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There's No Such Thing as a Bad Student. | 02/16/22

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There's No Such Thing as a Bad Student. | 02/16/22

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"Who am I? The answer depends in large part on who the world around me says I am. Who do my parents say I am? Who do my peers say I am? What message is reflected back to me in the faces in voices of my teachers, my neighbors, store clerks?"'

This quote, from Beverly Daniel Tatum's journal entitled The Complexity of Identity: "Who Am I?", has stuck with me since I first read it during my time in TE101 - I came to the realization upon reading it for the first time that who I am as a person is almost entirely defined by what people around me think I am. It forced me to take on an entirely new perspective of identity, one that I'd never wanted to face; ultimately, I couldn't control how others perceive me. My strengths and weaknesses that others can see - the constant fidgeting and anxious ticks, my passion for education and my attention to detail, my alternative fashion presentation; these all come together to create one me. And they're all things that other people notice. The parts of me that are internal, that only I know about - the conversations I have with people in my head, the constant muscle tensing, the obsessive attention to symmetry and visual cohesiveness; these are all things that shape my own perception of me. So, when I first read Tatum's introductory paragraph, I realized that I was a different person to everyone else. I wasn't Alex, the guy with the borderline-obsessive thoughts about whatever interest I'd discovered that week and a constant replaying song in his head. I was Alex, the guy whose always fidgeting and ignoring people around him. (I promise I'm not, I just respond to people in my head!)

After realizing this, I started to understand what Tatum was saying in a different sense - this is true for my own perception of myself, yes, but it also must be true for everyone else. We all have our own perceptions of what we think we are, but those thoughts and ideas are irrelevant to everyone except yourself. I applied this to myself once again, but from another perspective. I pondered the question, how can I, as a future teacher, utilize this understanding in the classroom? And it brought me here.

All of that to get to this point in this post - as a future teacher, I can't just look at a kid itching to get out of their seat or incessantly interrupting a lecture and think, "that kid is bad." Not only is it unfair to the kid to assume that they are intentionally disrupting my class, but it's unfair to the other students. To this individual student, they're not disrupting class - they're trying to connect with others. They just want to be listened to, a desperate attempt at finding someone to talk to. This student that talks every second or continually gets out of their seat shouldn't be thought of as a bad student - instead, we as teachers should consider why this student feels the need to do these things that we often consider disrespectful or unnecessary. We need to ask ourselves, does this student have all the resources they need both at home and in school to feel respected, in control, and capable of learning? When students don't have these things, they often act out in ways that we can't see at a first glance. A talkative student might not be getting the proper support they need at home. An angry student that often picks fights with others might not feel in control of their life. A student that disrupts class to prevent homework being passed out might not feel capable of learning and understanding the material. These struggles that are present in so many students go ignored for too long, and it makes them lash out.

These people are children. Our future students will struggle - they will yell, disrespect, and disrupt. Our job as teachers is not to judge them by our adult standards. These students, these humans, are learning how to make others perceive them in the way they want to be perceived. Our job is to support every single one of our students and offer extra support to those that need it; when a person feels respected, in control, and capable of learning, they no longer feel the need to disrupt. When a student feels like the material presented in front of them is interesting enough for them to participate, they will engage. The problems arrive when teachers fail to help.

It's important to note, though, that teachers are often the only ones that provide support for students. Absent parents and borderline-incompetent administrative staff put a lot of pressure on teachers to be perfect. The problem isn't that teachers aren't helpful or supportive enough, the problem is that the system as a whole was created without considering a single aspect of mental health support in mind. Teachers have to support their students, yes, but we can't be mad at teachers that fail to meet this impossible standard of supporting up to 200 kids every day. Teachers and students alike are human. The standards have not been met by those higher up - administrators and officials refusing to change an improperly managed system.

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The Dangers of Being a Student | 01/13/22

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The Dangers of Being a Student | 01/13/22

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Warning: This post contains discussions of school-related violence such as school shootings, particularly the Oxford High School shooting. Please do not read this if you're sensitive toward this topic.

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For my first post here on Padlet, I decided to start off strong and discuss the media response to school-related violence. Throughout the years of being a student in the United States, I've noticed a trend of school-related violence being reported and discussed online in a way that I personally think is in no way progressive.

In the past ten years, there have been over 180 school shootings. Over 300 dead students and faculty later, the way that media reports these incidents has done everything except change. On November 30th, 2021, a mass shooting occurred at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan. Four students joined the list of obituaries that day. Media outlets that reported the incident and follow-up articles on the shooter's parents were all focused on the shooter. From the boy's name to where his parents got the weapons, the only thing that these news outlets reported on was the shooter. The victims were only a list of names. Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana, Justin Shilling, and Madisyn Baldwin - these students, these people, became nothing more than a statistic to the public.

As future teachers, we are forced to consider and think about potential active threats in our classrooms. For the past five years of my life, each one of my in-person classroom teachers and professors started off the course by directing us exactly what to do in their rooms in case of an active shooter. This creates, of course, a looming anxiety over students. Last semester, in TE101, we talked briefly about the Oxford shooting soon after it had happened. My peers and I discussed how we felt after seeing this - not only was this incident an attack on students, kids, and teachers, but my peers in the classroom with me that day. Me and one other student recognized a name in the list of victims, and we were forced to mourn privately. Upon witnessing this incident, I later brought it up with my therapist. She did her best to comfort me with the situation and we discussed how seeing incidents like the Oxford shooting can make us, future educators, feel. We're given a tremendous task of teaching the next generation basic life knowledge and skills. And now, in this day and age, we now have to protect them from active gunmen, bombs, and even police.

