneous or homogeneous; she got it wrong because she thought that strawberry jello had strawberries in it. After all, we always put things in our jello.

10. I also have a Texas culture. I included this picture because not only does it highlight how important meat is in my culture--you have no idea--but it also highlights the cockiness that typifies Texans. I don't necessarily fit the cocky stereotype, but it is a part of my culture.

11. Patriotism is a huge thing in Texas, and in some ways, we have more patriotism for Texas than the United States. We fly our state flag just as high as the U.S. flag. Texas contribute more members to the military than any other state with about 13% of the military hailing from Texas.

12. Football is HUGE in Texas. The football team at my high school sucked, and it still got more funding than everyone else combined

13. Southern Hospitality is a thing. We're a lot more likely to start fights, but people open doors and help you carry things and generally react to the needs that they see around them.

14. In Texas, Republican affiliation is pretty much a given. I remember how scandalized everyone was to find out at that the economics teacher at my high school was a democrat. If you were a democrat, people were a little suspicious of you.

15. "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps." There is this idea where I'm from that if you're having difficulty, you're not working hard enough. We tout self-reliance highly.

16. Country music; we all listen to it in Texan culture. Notice the bald eagle, implying the correlation between country music and patriotism.

17. Referring back to the willingness to fight, Texas don't like it when you try to control them. We tend to react aggressively.

18. But I also have my general American culture; the American Dream is huge idea in this culture. It basically strives for everyone to attain middle class status, having a house and a car and a stable family and financial situation.

19. American Savior complex; we feel the need to interfere with other nations so that we can save the world.

20. One more Mormon cultural aspect; there is this expectation that everyone get married really young. If you're mostly through college and not married, it's concerning. If you're graduating without marriage, heaven help you, you're in trouble. You know that it's a lot harder to find good ones once you graduate.

It was really interesting thinking about my own culture. It's actually pretty difficult to define something so intrinsically a part of you. I found it interesting that my Mormon culture was easiest to define, then my Texas culture, and least easily, my American culture. My understanding of my culture comes from seeing other cultures; since the majority of my life, I lived in a community where Mormons were a minority, I can most easily see the differences that define me as a part of Mormon Culture. Since coming to BYU, I have been around mostly non-Texans, helping me see my Texas culture. And though I do associate with some non-Americans, I have less experience with other countries, so it is difficult for me to see the difference between Americans and other cultures.

In a lot ways, my cultures are unforgiving, which is a hinderance for being a teacher. Mormon culture is perfectionist, and we have difficulty living around practices that aren't similar to our standards. Texas culture tends to be black and white; either you're with us or against us, either you agree with me or you don't. And in a way, American and Texan aggressiveness is also a little unforgiving; we wouldn't be so willing to fight other people if we saw their perspectives and worth more.

On the flip side, there is a predisposition towards kindness and helping others in my cultures. In Mormon cultures, being nice and happy is extremely important. In Texas culture, hospitality is important; if someone needs help, gosh darn it, you'd better help them. The Savior complex in American culture, while being overall unhelpful sometimes, does imbue me with a sense of responsibility and care for other people. As a teacher, it's really important to care about my students.

Works Cited

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/church/temples/salt-lake/images/salt-lake-808x480-SLTEMPLEKIOSK2.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/LDS_stake_center_in_West_Valley_City,_Utah_(cropped).jpg

http://www.newjerseypianocity.com/piano_showroom/images/pianos/U1.jpg

http://ctrringshop.com/resize/shared/images/product/Steel-Oil-Vial2.jpg?lr=t&bh=250

http://www.frostedproductions.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/teenage-girl-with-blonde-hair-and-blue-eyes.jpg

http://kampercity.com/custom/scouts.jpg

http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/i/newscms/2014_28/557546/140710-victims-spring-texas-mn-1430_37f65293c2e6fe526900e915af2e5167.jpg

