New Post? Not for Prof Class?? WOAH!

So I would like to start this blog again with something that I saw on facebook and afterwards posted on my own facebook wall.  You'll see later it also nicely leads from my last blog entry.  It is this article:

http://www.xtra.ca/public/Toronto/Rainbows_banned_at_Mississauga_Catholic_school-10262.aspx

Now I'd like to make a comment that my concerns with how this went down have nothing to do with Catholicism/Catholic Schools/Religion in General.  It was funny that even though I made it clear my issue had nothing to do with these things, every single post other than mine on my facebook wall mentioned things like "Why surprised, its a Catholic School?", "It's great that Catholic schools are making progression!" or "Why does everyone think Catholicism is so intolerant of different lifestyles?"  (I am paraphrasing here).  It gave me a real insight as to how touchy religion still is when it comes to Education and especially LGBT issues.  And how when religion is introduced in a discussion it can often overwhelm the view, perspective and discussion at hand.  That makes sense though, because religion is something to be very passionate about and in almost everyone I have had the pleasure of meeting, this passion makes them better people.

So if my concern doesn't have to do with the religion that lingers in the background of this situation, what is it?

My concern doesn't come from what they specifically banned or what charity they had to donate to, but from the fact that student's with alternative lifestyles were allowed to attend the school, have the event and then the main arguments people have for putting restrictions on the event are "we don't celebrate alternative lifestyles" and "you don't have to go here if you don't like it".  Its the way this all went about and the aftermath that irks me (look!  No mention of religion! =D). It's very counterproductive to a world I would like to see (where no topics and social norms are above being challenged and questioned from time to time).  If the school board is not ready to have the discussion on lgbt issues (which is completely in their right to not be, these schools are based on something where this topic is controversial), then be big enough to admit that.  No one should begin a dialogue you don't actually want to have because it can hurt everyone involved.  That is the point I am trying to make.  As teachers in our classrooms, if we begin a discussion with our students who are not ready to handle the topic, we know it can be detrimental, toxic and possibly dangerous for those in the room.

For me, its easy to pick a side on this article based purely on your religious convictions, but I encourage people to look past that and see the bare facts of what happened here.  Take your own religion out of the equation and what have you got?

Tell me that, and we can really start a discussion.

The end...but not really.

As a last blog entry I’d like to sum up my experience not only in this class, but my experience and opinion in education in general. 

These blogs have allowed me to explore the ideas of exceptionalities and equity issues that face education today.  Most of the blogs have open ended questions without any answers.  A lot have a strong opinion on subjects that you may or may not agree with.  I strived to create entries that elicited some form of response, whether good or bad, from the reader.

One of my favourite quotes is from Aristotle:

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought 

without necessarily accepting it

Genius.

This is where we need to go from here.  Young teachers need to have opinions, pose questions and not be afraid to play devil’s advocate   It seems to be an epidemic in all areas (not just education) of people afraid to do so in fear of offending others.  If new questions and ideas aren’t asked, how can we change current thought and ideologies?  If we think of ourselves as “educated minds” then we shouldn’t be offended if other people question our current practices and beliefs.  Yes some people will be stuck in their ways, but change is sometimes a slow progression.

So please, educators of tomorrow, ask questions and be open to new ideas and thoughts.  We don’t need to accept all of them, we don’t even need to like all of them, but it keeps us thinking.  Thinking of change and how to make things better.  I’m sure the ideas of exceptionalities and equity would not be here today without it.

I don't mean to be racist, but...

This entry is going to be half blog half rant. 

Today we mainly discussed and contrasted the stories of two individuals.  “Ashley” from the Ashley Treatment (google search Ashley Treatment) and Rick Hoyt of “Team Hoyt” (again, a google search on this will turn up many stories).  If you are unfamiliar with either of these stories I urge you to read/watch them. 

As well an interesting point of view brought up during the lecture was the social model of viewing disabilities where the “disability is situated it society’s failure to adapt to the needs of its citizens”.  I think this is an important distinction that has to be made and more widely thought of.  Individuals with disabilities are only “disabled” by the fact they do not somehow function within societal norms.  As to what these norms are, is completely constructed by the world around them.  For example, if the entire country was deaf, we would have much more efficient methods of visual communication.  But since most people are not deaf, it is not a priority to develop such a system. 

So here is where my rant comes in.  When we had this discussion in lecture, specifically while contrasting the two stories of individuals with MID and their families, it seemed the “societal model” of viewing the stories went right out the window.  Almost every person that raised their hand started with something along the lines of “I don’t want to judge, but…” and then proceeded to judge the parents of Ashley while applauding the work of the Hoyt family.  To me, this is very similar to people who say “I don’t mean to be racist, but…” and then make racist comments. 

First off, the discussion we ended up having was ridiculous and unproductive.  The path we went down was not of a constructive evaluation on societal pressures both families have with children with intellectual disorders, rather one where parents were either right or wrong for their decision.  As someone who is an able-bodied white, straight, male, the amount of ways society disables me is quite minimal.  Most the people in the class are very similar, so our ability to relate to these parents or children and pass some form of judgment is laughable. 

More importantly however, is how quickly we were able to completely forget the societal model of viewing disability in favour of giving our own opinion and the individual model of disabilities.  It’s scary that in an hour of being presented with that information it was disregarded, when this is the model we should be keeping in mind in our classrooms and schools for the rest of our lives.  The best way we can help students with MID’s in our classes is by asking what can the school board do for this student?  What can the class do for this student?  What can I do for this student?  And the more we view news stories and other ideas with the societal model the easier it can be to do the same in our classrooms.  Ultimately this will be the best for our kids.