I hadn't considered something about these situations of either active or threatened violence on such a large scale at schools - not only does this make every kid shake with anxiety and consider texting their loved ones goodbye, it also puts racial minority students at risk. In class, we discussed the mistreatment of racial minorities by police. This brought the question to my mind - how many black and brown students have been mistreated by police during these incidents at school? How many of these students, who genuinely think that this is likely their last day alive, are also being traumatized by the police officers "defending" them? It's only a matter of time before an innocent student escaping a school shooter gets themselves killed by the police because they "looked suspicious".

Because of the focus on the shooter and not the victims, news outlets are broadcasting to the world the attention that every potential shooter craves. Every time another article is written about a school shooter's personal life, another school of victims is created. These potential offenders see the attention that people such as Oxford's shooter are getting and they feel like they deserve the attention themselves. This constant broadcast of attention toward the wrong thing only feeds into the desperate and attention-craving people that become shooters.

There are many things that need to be fixed in order to stop school shootings altogether. The best place to start, though, is by focusing on the victims instead of the offenders. Tate, Hana, Justin, and Madisyn lost their lives in a cruel way. Their families lost kind and loving people. Over 300 families suffer every single day because of a school shooting - these students could have been doctors, teachers, scientists, alive. Their deaths were preventable, and it's the fault of not only the government and media outlets, but the education system itself.

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The Blame Game: Harrassment in Schools | 01/27/22

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The Blame Game: Harrassment in Schools | 01/27/22

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*Before I start this post, I want to clarify a few things. I am a transgender man and I only define myself as a man. However, my experiences as a "girl" throughout my life remain. Throughout this post, I say "us girls" or reference myself as a girl or a female-presenting person. This is done for the sake of simplicity. I am including myself in this group of "girls" despite not being one myself because the foundation of these experiences are based on femininity. It's a little confusing, I admit, but the one thing that you need to understand out of all of this is that despite referencing myself as a girl throughout this article, I am a man.

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This week, I decided to discuss a song that particularly hits home for me. Blame Game by Beach Bunny - a song describing the unfortunate reality that many feminine-presenting people face in today's society.

The chorus of the song begins with the hard-hitting words, "I guess it's my fault my body's fun to stare at. Sorry my clothes can't keep your hands from grabbing. Yeah, it's my problem, I'm asking for it. Guess you're the victim and I'm the suspect." Beach Bunny does a fantastic job of covering the very real problem prevalent in so many lives. By focusing the song on the victim rather than the perpetrator, as so many songs do, the audience is forced to truly look at the victim. "But I don't want to smile for anyone," Lili Trifilio, the lead singer of Beach Bunny and writer of the song, sings about the perception of young women and criticizes the unfortunately common hypocrisy behind these phrases that are often thrown at girls in school.

The reason I chose this song to talk about for this week's encounter is because I feel extremely passionate about advocating for change in schools - I was a victim of assault all throughout high school because my teachers, those who had sworn to protect their students, failed to put a stop to harmful comments and inappropriate gestures. After years of therapy, I have developed very strong feelings about how the world of education treats women. This song resonates with me very much and I believe it's an amazing representation about how young girls are treated in school.

Hair pulling, sexualization, ridicule, and inappropriate touches are only some of the horrible things that many girls experience throughout school. Some are unfortunate enough to start experiencing this terrible behavior as early as elementary school - teasing on the playground and telling a girl she can't play pirates because she's a girl sounds like a small and meaningless moment. To us, those teased throughout school and constantly berated with comments about our bodies and personalities, these jokes create a foundation for a future of tolerating disrespect. As girls, we are taught from a very young age that we are meant to be quiet. We must submit ourselves to men and sacrifice our happiness, personalities, and health in order to be appealing to others. The development of this understanding happens during one of the key parts in our lives - adolescence and school-ages.

Schools are an agent of socialization. As kids interact with their peers and are under control of teachers and other authority figures, they are taught that the opinions of others are more important than their health. For girls specifically, this manifests in ways such as policing clothing and forcing us to play with dolls. Beach Bunny reflects on this in their song, saying "We're taught we're only meant to act holy. Cover up your shoulders or you might tempt somebody."

From a young age, being a girl in school has come with fighting a war between yourself and the world. Girls have to constantly worry about their clothing - is this skirt too short? Are my shoulders showing? If I bend over while in this skirt, will someone be able to touch me inappropriately? I can't lift my arms too much or my stomach will show and then I'll get dress-coded. I need to wear a jacket over this shirt even though it's so hot because my bra strap is showing. I can't wear makeup or else my teachers will call me a whore. If I talk too much, people will assume I'm dumb. If I don't talk enough, people will assume I'm stupid. If I join the volleyball team, the men will only be staring at my body. I can't wear my headphones while I walk home just in case someone's following me. My clothes can't stand out, I don't want to be a target. I need to share my location with my friends in case I'm kidnapped on the way home from school. Talking to the school counselor about what my teacher did to me will only get me called a slut. I can't say no to him, he'll give me a bad grade in the class. I can't speak up, people will only assume I want attention. I need to shut up.