http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/missionary/mormon-missionaries.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbGQextlwxk3BZyYFkNmsqsFoItkktKDs1uQsptRnk-pnU_eDCEHj-KDO-Uqik6qRpMXjbtaCSj1jniF619fSrrW9iavKZlwL82fXeqPoq7okREwCg7kiIgyNeyIJ7Oy4QM7C3rz22MJb8/s1600/green+jello.jpg

http://www.tmbbq.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Meat-America-Texas.jpg

http://www.elcivics.com/state-lessons/images/texas-usa-flags-flying.jpg

http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2013/02/20/football_620x350.jpg

http://www.joneshopewooten.com/images/newsohologo.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9b/Republicanlogo.svg/1179px-Republicanlogo.svg.png

http://www.thebootstrapsclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/cropped-bootstraps-photo-1.jpg

http://www.worldwidecountrymusic.com/country_music_by_beruud-d46eoer.jpg

http://www.banklawyersblog.com/.a/6a00d8341c652b53ef017615b4166b970c-800wi

http://praag.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Americandream.jpg

http://www.globalpost.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/gp3_small_article/afghanistan_exit_10_17_2012.jpeg

http://ldsliving.com/images/stories/large/13889.jpg

Monday, February 23, 2015

Community Experience

Yesterday, I volunteered at the Mental Hospital. The hospital is mainly for patients with struggles such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses. Every Sunday, the mental hospital recruits volunteers from different wards to take care of sacrament meeting. I ended up giving at talk while I was there.

For one thing, it was interesting for me to see the patients. I was sitting on the stand, which was a raised platform, so I could see the faces of everyone in the audience. At first, I couldn't really tell who the patients were and who weren't. For some reason, I some misconception that they would automatically look different from people that I normally associated with. I think this goes back to the idea that in our culture, we carry stereotypes of certain groups of people; when I hear "mental hospital", I automatically think of people that look and are crazy. In real life, however, I found that this was not the case. The patients were ordinary people going through a hard time. Upon closer observation, I could see the distress and tension in their faces and body language, but it was subtle. They were very, very human to me; I even wondered if maybe I could benefit from staying in a Mental Hospital.

It was also interesting for me to see the families of the patients. Not all the patients had family with them in the meeting, but a lot of them did. The main point is that all these people had different backgrounds, from very supportive to neglectful. I realized that I also had a stereotype that anyone with mental illness typically has a dysfunctional background. But everyone is unique, and just as no one should be treated the same, no one comes from the same place.

I also had the peculiar--or perhaps not so peculiar--experience of being the "other" while empathizing with their common humanity. I know what it's like to suffer from mental disability--I'm currently working through a case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder--and in my talk, I was able to relate to my audience pretty well. I didn't feel like the patients were ostracizing me or anything, in a some ways, I felt like I was accepted into the fold. At the same time, I wasn't familiar with the culture, and it made me feel foreign. For instance, even as i was sharing the experiences that made my similar to my audience, I wondered if it was ok to talk about how hard life can be. Do you talk to depressed people about life being hard? Or the fact that there were trained professionals there for a mere sacrament meeting. Or that we had to be very strict with time management, and people didn't stay after sacrament meeting to chat or linger.And besides the ward members that came with me, I didn't know anyone. Thankfully, the staff were good at giving me instructions.

As a teacher, going to the Mental Hospital was useful to me because as a teacher, I will have students with mental disorders. I'l have students that are depressed, bipolar, anxious, suffering from abuse, etc. I can recognize the mannerisms a little bit better now, and I also know better than to really assume anything now.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Being the "Other"

Being the "other" was an interesting experience. As a Mormon at BYU for the past few years, I had forgotten what it's like to be the strange one that doesn't understand the culture. I went to Catholic mass (in Spanish no less) and though I felt very out of place, I enjoyed aspects of the experience.