My child is a snowflake!

I was watching a House episode where the patient had to decide whether to keep her perfect memory (her ability to recall every instant of her life) or take pills to get better (which would make her lose her ability).  She struggled with the decision, of not wanting to be normal.  In the end she took the pills.

“if you want to be special, you’re going to have to be alone”

(notice how I’m sticking with the alone theme here…seems somewhat important, eh?)

What does this have to do with education you ask?  Well in the world where “every child is a snowflake”, at least to their parents, the idea and what it truly means to be “special” should really be examined.  This woman, who I believe truly is special, would probably have gotten an IEP in my classroom (I she can’t, who can?).  However the way I see the development of IEP’s and the expansion of learning disability diagnoses is this: I will have 20 kids in classroom with 20 IEP’s. 

Fantastic, no?  My child is a snowflake, going to be the next president, and fly to the moon, they should be getting individual attention from teachers.

So I ask again, what does it mean to be special when everyone else is special?  Does our education system deteriorate when we are unable to discern between those that truly need a more focused attention and those that would succeed if they just applied themselves a bit more, the parents were more involved, or a wide variety of non-“lesson plan accommodation/modification” methods?

My concern and heart goes out to those that truly feel alone because they are special.  Who cannot succeed the same way as their peers, not because they don’t try, but because they try every second of every day with little avail.  My concern and heart goes out to those that might not be seen as that “special” for too much longer going the way we are.

“I was tired of being alone”

That statement stopped me dead in my tracks while reading a document very close to:

http://www.canadianliving.com/life/community/growing_up_lesbian_or_gay_in_canada.php

an article that describes athlete Mark Tewksbury experiences through life and current awareness and education fronts on  Lesbian and Gay youth. 

The reason these 6 words made me put the article down is because in such a short, concise manner this man has described everything wrong with teaching, especially when it comes to youth who are queer in our classrooms.  There are very few people in this world that can fathom what it means to be alone.  This is especially true in every other way you should fit in (this boy in particular was athletic, presumably doing well in school, probably otherwise socially adept) but for one reason that you cannot change about yourself you are ostracized. 

Now what about youth “in the closet”?  They would feel the exact same sense of loneliness (not being able to relate, be a “normal” student in the eyes of society) except.  We have so many terms these days, just look at the alphabet soup of lgbttiqqccp2sa, and as teachers it is very easy to say something that will make a student feel more alone.  Especially when we are the role models of the classroom and set the tone of most interactions in our school.  Now I am not saying lets all jump on the PC bandwagon, but a certain care must be taken to inform ourselves on all of these issues.  Otherwise we will continue to make students feel more alone, and not even know it.

Autism Spectrum

The latest lecture we had was on Autism Spectrum Disorder.  What really hit home with me was the activities we played, revealing how everyday interactions can be very difficult for those who are autistic.  Idioms, for example, cloud communication as people with autism tend to take statements at face value.  From the usage of “face value” you can see how I enjoy idioms and use them in every day conversations.  We all tend to.  However we are blocking the understanding of people we can possibly be speaking to.  It is not unlike English Language Learners.  If someone were to say to me “avoir la chaire de poule” I might hear something about chicken and get a little hungry. 

So when we are in the front of classrooms, and we bring who we are to the profession, how easy will it be to continue this pattern of speech?  To continue this disconnection we have between us and students with autism?  Just something to think about.

I will admit this was the subject out of all the exceptionalities and equity issues we have discussed that I am the least comfortable with.  I do not know a lot about the subject of autism and I am a little embarrassed about it.  However it was great to have a lecture on the subject and I’m definitely going to read more on the subject.  You should learn something every day, right?

Body Image Issues.

In first year at university, I would have been classified as Class II Obese.  Over the course of last year I was able to (safely) lose and keep off about 90 pounds and am currently in a normal weight range.  To this day I still have very prevalent body image issues.  However I would not have been able to do any of this without taking a good look in the mirror and saying I was not happy with myself. I was not okay with who I was.

  

What irked me during our lecture on body image and when I read statistics in general, is the very "accept your body for what it is" and "be happy to be you" mentality and the always negative statistics on diets.  For most people this is a wonderful idea and should be in more people's ideologies .  However I guess my question is what about the kids that really do need to lose weight?  How are their body image issues when they go through day to day life?  How can we have so much information on the epidemic in this country yet still I walk through the ARC and pay $8 for a booster juice when it's $5 for a pizza, chips and fries combo.  When someone on the Biggest Loser (which lets face it, is probably the most widely viewed work out program) loses 10 pounds a week and a student loses 1, how do we ensure they know that that's okay.  If stores sell triple XL tshirts, is that normalizing obesity?  If I am a teacher teaching positive body images and "be happy with yourself" do we lose opportunities to talk frankly with students about safe workout routines and nutrition to accommodate physical activity?  (which to be honest, I am just learning about now through friends I go to the gym with.  From my experience this information seems to be reserved for the athletes in high schools)

I apologize for another rant post, however this issue strikes a chord with me.   What would be interesting in the future is more date on successes/failures of plans made by school boards to promote healthy lifestyles.  Or on society's role on obesity.  This is because everyone seems to talk a big game about obesity, about how it’s on the rise, how our children are in danger etc…but nothing, in my eyes, is constructively being done about it.  It’s time for a change.