Gendered Harassment in Secondary Schools

The article this week, Gendered Harassment in Secondary Schools:  Understanding Teachers’ (Non) Interventions, by Elizabeth Meyer is an argument that “educator’s experience a combination of external and internal motivators that act as either barriers or motivators for intervention”.  In Meyer’s research she based most of her study, from what I could gather, on a handful of teachers from Canada.  These teachers taught in the same district but some in different schools.  The teachers experiences with gendered harassment among their students varied depending on whether the teachers were supported by their administration.

There were a number of times throughout the reading that I wrote in my notes “are you kidding me!!”  One such time that really infuriated me was when one of the teachers said, “I don’t stop name-calling if I’m too tired, if there are set things I need to get through in a lesson.  I know my lesson is going to take 60 minutes, I’ve got 70 minutes to deliver it, I’ve got 10 minutes to waste.  Right now my job is being a teacher and I have to get through the math before the end of the year.  It’s not on my priority list” (pg 8).  It sounds like this teacher probably has a discipline problem in his/her room and if stopping for 20 seconds to stop a kid from harassing another is “not a priority” I really wonder why this person is in the teaching profession.  At the beginning of the year, during my norms lesson, I make sure it is crystal clear that name-calling is strictly forbidden in my classroom.  Students know that if I hear a racial, gendered, or special needs slur in my room they will be reprimanded.  Very few times does it happen in my room because taking a class period to come up with norms at the beginning of the year sets the tone for behavior in my classroom.

Another area of concern for the teachers was their teacher education programs and the fact that the teachers did not feel prepared to address harassment in their classroom.  Again, to hear one of the teachers say, “The educational degree was really worthless” (pg 9) shocked me.  I know I could have been better prepared for behavior problems in my room and how to include and communicate with parents more effectively, but I do not believe that my education degree from Providence College was worthless in any way.  I would say I felt mostly prepared and then it was up to me to continue with my professional development both through readings and other means to keep up with the latest pedagogical research in order to be a more effective teacher.  One of the teachers mentioned that she did receive extensive training to handle bullying and harassment issues, which I thought was great.  I did not receive much formal training but I think people can take a common sense approach to these issues and at least be sensitive to the fact that many of our students are hurting and it is our responsibility to at least stop it in our rooms.  If teachers don’t want to get involved in GSA and bullying programs, then that’s their prerogative, but my god at least stop it from happening in the classroom.

The other thing we were asked to do for this week was study the GLSN website.  Because I was a part of the GSA program at my high school a few years ago, I am very familiar with the site.  I remember when we brought GSA to my school, our principal was apprehensive and many teachers made fun of it actually.  I think the principal thought that maybe we were endorsing or possibly encouraging kids to experiment with their sexuality.  I know from my own experience that there is a misunderstanding that people choose to be gay or not gay.  This misconception is the basis and the reason to make sure a good GSA program exists in every school.  Do kids experiment with their sexuality?  I would not be so naïve to say, “no, that does not happen.”  However, there are kids that are in such turmoil with their sexuality that they need a safe place to be able to discuss their concerns.  The GLSN site mentions kits that the schools can order, which we did, and in the kits are stickers for teachers to put somewhere in their room or on their door that shows kids that they are a safe person in which students can confide.  We were emphatically denied the ability to use these stickers and today I don’t even know where they are.  Our school participates in the National Day of Silence each April, which I really like because it brings the whole school into the conversation about what it is like to be a young, gay person.  I base my silent English classes around this silent conversation on this day.

There was link on the GSA site to another site called “It Gets Better” which I am so glad I checked out.  As a heterosexual woman, I can say to a student all day long that “it will get better” and that there is hope for a better life after high school, but to hear one person after another that is gay talk about how life will get better was very, very powerful to me.  I feel I have a new source to recommend students to check out.  The people on the site were not just individuals but many families that are moms with kids and dads with their kids.  It was very, very powerful to me and I can only imagine how this site will help my students.  After spending time on the site, I sent the GSA coordinator at my school the information and she is going to talk about it at the next meeting.   I have a video attached, which I hope you all can check out from this site.  I cannot stress enough how many kids are hurting and when I see teachers ignoring the bullying and name calling (or even adding to it) it just makes me so angry.  