The church building itself from the outside seemed out of place in Orem, Utah. It reminded me of movies set in Spain or South America in the 1800s. It was quite beautiful. On the inside, there were a number of chapels varying in size, as well as a gym and other rooms. When I was wandering around for part of the experience, I came across a room called "Cry Room #2"; later, I found out that it is a room for loud children and other sources of distraction. Everything was very neat, and though the halls and gym were very modern looking, the chapels had a very old feel because of the candles, flower decorations, ornate statues and paintings, and sandstone yellow walls. I would have taken more pictures, but I felt so out of place that I was a little afraid that they would kick me out or get mad at me if I did.

I didn't actually manage to fulfill this assignment as well as I would have hoped. Even though I was only a few minutes late, the mass had already started when I arrived. And as I looked into the small chapel that everyone (excluding children and their caretakers) was sitting in, I couldn't see any seats for a stranger to fill...so I sat in the hall outside mass. I did see that some people were kneeling in their pews while other people were sitting down. I think that children were sent elsewhere because it was extremely important to keep a sense of quiet and sacredness. In the beginning, a young woman or child would say something, and everyone else would repeat what she said. This happened for a while, until everyone started singing Hallelujah. It wasn't like in a Mormon church where people sing parts, or where there is musical accompaniment; there was no accompaniment and everyone sang in unison, the same word over and over again. After the song, an older man started speaking. His voice had the tone of "we are all sinners before God, repent ye!" On the other hand, whenever people repeated after whoever was speaking, they sounded reverent but like they were in automatic mode. Whenever adults would walk past me sitting on my bench, they were wary and did not like that I was there; it also was obvious to me that I did not look like everyone else. I had dressed up more, and I didn't have black hair or dark eyes. The children were more friendly with me, probably because they didn't have the same sense of separateness from me that their parents felt.

I felt really out of place, mostly because I didn't have the ability to speak to the people around me. I couldn't even ask people what I should do. And instead of just guessing what I should do, my first instinct was to avoid contact with the people around me as much as possible. If I can talk and communicate with the people around me, then I feel confident that I won't really offend anyone; because if I do actually offend someone, I can explain where I'm coming from, and people will usually give me the benefit of the doubt. But since everyone around me was speaking Spanish, I felt very limited. However, I really enjoyed the sense of quiet and stillness created by the mass. Because of the quiet and repetitious nature of the session, it reminded me of going to the temple. If I felt like anyone was going to draw attention to me, however, I felt a lot of anxiety. I didn't want to make anyone mad at me. It also helped me feel a sense of awareness of myself. My identity became more clear to me when confronted with something so different than what I'm used to. I was thinking about the fact that Mormon church meetings tend to be sort of loud and interactive, with lots of improvisation at parts. For instance, we talk about speaking by the Spirit so much that far from saying things words for word, people will deliberately not write their talks down before speaking. We are also an action oriented church. The Catholic church, on the other hand, is steeped in tradition, which would explain why rote sermons are so important.

Monday, January 26, 2015

A Misrepresented Community: The LGBQT Community

1. "Take me to Church" by Hozier
2.CNN Reaction to Leelah/Josh Alcorn's Death
3. Fox News Reaction to Leelah/Josh Alcorn's Death
4. Lesbian Stereotypes Addressed by a Lesbian

5. "Queer as Folk" British TV Show

Questions:

What message(s) (consistent or conflicting) are being sent about this cultural group through these artifacts? Illustrate how the artifacts convey the message(s).

I chose this minority group because I know that it's a current issue that I would like to understand better, and I know that the current social climate has a big impact on a lot of people. I'm also relatively unfamiliar with how the media portrays LBGQT; so as I was exploring media to see how this minority is portrayed I was a little startled. The overriding theme that I saw throughout media was the over-sexualization of this group of people. The LBGQT is portrayed as more sexual than they are anything else, even by members of the community itself; I'll demonstrate this point by referring the numbered evidences above.