Something needs to change. The education system reinforces sexist ideas that have turned generations of women into victims (or potential victims) of abuse, mistreatment, and the destruction of opportunity. Every time a girl is targeted in school and is ignored or dismissed, another person is being told that they're not important enough. That their struggles aren't serious. That they aren't pretty enough, or smart enough, or funny enough, or skinny enough, for their cries for help to mean something.

As future teachers, we need to do better. Shutting down this behavior that perpetuates a world of harassment will lead to a generation of women making songs not about their experiences as victims of sexual assault, but about themselves.

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A few of my entries on this Padlet cover sensitive topics that may be triggering for people. If you feel uncomfortable or incapable of reading one of these posts, I can offer a different post for you to comment on so you don't miss out on a grade.

My email is hardi110@msu.edu and you can reach out any time.

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That title was mostly just to catch your eye - I don't think abstinence sucks, but I cannot say that I think it's an effective form of preventing teen pregnancy and unsafe sex practices. Across the United States, abstinence is taught in just about every state as the primary method of sex education. 19 of our states teach the "abstinence only" sexual health and education course - the idea that the only way to prevent STI/STDs, pregnancy, and even rape in some cases, is to simply *not have sex*.

If you've been to a high school within the past 20 years, you'd see that many teenagers themselves don't believe in  abstinence-only education. Teen pregnancy and sex-related disease is a rampant problem in every state, and this is where abstinence-only education causes a problem.

When students are only taught that the best way to be safe sexually is to not have sex, it's rare that students are actually deterred from sex. Instead, they just practice unsafe sex. If these students were taught about safe sex - condom usage, sexual health, birth control options, etc. - then they will use that information in practice. Without it, though, they won't just not have sex. They're just going to have unsafe sex. This, obviously, increases the risk of unwanted pregnancy and infections.

Teen pregnancy isn't just an issue because it's teen pregnancy - having to support a child at such a young age is traumatic for anyone. It's also an issue for the teens themselves that are victims of this uneducation; they have to miss out on key parts of their youth and education to take care of a child that could have easily been prevented by proper education. This, in my opinion, goes back to our discussions in TE101 about how schools unfairly disadvantage schools. To quote my therapist, it's "a miracle these students turn out okay at all." Especially in terms of safe sex practices - schools set up students for failure by not teaching them safe ways to have sex. Planned Parenthood conducted a study that analyzed four different abstinence programs in schools across the country. To sum up their findings of these programs, author Christopher Trenholm found that "teens in these abstinence-only programs were less likely than other teens to believe that condoms reduce the risk of infection". None of these programs were reported to help teens abstain from sex or even reduce the amount of sexual partners.

Teenagers across the country are victims - victims of assault by the education system for failing to teach them these incredibly important things about life. Creating a sex-positive environment for our students is something that will ultimately benefit us all.

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"Don't Say Gay" - Florida's Proposed Legislation WILL Kill People | 02/22/22

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"Don't Say Gay" - Florida's Proposed Legislation WILL Kill People | 02/22/22

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This article discusses suicide, homophobia, and transphobia in detail. This is your content advisory warning.

In Florida's latest attempt at limiting LGBTQ+ expression in schools, a bill has been proposed that would greatly limit how teachers and students can discuss LGBTQ+ topics in the classroom. The bill has been officially titled the "Parental Rights in Education Bill" because the majority of the support for this legislation comes from those claiming that parent's should have a say in their children's education.

"A school district may not encourage classroom discussion [about LGBTQ+ topics]... in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students" is in section 3, line 78 of this proposed bill. The definition of "age-appropriate" is not made clear in the bill, which can lead to a multitude of problems. What I deem appropriate to talk about with children can be completely inappropriate to others, leading to the banning of a discussion entirely. Limiting this discussion and erasing it from schools will not prevent kids from realizing their identity, it will only prevent kids from being happy and feeling supported by their surroundings.

"A school district may not adopt procedures or student support forms that prohibit school district personnel from notifying a parent about his or her student's mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being, or a change in related services or monitoring, or that encourage or have the effect of encouraging a student to withhold from a parent such information." This is another quote from the proposed bill, section 2 line 63. At first, this line may sound quite supportive of student mental health and encouraging for those in need of support - however, the last portion of that statement is where the majority of the problem is. LGBTQ+ students that live in homes where being queer is an issue or worthy of punishment, withholding that information is crucial to their survival. In many cases, being openly queer in school is the one thing that prevents kids from committing suicide.

This bill is essentially encouraging children to kill themselves. That sounds harsh because it is - by forcing teachers to out their students to parents, a very hostile environment is created. Students can no longer trust their friends, their teachers, their peers, or their parents - suddenly, after this bill is passed, LGBTQ+ students will have nobody they can trust in school. What would stop a kid's homophobic classmate from outing them to a teacher out of spite? That leads to uncomfortable discussions with parents, abuse at home, and then suicide.

Being able to be openly transgender in school was the one thing that kept me alive during the entirety of my high-school life - I had peers and teachers to support me, ones who didn't fear legal repercussions if they failed to out me to my parents. The first time I was forcible outed without my consent, it felt like my entire world was falling apart. My home was no longer a safe space for me to feel comfortable - it was a hostile environment that I had no choice but to survive in for the next four years. Because someone felt like they hated me enough to destroy what little relationship I had with my parents, I tried to kill myself three times throughout high-school.*

The only reason I survived was because I had the support of my friends and teachers. Now, imagine if I didn't have that at all - imagine if my teachers were required to tell my parents about my identity, or else they could face a multitude of legal issues. Teachers cannot afford being sued by parents, losing their jobs and teaching license, and being fined thousands of dollars - so, like these students in Florida, I would be outed. I would not have lived to see my 16th birthday, and I am sure of that.

