For anything to change in life, awareness is key. Awareness is the first step in order to see the change that we wish to. The film It’s Elementary discusses the need for dialogues on homosexuality to take place in schools. The problem is that kids are not being exposed to the topic of homosexuality in schools. If they are exposed to homosexuality, it can sometimes be too late. In my opinion there is never a time that is “too early.” The more that students are aware, the more that they can understand, and therefore accept rather than tolerate. The more information and open discussions that they have on homosexuality at an early age the better chance that students have growing up and knowing that it is okay. Just knowing about homosexuality in general is vital. If students don’t know anything on the topic, it becomes foreign and harder for students to accept at a later age as they have not been accustomed to it. Kids are ready for more than we think that they are. This is something that I have to tell myself in my clinical classes all the time. Even in this video, the vocabulary and viewpoints that students were using and sharing at young ages blew me away. We must give kids more credit in the fact that they can handle the deeper discussions. In schools, we are teaching students the academics, but we are also helping them grow and develop as humans too so topics such as homosexuality should be addressed just as other valuable life aspects are infused into the curriculum.
In my future classroom, my goal is to provide my students with the proper knowledge and tools so that they can develop their own educated opinions on topics. I do not want to tell my students what to believe in, but I want them to know that there are different beliefs and not just one correct answer. This idea already is so significant in the art classroom in general. It would not take a lot to incorporate these ideas into the curriculum because they are already infused into the curriculum naturally. Discussing homosexuality should be addressed whether or not families are for or against it. This is not to ignore the fact that it may not be easy for students as they receive information from so many different sources. Kids get information from all over the place like the media, their friends, parents, etc. all of these different opinions and varying viewpoints can get super confusing and conflicting. For example, it becomes very difficult for students to learn about a topic such as homosexuality if they know that their parents are against it. It puts students in an uncomfortable position of disregarding what their parents have to say leading to a conflict of values and morals. I hope as an educator that I can bridge the notion that yes everyone has an opinion, but they’re allowed to have their own opinion too.
Lastly, I would like to discuss how I personally connected with the creative movement teacher in the assembly. He exemplified how much harder it would be to play soccer if he had to hide a part of one of his legs. He explains how he can still play soccer, but it is much harder to play than if he didn’t have to hide a part of his legs. This was to demonstrate how hard it is for students who are LGBT+ to have to hide a huge part of who they are.
In my future classroom, my goal is to provide my students with the proper knowledge and tools so that they can develop their own educated opinions on topics. I do not want to tell my students what to believe in, but I want them to know that there are different beliefs and not just one correct answer. This idea already is so significant in the art classroom in general. It would not take a lot to incorporate these ideas into the curriculum because they are already infused into the curriculum naturally. Discussing homosexuality should be addressed whether or not families are for or against it. This is not to ignore the fact that it may not be easy for students as they receive information from so many different sources. Kids get information from all over the place like the media, their friends, parents, etc. all of these different opinions and varying viewpoints can get super confusing and conflicting. For example, it becomes very difficult for students to learn about a topic such as homosexuality if they know that their parents are against it. It puts students in an uncomfortable position of disregarding what their parents have to say leading to a conflict of values and morals. I hope as an educator that I can bridge the notion that yes everyone has an opinion, but they’re allowed to have their own opinion too.
Lastly, I would like to discuss how I personally connected with the creative movement teacher in the assembly. He exemplified how much harder it would be to play soccer if he had to hide a part of one of his legs. He explains how he can still play soccer, but it is much harder to play than if he didn’t have to hide a part of his legs. This was to demonstrate how hard it is for students who are LGBT+ to have to hide a huge part of who they are.
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Lampela, L. (March 2005). Writing Effective Lesson Plans: while utilizing the work of lesbian and gay artists. Art Education. 33-39.