"Take me to Church" by Hozier (1) is a popular song that talks about the struggles of being homosexual in a religious, bigoted world. In the music video, the homosexual couple is definitely portrayed as overly sexual. The video switches between two men making out on top of each other and a mob trashing the house of a gay person. They're level of intimacy was uncomfortable, regardless of the genders of the couple. The singer also refers to his church as allowing him to "worship in the bedroom" because his only heaven is with his partner, highlighting the sexuality of the relationship.

I also chose an article written by a Lesbian addressing stereotypes against her community (4), and though she countered some stereotypes (such as Lesbian attitudes towards heterosexuals and males), she just augmented the overly-sexualized image that I kept running into. She spent a lot of time talking about not only Lesbian sexual behavior, but in fact was touting it as better. Even when she wasn't talking about explicitly sexual topics, she was often talking about various issues of attraction related to sexuality.

The British TV "Queer as Folk" (5) also highlights the sexual part of being homosexual. The show focuses on the relationships and lives of 5 gay men in Britain. I tried to watch some of the TV show after I read about it, and the very first episode started off by saying "it's all about sex"while the five men are at a club. This first episode sets the premise of the show, and instead of trying to highlight loving relationships or struggles of homosexuality in society, the show said that "it's all about sex".

I also found it interesting to see how Fox News (3) (a very conservative news network) and CNN (2) (a very liberal network) reacted to the suicide of Leelah/Josh Alcorn, a 17-year-old boy that wanted to be a transgender. Leelah committed suicide because she thought that since she couldn't start her transgender transition until she was an adult due to her parents' restriction. She thought that without the change, her life wasn't worth living. Because of the way that Leelah viewed herself--she defined herself by her sexuality--she didn't think that she had anything left to live for. Fox News put out an article with a mere 105 words, 20 days after the suicide, giving a bare minimum of information. CNN, on the other hand, had a full newscast the within a few days of the suicide and a written article of 1667 words. The article emphasized how Leelah's conservative Christian parents caused her suicide through their repressive practices. The contrast between these two sources leads me to believe that part of the reason that the homosexual community is represented as so overly sexual is because conservatives are reticent to talk about the issue, and liberals are perhaps more open than they need to be.

How might this message(s) impact how a child from this cultural group is viewed and treated in the classroom?

Because the LBGQT community is over-sexualized, children that consider themselves a part of this community can be viewed as a negative influence on their peers. If teachers and students imbibe this "single story", then not only will they treat homosexual children as if they are no more than their sexual desires, but the LBGQT children themselves will start to conform to the stereotype as way to understand themselves. These children can be ostracized, bullied, and taken advantage of sexually just because of the stereotype that they have, similar to how girls with the reputation of being scandalous are more likely to have their standard pushed by guys with expectations. So in the classroom, their relationships with their peers can be tainted and traumatic for their psyches.
Why is it important for teachers to examine how cultural groups are represented in the media, curriculum and policy?

Teachers, in many ways, have a lot of influence over the culture of a nation. They also can influence the ability of children to succeed long term. By being aware of media, curriculum, and policy in regards to the gay community, teachers can appropriately react to the dynamics of the children in their classroom; they can channel and change more destructive behaviors/views. And by being more knowledgeable, teachers strengthen their ethos with their students, increasing their effectiveness in enacting change in their classroom. And as a teacher, I don't want to be prejudiced against my students; by really examining the issues, I'm more likely to be fair to everyone and provide the optimum solution.

Friday, January 9, 2015

The students will sit in groups. (http://www2.mcsdk12.org/kam21/the%20classroom/desks.JPG)

There will be inspirational posters on the walls. (http://aboveaverage.me/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/motivational-posters-3/0079-believe_1920x1200.jpg?8d7c13)

There will be a box where students can submit comments, questions, and concerns. (http://www.challahcrumbs.com/images/questionBox.jpg)

There will be lab equipment. (http://images.clipartpanda.com/chemistry-lab-equipment-clipart-pgi0045.jpg)