In TE102, we've discussed how we as teachers are able to recognize injustice in the classroom and where it comes from. This, right here, is where injustice comes from - it comes from these dominant groups, made up of white cisheterosexual men, making decisions about our lives for us. As teachers, it's our job to prioritize our students lives. With this bill, though, that responsibility is put into question: at what point do we violate laws to save our students? For me, a bill like this would not stop me from discussing the existence of my people. I would rather face lawsuits and unemployment a thousand times over than ever put my student at risk of being outed; could you say the same?

Regardless of your answer, it's unfair. Either you, a teacher, put your student at risk of suicide and continue teaching in an environment where queer people will suffer, or you lose your job and the license to do the thing you've spent thousands of dollars and years to do, not even to mention the thousands of dollars in legal fees and lawsuits you could potentially face. There is no right answer. As teachers, we will have to face problems like this, ones where neither side wins. The only people that win in a scenario like this are the people that belong to a dominant social group.

If this bill passes, students will kill themselves. There will be another generation of kids feeling cornered and at risk. They will not see their peers and teachers and parents as trusted allies, they will only see them as threats to their safety. LGBTQ+ kids are human too - they want to live, they want to survive, and they want to be happy. They have every right to do that, and I believe that it's every adult's responsibility to provide those to the children around them.

We have the power to oppose this bill - President Joe Biden tweeted himself that he and his administration will "continue to fight for the protections and safety you [LGBTQ+ students] deserve". This proclamation, however empty it may be, still shows support for queer youth - that's exactly what we need right now. Adults of all ages need to rally together and show disapproval for this bill or else there will be fatal consequences.

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*I talk a lot about my relationship with mental health in this post, and just to clarify - I am okay! I talk about my experiences because discussion around mental health is extremely taboo still and I want to break down that barrier. I promise I'm at no risk of harm to myself or others, my therapist says I'm doing awesome and I will believe her because she's usually right.

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Proposed legislation in Florida would restrict how teachers can discuss sexuality and gender in the classroom, the latest effort by Republican lawmakers to remove the teaching of LGBTQ issues from schools.

Supporters say the measure empowers parents who deserve to have a say in what their children learn, but critics - who've dubbed the proposal the "Don't Say Gay" bill - argue that it will strip protections from LGBTQ kids and have a chilling effect on educators.

Versions of the so-called Parental Rights in Education bill passed a Florida House committee in January and cleared a Senate committee this week.

What's in the bill

Under the House bill, a Florida school district "may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students." The bill doesn't specify how "age-appropriate" and "developmentally appropriate" would be defined.

The bills would also give parents the ability to sue schools if they believed the schools violated any provisions of the law.

Florida governor signals support

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signaled his support for the measure during an event on Monday but didn't say whether he'd sign the bill if it reached his desk.

"We've seen instances of students being told by different folks in school, 'Oh, don't worry, don't pick your gender yet, do all this other stuff.' They won't tell the parents about these discussions that are happening. That is entirely inappropriate," DeSantis said.

"The larger issue with all of this is parents must have a seat at the table when it comes to what's going on in their schools," he added.

Critics say the bill is dangerous to LGBTQ kids

But LGBTQ advocates have slammed the measure, and President Biden weighed in this week, panning the proposal and reiterating that his administration would work toward greater protections for LGBTQ people.

"I want every member of the LGBTQI+ community - especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill - to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are," Biden tweeted on Tuesday. "I have your back, and my Administration will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve."

The group Equality Florida, which advocates for ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, said the bill is "dangerous" and accused lawmakers of targeting LGBTQ young people.

"This legislation is meant to stigmatize LGBTQ people, isolate LGBTQ kids, and make teachers fearful of providing a safe, inclusive classroom," the group said in a statement. "The existence of LGBTQ students and parents is not a taboo topic that has to be regulated by the Florida Legislature."

A version of this story originally appeared in the Morning Edition live blog.

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'Don't Say Gay' bill would limit discussion of sexuality and gender in Florida schools

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Proposed legislation in Florida would restrict how teachers can discuss sexuality and gender in the classroom, the latest effort by Republican lawmakers to remove the teaching of LGBTQ issues from schools.

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Black Influence on American Social Media: The Trendsetters | 03/03/22

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Black Influence on American Social Media: The Trendsetters | 03/03/22

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From TikTok dances to world-changing movements, Black people across the nation have had a phenomenal influence on American culture. In the world of social media, staying up-to-date on the latest trend is key. Throughout the entire existence of modern media, Black people have consistently come out on top when it comes to creating and pushing trends out. Drake, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, Childish Gambino, The Weekend, Lil Nas X, and Cardi B are some of the most famous musicians in the world, repeatedly hitting the top of the charts release after release. Out of ChartMaster's 'Spotify's Most Streamed Studio Albums' list, 7 of the top 20 most-streamed albums of all-time were made by Black artists. In the world of music, Black-influence is an undeniable truth.

