i am beginning a unit on Tolerance. tolerance toward others in all forms. i am going to start out big: Holocaust, Mexican American unions, a bit of the Civil Rights Movement; and end small: respect toward homosexuals, peers, the girl with the weird earring, etc. i include sexual orientation in the "small" category because i want to address some discriminatory situations i've noticed around the school.
so today we started talking about Gender Differences. Zack is a big tough kid, who is covered in tattoos and is the one who told me the current prices of a pack of smokes and a 6-pack. i heart him. i also owe him $20 for a coupon book. in the lesson i asked various questions: is it okay for girls to tickle each others' backs? is it okay for guys to? is it okay for 2 girls to sleep in the same bed on vacation? for 2 guys? i was trying to get to the point that standards are quite different for men and women. Zack responded immediately to my question of, "is it okay for little boys to play with baby dolls?" with a "hell yes. i played with dolls until i was ten."
awesome.
same class, Samir was standing by the door right before the bell rang. he is from Bosnia. a girl came in to ask me something, and after she left he said, "i came to America with her."
i love the diversity in my classroom!
3 comments:
you should check out a book called The End of Education, by Neil Postman. you might be able to make good use of it in your classes. and plus it's probably my favorite one on education.
Very cool, Heather. Dolls are totally okay! It's great when the class members propel the lesson forward. You seem to have a great way of personalizing your class discussions by making them relatable to the students.
What cool experiences you're having! I think Zac must have older sisters because William doesn't have any dolls to play with.....
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