APA pp.31-69 discussion
After reading these pages in our APA text, I was really surprised at how much of this stuff I already knew, yet how much I didn't as well. Something I was thinking about while reading the section on sexual orientation struck me, and I'd like to share it (I apologize if this offends anyone, but this situation actually happened to me when I was teaching in Rochester a couple of years ago.)
In our text, the author points out that the word "gay" is preferred over the term "homosexual." I had a student when I taught in Rochester who was very open about his sexual orientation, and he told me that he preferred the terms the other way around. When I asked him to clarify, as I could tell he got picked on constantly at school and I wanted his advice on ways I could help prevent it...he said that so many teenagers right now are using the term "gay" to mean something horrible or gross or wrong, and that he feels he's a person first...a student, a son, a friend, a musician, but also someone who happens to be gay. It was a really interesting conversation that I had with this young man, and it opened my eyes on the terminology that flies around in the hallways at school and what sometimes flies out of kids' mouths without them really understanding the meaning that might be interpreted behind the words by another person. So, long story short...I tell my students the first time someone uses the term "gay," that it's not a word I appreciate them using in my classroom and I explain why. For the most part, they've been really great about it. Some of them have even said that they had no idea that it could offend someone like it did that student of mine a few years back, and that they'd try to keep from using it in a demeaning way from now on. Again, I really hope I haven't offended anyone by sharing this story. Reading that section in the APA text just brought back memories of that student in Rochester and what he had to live with everyday...the teasing, the bullying, and so on, all because his peers didn't take the time to listen to him. I hope he's doing okay now in high school. Maybe, he'll find others who share the same lifestyle as he does, and he'll be able to form some sort of peer group that he lacked at the middle school I taught at that year. I guess it really does just take one teacher to make a difference, or to let a student know that they're appreciated. Thanks for letting me share.
In our text, the author points out that the word "gay" is preferred over the term "homosexual." I had a student when I taught in Rochester who was very open about his sexual orientation, and he told me that he preferred the terms the other way around. When I asked him to clarify, as I could tell he got picked on constantly at school and I wanted his advice on ways I could help prevent it...he said that so many teenagers right now are using the term "gay" to mean something horrible or gross or wrong, and that he feels he's a person first...a student, a son, a friend, a musician, but also someone who happens to be gay. It was a really interesting conversation that I had with this young man, and it opened my eyes on the terminology that flies around in the hallways at school and what sometimes flies out of kids' mouths without them really understanding the meaning that might be interpreted behind the words by another person. So, long story short...I tell my students the first time someone uses the term "gay," that it's not a word I appreciate them using in my classroom and I explain why. For the most part, they've been really great about it. Some of them have even said that they had no idea that it could offend someone like it did that student of mine a few years back, and that they'd try to keep from using it in a demeaning way from now on. Again, I really hope I haven't offended anyone by sharing this story. Reading that section in the APA text just brought back memories of that student in Rochester and what he had to live with everyday...the teasing, the bullying, and so on, all because his peers didn't take the time to listen to him. I hope he's doing okay now in high school. Maybe, he'll find others who share the same lifestyle as he does, and he'll be able to form some sort of peer group that he lacked at the middle school I taught at that year. I guess it really does just take one teacher to make a difference, or to let a student know that they're appreciated. Thanks for letting me share.
posted by Tanya Loewen at 5:22 AM
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