Tolerance

Looking through the Teaching Tolerance website was a different experience. A lot of the activities and lessons on there are extremely informative and helpful for teaching the social justice issues that we’ve been learning about all semester. I did, however, find it really hard to find a lesson/activity that I thought was suitable for kindergarteners. Once I did find some, it was easy to narrow it down to the ones that I would feel comfortable teaching.

One lesson that I found (and loved!) was a lesson on family. I really love the idea of kids exploring what makes every family different and the fact that not all families are the same. A lot of kids nowadays come from families that stray from the norm (you know two parents, 2.5 kids, a dog). In fact, black and Hispanic children are more likely to only live with one parent and many Hispanic children live in a multigenerational household (Vespa, Lewis, & Kreider, 2013). It’s important for kids to see that even if someone else’s family doesn’t look like yours, it is still a family. I really liked the objectives of this lesson because they really seemed to fit kindergarteners; being able to “exhibit pride in their own unique family without judging other families” is one objective that I find very important ("My Family Rocks!"). Kids with two mommies or two daddies often get made fun because a lot of kids are taught that that ‘isn’t right’. This way they can appreciate their own families as well as others.

Another idea that I thought would work well for younger students is Mix It Up day. We actually did this at my high school a few years back and it did not go well. I think that it might be more successful if you tried it with younger students because they are more willing. I believe that it is easier for kindergarteners to open up and try new things because they hold no prior prejudices. Mixing it up at lunch will be a challenge to navigate, but I think that they’ll be able to meet some new people and open up their little world. Then, after lunch the teacher can follow up and see what the students learned or thought about their time with different students (who may not even be in their class or on their bus).  

Vespa, J., Lewis, J., & Kreider, R. (2013, August 1). America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2012. Retrieved October 29, 2014, from http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-570.pdf

My Family Rocks! (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2014, from http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/my-family-rocks

Bullying is Risk Factor

Today’s youth faces many challenges and pressures as they navigate their often busy lives. Many people are often unaware of the true trials that kids deal with on a day to day basis. There are risk factors around every corner and trying to dodge them is becoming a full time job for teens.

I personally think that one of the biggest risk factors for youth is bullying only because of the number of terrible things that it can lead to. As someone who was bullied for a good ten years, I can personally tell you that it does not lead to anything good. I seriously contemplated suicide and self-harmed for a good year. I have depression and I seriously considered not eating for the rest of my life. As far as the results of bullying goes, I pretty much acquired every bad one possible, and I can honestly say that I know just as many people who were in the same situation as me. Bullying has become an epidemic, something that kids see as a rite of passage. You either have to be bully or be on the much less enjoyable receiving end. Neither of these seem very appealing, but kids even as young as five are doing it. I’ve seen firsthand a kindergartener bullying other students in her class, purposefully leaving them out of things. It only gets worse as you get older.

Previous generations never saw the harm in picking on other students. Some parents encouraged it and others told their kids to forget about it. No one really understood the long term effects of bullying. My own dad still doesn’t understand them and used to constantly tell me to just get over it. That’s how were problems were solved when he grew up. Now bullying is driving kids to commit suicide and become anorexic just to fit in. It’s become routine to pick on the “different” kid, the kid who is a little overweight, or the kid that’s just socially awkward or shy. The effects for LGBT youth are even greater. In fact, according to The Trevor Project, LGBT teens are four times more likely to commit suicide than straight teens (“Facts About Suicide”, 2014). That seems insane to me.

As a teacher, I am 100% instituting a no bullying policy. No one should have to feel the way I did. I know that when does happen (because let’s face it, kids are going to do it until they realize that it’s wrong) I need to intervene and talk to the bully, not the victim, and explain how it’s very fun to be left out or made fun of. Sometimes it’s going to take two or three talks, but as long as I am committed to stopping it, it won’t happen. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect. No one should feel like they shouldn’t belong on this Earth because we all have a purpose and I am willing to help my students find that purpose.

Facts About Suicide. (2014). Retrieved October 21, 2014, from The Trevor Project. http://www.thetrevorproject.org/pages/facts-about-suicide

Where I Live Affects My Life

I've never really thought about where I grew up. It was always just a place I lived, never a location on a map. I have lived in the same house, same town for almost 20 years now - that's my entire life. I grew up in Lawrenceville in Gwinnett County. I went to an elementary school that was around the corner from my house. My high school is just down the street. The Mall of Georgia is fifteen minutes away. I lived a very sheltered life and everything I needed was within 30 minutes of my house.

My neighborhood is super small. There are literally only 20 houses on this pretty hilly street. My house has this great hill in the backyard that we used to go sledding down when it snowed. The woods behind my house were thoroughly explored by nine year old me accompanied by my little brother. When I was ten or eleven my dad bought the property next to ours (it wasn't part of our neighborhood, it was a preexisting house) and knocked the house down. So while most of my childhood was spent trying to swing high enough to see over the fence into the yard, I now had a whole unexplored acre of land that was great for “off road” biking. Most kids didn't get two acres of land to play on, so I consider myself very lucky. There is also a lake across the street from my neighborhood. My dad used to tell my brother and I stories about how it used to be accessible to go fishing and just sit on the banks and stare at the water. But since they built a neighborhood around it, we aren't allowed to do that anymore. My dad also tells us stories of when Old Peachtree Road (the road which my street comes off of) used to be quiet and not sound like a racetrack. He always talks about how many trees used to exist but are now gone to make room for neighborhoods, gas stations and my least favorite thing, the gun range. But I also have my own stories. I remember when Mountain View High School (my alma mater) and Twin Rivers Middle School (which my neighbor actually named) didn't exist.