Black influence is also present in social media trends - in June of 2021, Black creators across the internet went on strike in protest of the continuous erasure of their credits online. They saw how white creators consistently stole their viral dance trends and received love and support for something they had no part in making. "The viral clips they share often give no credit to the dance’s Black creator, who can only sit back and watch as their moves go viral without them,"  Natachi Onwuamaegbu of The Washington Post writes. In an interview between Onwuamaegbu and Erick Louis, a TikTok creator who posts primarily politically-themed content, he says "even in the spaces we’ve managed to create for ourselves, [non-Black] people violently infiltrate and occupy these spaces with no respect to the architects who built it.” It's very clear based on the origins of trends that have taken the internet by storm over the years that Black creators have practically built what is called "internet culture" - so how do Black voices consistently get silenced online? If the majority of trends online are created by Black individuals, how does this erasure keep happening?

The erasure comes from the repeated ignorance of white creators online. Many of the most popular social media stars online are white individuals that built their career off of following trends and sharing memes - many of these posts completely uncredited to the original creators of the dance, song, meme, even the post entirely in some cases. A lot of white creators, intentionally or not, fail to recognize how leaving out a few simple words crediting the original creator can be so detrimental.

In TE102, we talk a lot about how minority groups are treated socially - we often discuss the effects that erasure has on our perceptions of these groups and the consequences of injustice. In the online world, it's far too common to see erasure of Black voices. The consequences of this erasure of Black excellence is very easy to see - even now in our "more progressive" years, racist stereotypes and caricatures of Black lives remain at the forefront of our media. The Black character still dies first, the sassy Black woman is still in every sitcom, and every Black woman is still "too aggressive". These disgusting stereotypes and character archetypes continue to be perpetuated by Hollywood and online spaces because Black voices are constantly silenced.

Would the "aggressive Black woman" stereotype still be so common if people knew that Black women created some of the biggest positivity-promoting trends of the decade? Would the racist stereotype of Black men being inherently threatening be so popular if people knew that the majority of male fashion trends that went viral online in 2020 originated from Black male creators? These are questions that nobody can have a surefire answer to, but it must be considered when thinking about Black erasure online, especially when discussing the influence that Black culture has had on American trends over the years.

Teaching is meant to be about learning, yes, but it's also about showing support and love for our students - that is not something that can happen if teachers fail to acknowledge concepts like this. To many, the difference between showing a TikTok video of a white creator doing a dance, uncredited, by a Black creator is something undeserving of attention. To others, potentially our students, it's something so much more than a dance - it's proof that the adults they're meant to trust are uncaring about their identity as a minority group. If they can't even bother to share the original instead of the uncredited copy, as the most simple form of respect toward Black creators and Black people entirely, then how can they be trusted to bother supporting their students? To me, at least, I would feel heartbroken if I found out that my students couldn't trust me. So many kids do not have a support system, and it's so easy for teachers to become one for their students. I think that, as future teachers, it's vital for us to familiarize ourselves (and each other!) with concepts like Black erasure and Black influence - understanding, even at a basic level, how these concepts have impacted society is infinitely more supportive than doing nothing at all.

I, as a white person, want to acknowledge that I cannot possibly begin to understand the personal nuances that come with growing up and living as a Black person. Race, in America, is such a difficult social identity to understand because of all the history behind it. I'm very much open to criticism here, if anyone feels as though I said or did anything in this post that's insensitive or offensive. While I do my best to invest myself into understanding topics like this, I can't ignore the fact that it's entirely possible for me to misunderstand something. I can fully promise, however, that there is zero intent to harm, mislead, or offend anyone in this post.

Students should not feel like they're not respected by their teachers. They should be able to see themselves in the course - there needs to be racially-diverse characters, there needs to be queer writing, there needs to be accessibility, and there needs to be acknowledgement. Acknowledgement of history's wrongdoings, acknowledgement of history's erasure. Most importantly, though, there needs to be promises by teachers and administration to be better than they were before.

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Keyaira Kelly On Why Black Press Matters, Social Media Influence, Our Cultural Movement + More

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Teaching Transphobia: How Schools Encourage Harassment Against Queer Kids | 03/16/22

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Teaching Transphobia: How Schools Encourage Harassment Against Queer Kids | 03/16/22

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Transphobia in education is nothing new - for decades, schools have been failing to protect transgender students and educate cisgender students on the importance of queer acceptance. This continued pattern of disrespect toward transgender students has gradually turned into a systemic issue that goes far beyond education, reaching into the world of U.S. politics and infecting transphobic lawmakers. Now, in a time of rising targeted hate-crimes against transgender individuals, it's more important than ever to call attention to the issues that transgender students face in school.

For many kids, the concept of self-expression is first created when they socialize with their peers. Hair styles, fashion choice, language usage, and personal identity are just some of the many ways that kids express themselves; most of the time, this expression is shown in their social lives, which is primarily at school and in classroom settings.

For some kids, their concept of self-expression manifests as a gender-incongruence. They begin wearing clothes that aren't typically associated with their gender assigned at birth, they grow or cut their hair to a length they feel represents themselves, and they begin to see themselves as transgender - this expression, while remaining a crucial part of exploring and understanding identity, is often suppressed by authoritative figures. Dress codes and school uniforms are only the beginning of how schools fight against trans students.

