Homespaces

Reading the “Gender Identity Development” section of Nakkula’s Understanding Youth made me think of so many of my students.  Not only does society make assumptions about male/female roles, so do many schools.  I was interested in what the author’s said about girls of color, particularly African American girls.  I find African American female students tend to be so loud and actually aggressive sometimes that I have reprimanded them to cool down and to not get so fired up about everything.  But Nakkula mentions that “black mothers with their tongues of fire” have actually taught these girls to be aggressive and to fight for what they want and need in order to survive in a white person’s world (pg 113).  I never really thought about this before.  Delpit writes in Other People's Children about the black communication style in which mothers tend to bark orders at their kids in a loud, commanding way which explains why some students need that type of communication in order to get through to them in the classroom (Delpit, 2006).  However, I did not think about the black female student socially in regard to their aggressive type behavior until Nakkula.

When the author’s talked about the importance of “home spaces” and “homeplaces” I thought about all the school activities my school has to offer kids.  The Gay Straight Alliance has given kids that are gay and their friends that are straight a space to talk about where they are with their sexuality and how to navigate within a predominantly straight society (both in and out of school). This organization has contributed greatly to the accepting culture we have at my school.  Another group that was just started this year is the Nerd Herd which has 35 students that participate.  Yes, 35 and growing from what I here.  The Nerd Herd, in my opinion, is saving kids both academically and socially.  This group has a trivia question of the week that is usually related to a comic, graphic novel, superhero, Animee, or other such thing that these kids love.  I have learned about Cosplay and ComicCon and all kinds of things through these kids.  This school activitiy is the ultimate in homespaces!!  The teacher leader of this group is very passionate about all the same things these kids love and has coined himself as the Nerdiest Teacher in the building for many years.  What a win/win for both the teacher and the students.