Here is one of many videos on the site:

http://www.youtube.com/user/googlechrome?v=7skPnJOZYdA&feature=pyv&ad=7478932977&kw=%2Bit%20%2Bgets%20%2Bbetter

Prudence Carter Article

The reading this week was “Black” Cultural Capital and the Conflicts of Schooling by Prudence Carter.  Her article talks about the Black student and, again, how important it is for teachers to be cognizant of their teaching practices as far as cultural knowledge.  She talks about how Black students lack dominant cultural knowledge.  Also, Carter talks about tracking and the fact that there are not many Black students in the upper level Honors and A/P classes.  It was interesting how she mentions that kids think these classes are for White and Asian kids.

After reading this article I wished I could thank Carter for finally getting me to understand what Black students are really thinking.  At the beginning of the reading, I actually wrote myself a note that I wish we could invite a few Black students to our class to really chat with them about their school experience.  The many authors that we have read have almost lectured to us about this population of students but I really did not feel a connection to the Black student until this reading.  For example, Rayisha is the student that engaged in “loud verbal play” and admitted that her actions created both academic and disciplinary problems (page 65).  My first reaction was that this student was annoying and that’s why the teachers had such a hard time with her.  But then as I read on, I realized that she was a wise young lady.  She knew that if “you just showed up you get a pass”.  So many teachers in my building I think feel this way about their reluctant learner students.  Show up and you pass.  When I had the low level or reluctant learners, I did need them to show up because everything we did was in class.  I very, very rarely gave them homework.  Many of them were homeless, did not have computers, and/or were working to support a family.  However, they did not just get a pass from me for showing up.  They also needed to produce work and do well.  But in order for that all to happen it was imperative that I connected the work to their life (I am referring to all of my students in this population, of course, not just the Black student).  If our lessons connect to our students’ lives, then they will be more engaged and, as Rayisha wanted, they will be challenged in a class that is fun.  Rayisha said, “You can’t learn if you’re in an environment that’s not fun.”  I think a lot of teachers feel as though you have to be an actress or Barney the Dinosaur in order to teach today.  Actually, teachers need to realize that connecting the material to a student’s life, especially the bright but reluctant learner, is what brings on the fun.  That’s where the connections happen and that’s how we get kids to come to school.

Another point Carter made was regarding the Black student that does conform to the White dominant culture of power.  I was wondering if these students were doing the right thing to conform as it seemed they put aside some of their values and belief systems in order to make it in this crazy world.  I was happy to see that some kids were willing to be “codeswitchers”, “cultural mainstreamers” and “cultural straddlers” (page 63).  I am going to be honest and maybe say something inappropriate but I guess I have wondered over years (way before I started teaching) why more minorities didn’t “get it”.  I thought about why some people didn’t rise up and want to live a better life than the life they were in.  As a White female that grew up in a nice little house in a nice little town, I really did not think about how the culture was what kept people from realizing a better life, at least what I perceived at the time as a better life.  So, through my experiences at my urban-ring high school and through all the research I have done regarding social justice I began to understand why and how upbringing, culture, perception, etc. has so much to do with how a person perceives the world and his or her place in it.  Then comes Carter talking about these kids that rise above and part of me says “Yes” and part of me says “Oh, darn”.  I don’t know if I am making any sense as I think I am babbling but I am looking forward to this week’s class to chat some more about it.