The problem arises when these transgender kids face the oppressive school system. A transgender girl wanting to wear a dress to school will get mocked, ridiculed, and likely sent home because of her self-expression - the school will simply let it happen. The transphobic remarks that this young girl hears in the hallway will imprint into her memory forever, and the ones saying such harmful words will not face a single second of consequence. Schools, in many instances, side with the transphobes.

I have distinct memories of being targeted in school because of my trans identity. Any time I tried to report transphobic actions and remarks, I was ignored. I was told by my school that I didn't matter. That my problems were not important enough for them, because I wasn't normal enough, or socially appropriate enough, or that I wasn't a threat to their money. They knew they wouldn't face backlash for letting their transgender students kill themselves, so they simply stood by and let it happen - transphobic teachers and students were encouraged, even, by the lack of consequence.

I'm not the only one with this experience, either - every single one of my friends has a distinct memory of an experience similar to mine, one where their attempts to fight against transphobia was only met with a systemic punishment to a crime they didn't commit. I know people in almost every state of this country that has an experience identical to mine, and that isn't because we're seeking each other out. Every trans person has a story like this, one where they witnessed oppression firsthand by the people they were told to trust, the ones that insisted they cared.

As educators, we need to do more than just recognize and shut down transphobic behavior in class. We need to actively support our transgender students and fight for equality in the education system. We need to show our students that they are more than just victims, that they're people deserving of respect.

The transgender identity is often watered down to our oppression - we're only validated by cisgender people when we face traumatizing incidents and exist to make them feel like they're such good people for treating us like the normals.

We are more than that. We are more than the oppression we face, the "bravery" we have, our identities as transgender people, and the traumatic stories we tell. We deserve to be celebrated in the way that cisheterosexual people are celebrated in school - we deserve storybooks with trans characters and posters that have transgender people on them for the sake of having a person on the poster. The only representation we get is when a cisgender person includes us only because they want to parade around the fact that they're inclusive. We never exist to exist, we're only ever transgender. The label that the cisgender society put on us will always be a weight we have to drag around without our consent, because god forbid the Transgender People could be grouped in with us normals.

This connects to education, somehow. I mainly just got angry while writing this and wanted to talk about how much I hate the cisgender society, but I think it definitely can be connected to education.

When we, future and current teachers, are going out of our way to show off how inclusive we are, we're not doing much better than the oppressors. All we're doing is putting these identities in a little clear glass box on a pedestal with a little "INCLUSIVITY BONUS" ribbon on it. Instead of showcasing how we're so diverse and inclusive like an award-winning dog show, we should instead let our students exist as people. Our students don't need storybooks about how the princess is transgender - they need storybooks that tell the same stories as cisheterosexual stories, just with actual inclusivity. Transgender students don't just need to see themselves in the world around them, but they need to see that we can be more than transgender.

I'm not a Transgender Teacher. I'm not a Transgender Writer, or a Transgender Artist, or a Transgender Person. I'm just a teacher, a writer, an artist, a person.

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If you ever wanted a two-minute video to sum up the way that men perceive women in today's society, this TikTok is for you. This user, who I'll call Lipgloss for the sake of simplicity, spends two minutes explaining the various ways that men do not see women as people.

"Think about whenever a man describes his mom," she says in the video, "...'I love my mom, she cooks for me every day. She really help me do this, she really help me do that', what am I describing? Things that a person does for you." This user goes in-depth into the ways that sexism and misogyny present themselves in ways that we don't usually get the chance to take a deeper look at - in particular, TikTok user Lipgloss discusses the massive difference when men compliment men compared to the way men compliment women.

She first gives an example on how men often compliment women - a man will describe either her looks, usually in an objectifying way, or what she does that's beneficial to the man. The woman being described is not funny, she is not intelligent, she is not charismatic or fair-minded or diplomatic or straightforward. She is pretty, she's got a nice figure, she cooks for me, she drives me everywhere, and she reminds me to bring my wallet with me when we go out. The woman is not a person, but a favor.

Then, we get into the ways that men compliment other men. Their fathers are hardworking, they're determined and rational and confident. Men don't typically describe other men in the ways that they benefit from - because they see men as people. Men see men as equals, someone deserving of basic respect and depth. They see the personality attributes and not the things they do for them, men don't compliment each other on their "nice figure" and attractiveness.

So - how does this relate to education?

It's simple. In the classroom, it's inevitable that you will end up complimenting your students. What's important, though, is the way you do it - your female students shouldn't be called pretty, they should be called intelligent. Reducing your attention toward a female student to her looks and the way she benefits others will not make her stronger, it will only make her see herself as a tool. When she sees herself this way, it's impossible for her to learn to respect herself. She will not grow up to see that she's a good person because she's a strong, resourceful, sensible woman. She will grow up to see that she's only good because she's beautiful, because she's nice to her boyfriend when he's mad, because she doesn't leave when he throws things, because she hasn't called the cops. She will only be a favor, never human.

In class, we talk a lot about power dynamics - we discuss how these dynamics effect our lives and where they come from, but I don't think we've ever really talked about the small places in life where these power dynamics present themselves. Men see men as better than women because society teaches them that, we are all aware, but we rarely recognize the discrepancies when they're as small as a compliment.

The devil, as always, is in the details.

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College is the Powerhouse of the Eating Disorder | 03/31/22

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College is the Powerhouse of the Eating Disorder | 03/31/22

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Content Warning: This article contains discussion of eating disorders, calories and portion control, and other related issues. I mention my own personal experiences as well, but I have since fully recovered.