I think living where I did has definitely influenced my life. I know for a fact that I could never buy a house that was right on top of the one next to it and only had a tiny yard. But also living in Gwinnett County has impacted my worldview. Almost all of friends growing up we're non-whites. My best friend in elementary school was the Hispanic girl who lived the down the street. We did everything together. We were inseparable. My best friends in high school were Hispanic and black. There were as many non-whites in my high school as there were whites. I never knew that there were high schools that weren't like mine until I came to UNG. I always hung out with Indians, Hispanics, and blacks and I never thought it was weird. This definitely gave me values that others might not have. I recognize the importance of culture and multiculturalism. I loved immersing myself in the Mexican cultural when I went down the street to play. (By the way Mexican bologna is amazing.) Everyone was on an equal playing field in the part of Gwinnett that I live in. But I also know that it isn't like this in all parts of the county. For instance, Meadow Creek High School is notoriously dubbed Ghetto Creek and I'm sure you can guess why. According to Theresa Riley, for those who grow up "in poor neighborhoods in Atlanta or Chicago often means that the chances of achieving higher incomes later in life are significantly lessened" (2014). I lucked out growing up in a wealthier part of the county (and not going to Ghetto Creek), but not everyone has that luxury or the opportunities and life values that I grew up developing. 

Riley, T. (2014, January 1). "Where You Grow Up Matters" | BillMoyers.com. Retrieved October 17, 2014, from http://billmoyers.com/2013/07/23/where-you-grow-up-matters/ 

Religion Swap

This week an interesting challenge for me. Choosing to go to a different religious service turned out harder than I expected. I spent the weekend at home in Lawrenceville and around there, there aren’t many different types of religious services. I wouldn’t even know where to find a mosque or temple around me. So, I thought that being Catholic, any church service would probably be extremely different from the way I grew up. I was right.

I went to Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church and everything was way backwards. The minute I walked into that church I felt like something was off. They don’t have pews like we do in a Catholic church; they have chairs and no kneelers, which was a shock to me. Where do you kneel? I was so confused. It was a lot more casual than a Catholic church too. Everyone was wearing t shirts and jeans and, at least in my family, we go to church in a dress or skirt. People who show up to church in shorts and a tee in a Catholic church get stared at. They also have this huge screen on the wall behind the altar where they project the Bible verses. My church has no screen of any sort, just the Crucifix. Which isn't even in a Methodist church; they just have a cross. I felt very awkward sitting there not knowing what was going on. I know my church service backwards and forward, I could probably recite it to you right now. I was totally lost in this church and had no idea what to expect.

When the service did start, it felt familiar. There was the procession down the aisle to the altar and we sang, albeit not the slow paced, traditional Catholic songs that I’m used to. When they actually started the service, however, it was a whole different ball game. The obvious different here was that there was no sign of the cross, which immediately through me off. We always start off mass with the sign of the cross. As the service progressed it only became more foreign. The way that they present their bible readings is completely different from Catholicism. They talk more about what it means today than they do reading the actual verse. In the Catholic Church, we are presented with two readings and the Gospel reading. Then the priest gives his homily, the equivalent of a sermon in any other branch of Christianity. In the Methodist church, there is no real reading or Gospel, it’s all a sermon from their pastor. Another huge difference was there was no communion. We do communion every week, whereas Methodist don’t.

I think this was a great experience to have. Going to a different service really opened my eyes to the different types of religions that are out there. I always believed that you have to be tolerant and respectful of other religions. As someone who used to get picked on for being Catholic, I think that it is important to emphasize that just because someone believes something that is different from you, doesn't mean that what you believe is wrong or what they believe is wrong. We have to understand that there is no wrong answer when it comes to religion; whatever you believe is right for you and that is all that matters. 

Accessability

Every day I go about my life not thinking about how to get from place to place. I just do it. I go to class, I go to Walmart, I go to Zaxby’s, and I go home to my apartment. Accessing these places is never a problem for me, but if I had a physical disability, they would be. Going about my life on campus this week, I took notice of the places I go to see how I would get there if I was disabled. It was interesting to see what was possible and what wasn't. All of the buildings on campus are accessible with wheel chair ramps and buttons to automatically open the door. We have elevators in all the buildings and even our one way circle helps those who are hearing impaired or seeing impaired because it’s helpful to only have to look one way. Our cross walks are even accessible for people with disabilities. I never knew that cross walks at one point weren't accessible for these people. According to Sensoy and DiAngelo, “Prior to 1990, curb cuts (the place where the sidewalk slopes to the street), or tactile paving (textured surface to assist the visually impaired) did not exist.” (pg 61). These are things that I took for granted, not realizing that people had to fight for these to be installed so they had access to the same things that I have access to.

One thing on campus that I found was inaccessible to people with disabilities is my apartment. I live in the Walker Drive apartments behind chow (crappy, I know) and I realized that there is no way for someone in a wheelchair to get into my apartment. You have to climb up two steps to get to the door and this is highly inaccessible for people with disabilities. I also realized that the drill field is only wheelchair accessible on one side and then you’d have to get down to the other side to participate in activities. That’s a huge inconvenience. I’m sure that anyone with a disability probably doesn't regularly attend events on the drill field. 

Fixing these problems can be both simple and hard. It’s very easy to say ‘oh let’s just put in a ramp’ or ‘let’s just pave this instead of grass’, but it’s more complicated than that. The reality is that a lot of things that are a necessity for some people are second tier because of a lack of funding. The funding committee, being the dominant group, will say that it’s not a necessity and that these people are fine or could live with it or deal with it. The dominant group is never going to fund something that doesn't benefit them. That’s a sad reality, but it’s, unfortunately, the way the world works. 

Sensoy, Özlem, and Robin J. DiAngelo. Is Everyone Really Equal?: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education. New York: Teachers College, 2012. Print.