Here is Prudence Carter talking about equity in school and the sociocultural context.  It is 20 minutes but she is quite engaging.  She talks a lot about academic ideologies and beliefs and how social location informs ideology.  Really interesting …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecCuLEV9wok

Gerri August, Making Room for One Another

Gerri August’s book, Making Room for One Another, is an interesting narrative about the research project she conducted on how a child fares when raised by lesbian mothers.  In the text we meet a kindergarten teacher and his students primarily during circle time in the morning.  The teacher is committed to running his class in a democratic fashion as he tries to include the children’s lives outside the school in most of his lessons.  Also, the teacher moves comfortably between dynamic dialogicality, designed dialogicality and monologicality.  As with many of the other authors we have studied, I found myself relating to the material while I did not connect these constructs to my teaching in the past.  What I mean is that I move between these constructs in my classroom but I did not think about the associated terms August mentions.

I really like how August uses Alice in Wonderland as the analogy of an adventure in the classroom.  One of my favorite books, it reminded me that school is, and should be, an adventure.  I need to remind myself of that as I stress over teacher evaluation, common core and new common tasks, as well as, still prepare my sophomores for the NECAP they will take next year.  Although the students mentioned in August’s text are five and six years old, my teenage students are as eager and as impressionable about the world around them.

August mentions that the student she was following, Cody, not only has lesbian moms but Cody also is adopted.  Right away, when this is revealed my first thought went right to the fact that he was adopted.  He does not look like his moms since he is from Cambodia and is dark skinned.  I predicted that this was going to be the larger issue for Cody over the fact that his mom’s were lesbians.  My cousin Julie and her partner Karen, had their son Luke via artificial insemination.  Luke looks just like Karen who birthed him and he looks a little like Julie as well.  The moms are white as is Luke.  The fact that he has two moms has been irrelevant in my family and he has been embraced from the moment we found out Karen was pregnant.  Of course, the three of them have dealt with a few problems over the years (Luke is 10 now), however, any discrimination they received was short lived and considered “part of life”.  Now, my friends Maria and Steve adopted two children from Columbia.  I have found that one of the kids, Zackary, has had a much harder time than my cousin’s son Luke.  Zackary does not look at all like Maria and Steve, which is often the topic of conversation by ignorant people all the time.  When Maria was alone with Zackary, especially when he was very young, people would say how cute he was and that he must look just like his dad.  Ugh!  Also, Zackary (now 16) has had a really hard time regarding the fact that he is adopted.  He went through a phase where he was obsessed with the fact that his biological mom (no one knows anything about his biological dad) would give him up.  August mentions abandonment a number of times in Chapter Six and my limited connection to these two types of families brought me to the prediction at the beginning of the story that Cody’s biggest struggle would be over his adoption.  This is emphasized in the penguin story his teacher reads to him about the two dads that adopt him.  It does not matter about the fact that Tango had two dads.  The abandonment was the bigger problem.

But, of course, August’s book was much more than a story about a little boy’s family dynamic.  I liked how August looks at the teacher’s classroom with a critical lens at the type of dialogicality he moves between.  The teacher is good at designed dialogicality as he designs his lessons around a curriculum that is inclusive of the world in which the students live.  However, he jumps into dynamic dialogicality quite well when he needs to connect to the world in a way that was not anticipated.   At times this shift is not perfect, but when is it ever perfect when a teacher has 15-25 students in front of him and thinking quick is the immediate need?  August made the teacher human and not a perfect, unreachable person, which was appreciated.

The following is a video in which leading educator, Lucy West, talks about the stages of collaborative groups and the importance of further questioning a student even when the answer given is a correct answer.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC7CSj7uvwU

I thought about Shapiro’s “laboratory of democracy” as I read about the teacher’s classroom dynamic.  The teacher is focused on empowering the students with connections to their everyday lives.  He focuses on how we can look different, speak different, live different, but still get along and work toward a peaceful existence.  Like Shapiro, the teacher in the text seems to focus on educating his students to be more humane.  Also, I could not help but think about the “Teaching Tolerance” survey when August says, “But treating each ZK student the same, regardless of their interests and needs, would also be unfair.  Zeke knew this” (pg. 176).  The teacher avoids cultural blindness by accepting each student for their individuality and NOT ignoring the fact that he has students with lesbian families, darker skinned families, single mom families, etc.  The teacher tackles these issues head on by reading a variety of texts in order to allow conversation to happen.