I, like many other freshman in college, faced a massive struggle when faced with the reality that there was nobody we could rely on to feed ourselves. I didn't have parents to buy my groceries anymore - I was completely on my own. For those of us that were never taught how to cook, this realization hit extra hard. Suddenly, food was a responsibility I had no idea how to manage.

I turned to the dining halls, but was presented with something that did nothing but infuriate me and fed my intrusive thoughts. Dining halls across the country are plastered in small stickers meant to remind you of your calorie intake. Portion control matters, they say, and you should obsess over it.

Regardless of the actual printed words on the sticker, the message is clear - these stickers that are so innocently placed across campuses are meant to appear as though it's an attempt to remind the reader of healthy and proportionate meal choices. In reality, these stickers do nothing more than trigger a chain of thoughts in peoples minds that lead to binge eating, starvation, self-harm, and malnutrition.

"Overwhelmed and bombarded by their feelings, college students often turn to behavioral means, like eating disorders, to cope" Diane Barth, psychotherapist and psychoanalyst, says in her article entitled 'Separate But Not Alone: Separation-Individuation Issues in College Students with Eating Disorders'. "It sometimes seems that the college experience is tailor-made for the development of eating disorders." In her article, Diane goes on to analyze this relationship between college students and eating disorders - it's a common phenomenon, but not only because of stress.

Whenever I found myself scheduled for a 9:00AM class, I'd find myself waking up barely in time for me to get dressed. I had to catch the bus, which only came every thirty minutes, and then walk the rest of the way to class and pray that I didn't run into any on-campus construction or delays. A particularly busy day on the bus would make or break my perfect attendance in that class. The thought of eating food didn't even cross my mind until I'd already start feeling nauseous and seeing spots in my vision from the hunger. Most of the time, my dinner on the previous night was a simple frozen meal - nothing with any real nutritional value. I wouldn't have time to eat until noon at the earliest, four hours after I had woken up. Sixteen hours since my last meal. If the bus had come any more frequently, I would have had time to at least grab a snack for the road.

This experience is common among college students. We find ourselves caught up in making it to class on time, forgetting to allow our bodies a basic necessity in the process. Combined with any previous experience in disordered eating, a recipe for disaster is created.

Almost thirty million Americans will deal with an eating disorder in their lifetime - and yet, institutions like colleges and universities do not allocate for this. They plaster offensive stickers in dining halls meant to enable these harmful habits and refuse to create a transportation system that runs efficiently. They reuse the menus day after day, never providing any change for those with sensitive food palettes or diet requirements. The food is under-cooked, off-seasoned, and unappealing. Those of us with experience dealing with eating disorders know very well that the battle against starvation is very easily lost when confronted with the most tasteless and unappealing food you've ever seen. I tell myself that I'll just get something from a different place, but I don't have the money. I'm a poor college student. I try to go somewhere that will accept my dining-hall-money, but I'm just presented with the same meals. As I walk away, I think about all of the students that paid for meal plans who ended up just like me - hungry and nowhere to eat. They have no money for food because they were forced to spend it on a meal plan. So, like every other day, they head home and eat the same meals void in nutrition. No fresh fruit, no vegetables, hardly anything except pure sodium and sugars. The food pyramid became a lost thought, replaced by the instinctual need to eat something.

There are many ways to fix this issue. Eating disorders will always exist as long as there is an unholy obsession with beauty in society, but there are certainly things that can minimize the presence of disordered eating.

Getting rid of these stickers across the country is the first thing that needs to go - in my opinion, nothing beneficial comes from these stickers. All they do is trigger students into acting on their disordered eating habits.

Second, colleges need to make dining options more accessible. There needs to be a rotating schedule of valuable and nutritious meals that students find appetizing - not the same menu every day consisting of the worst under-cooked roast beef you've ever seen.

Third, eating needs to be more normalized in the classroom setting. It should not be normal for students to starve themselves all day because they don't have time to eat. There needs to be food options in every building and eating in class needs to be acceptable. Students are not robots, we do not exist to sit in silence and listen to our professors drone on and on. We are human, and we have needs. Allergens aside, everyone should be able to eat in the classroom - professors included.

Lastly, there needs to be education on disordered eating. It's appalling to me that there isn't any education material on eating disorders that is readily available to the public, especially with how common it is for college students to have these struggles.

I have since recovered from my eating disorder and no longer have these struggles as frequently, but I am one of few people privileged enough to not have to obsess over calories and portion control. Many of my peers face obsessive binge eating, bulimia, anorexia, restrictive eating, and more. We feel unsupported by the administration and uncertain of our future path to recovery. There are so many ways to support these students, and yet universities fail.

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The Art of Masking: Neurodivergency | 04/21/22

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The Art of Masking: Neurodivergency | 04/21/22

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Masking, in the context of neurodivergency, is described by putting on an artificial performance of social behaviors to appear more neurotypical and socially acceptible to others. This presents itself in a multitude of ways, but is usually done by concealing more socially-unacceptable features of neurodivergency like stimming (repetitive movements/gestures/sounds used to soothe) or using a more expressive tone when speaking.

Most of my high-school life was spent masking my neurodivergent traits - what had later been diagnosed as ADHD and suspected autism was, at the time, a weird and desperate kid trying to fit in with his peers. I did everything I could to mask any part of my personality that wasn't traditionally neurotypical, even if I wasn't aware of it at the time. I was called mean, rude, and "too-objective" because of my personality - not because I was throwing insults at people and leaving a mess everywhere, but because I spoke in a monotone voice and didn't understand the neurotypical speaking patterns. Hiding my honest thoughts behind thinly-veiled sentences made no sense to me, so I didn't, and that somehow made me rude.

I was called weird because I would rock back and forth in class constantly. I'd twitch, fidget with anything in my hands, and make clicking noises frequently. I was incapable of focusing in class if I wasn't allowed to do these things, but that only put the label of "bad student" on me. My peers thought I was weird and my teachers thought I was stupid and lazy.

I was not any of those things, though - I was smart, I was intelligent. I could have written essay upon essay about any given topic and I repeatedly performed at the top of my class. I was motivated to learn and I wanted to be educated. The only thing that stopped me was my inability to conform to societal rules that I didn't even know existed. I was being held back by these invisible strings tugging at my wrists in every direction; it was like being told to draw a pretty picture with your non-dominant hand and only two fingers holding the pencil. It made no sense to be bound by these rules that I could not understand were there in the first place.

Masking was one of the only things that made me appealing to the neurotypical eye. I started using facial expressions and tone in my voice, and suddenly I was kind. I stopped rocking back and forth and fidgeting, and suddenly I was studious. My grades remained the same as before and any change to them was only negative once I started masking my neurodivergency. I made friends, yes, but I was sacrificing my integrity, self-respect, and energy.

What many neurotypical people do not understand is that these features of neurodivergent behavior are not problems. I am not broken and I do not need to be fixed. I do not need to be appealing to the people that have continuously ostracized me, and I now actively refuse to change myself for them. The act of masking was actively painful and increased my sensory-overload along with completely draining my energy day after day. I rarely had time to complete homework because the majority of my after-school activity was spent recovering from having to mask for 8 hours.

School is, obviously, one of the most important places for a kid to develop their social behaviors and understanding of the world around them. When a neurodivergent kid enters these classroom settings and finds blinding white lights and is told that they can't fidget or rock, they do not see a place of safety and opportunity. We see a place that was not meant for us and we see the system, in its entirety, was not built with us in mind. Building a sensory-friendly space for students will make them feel respected and motivated to engage with you, their peers, and their education. They will not feel the need to mask their traits in their classroom, which will save so much energy and prevent emotional breakdowns and sensory-overload.

Kids with autism and ADHD are not the only ones that benefit from classroom accommodations, either - I cannot count how many times I've heard from my peers that the bright lights in every classroom was headache-inducing, or that having more time to complete a test was helpful. If a kid benefits from an accommodation made, whether it be time allocation or having a different teaching instruction, then that accommodation was meant for them. It does not mean that a kid is lazy, "special" (ugh, I hate that term), or dumb. It just means that the school system has failed another child.

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As we creep up on the final week of the 2021-2022 school year, there is no better time for reflecting on your education experience.

At the beginning of the school year, I was a completely different person. I was a pre-transition Alex, one that had just moved out of his parents house for the first time and was struggling to harness the power of happiness. I was unmedicated, sad, confused, and hungry. Now, a school year later, I am essentially the complete opposite - I've since began transitioning and I am now a medicated mess that has finally started to feel happiness in its purest form.

The largest contributor to this change, besides the obvious newfound freedom, was my education setting. For the first time in my life, I was in a classroom with an authorative figure that treated me as an equal. I was seen as an adult, someone of equal value to my professor. There was no longer the looming threat of punishment; I could be on my phone during class all I wanted. There was hardly even a requirement for me to be there in the first place, let alone pay attention. I didn't have to follow a weird dress code or sit in an assign seat - because my professor saw us as human. We were not objects, we were people.

Not only did the social dynamic between me and my teachers change, but I was also finally in classes that I was interested in. Of course I still had to take part in general-education class requirements, but the majority of my class schedule was made up of classes that I hand-picked with my counselor months prior. I was writing essays about topics I was passionate about and most importantly, I was engaged with the content.

During the past year, I was blessed by a being above with TE101 and TE102 in my schedule. Not only was I in a class about something I was passionate about (pedagogy and activism) but I was also in an environment where I felt truly comfortable with my surroundings. I found myself going above and beyond when doing my assignments, doing countless hours of my own research and reading into topics that I found because of our class discussions. It was amazing.

Looking back on this year, I think it qualifies as the best year of my life. I started transitioning, I moved out, I became a genuinely happy person, and I learned how to enjoy myself again. I learned a lot about myself and the world around me, too.

I'd always known what I wanted my future classroom environment to be like, but I was never capable of putting it into words. Now, after going through two semesters of classes, I have found the words. I want my classroom to be safe. I want to make my future students, regardless of grade level, to feel like I respect them as equals. Switching from a high school world where I was barely recognized as human to a space that allowed me to be myself was certainly the biggest reason that I made it through this academic year. I want my students to feel that same level of recognition I felt when my professor said that he didn't care if a student ate in class because he was allowed to, so it would be unfair if he didn't extend that to his students.

In summary, I have finally found my passion. I've never once in my life seen a future for myself because I couldn't imagine doing something for the rest of my life. Teaching, though, is something I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to be a teacher that makes students feel respected. I will be that teacher.