Keywords:
acceptance, inclusion, educating teachers, gender binaries, homophobia, biases, school culture
acceptance, inclusion, educating teachers, gender binaries, homophobia, biases, school culture
Transcript
Victoria: we have to as educators do better in terms of what we're sharing, what we're showing. It can't just be on the walls, it has to be a part of the conversations, it has to be a part of the work we’re doing, the curriculum, the understandings. And I say honouring, because [it’s] honouring. I think honouring is an important word there. It’s not just about including, I think it’s, I think the honouring is really that point of validating and accepting that goes beyond just uh, an inclusion. And we just have to do more in terms of that, in terms of that curriculum. And at the same time, I’ll say it has to start with the educators’ own understandings.
Tara: Right.
Victoria: So the educators, there needs to be more across systems, where as educators there’s opportunities to think about your own biases, think about your own gender binaries that you put on people and places and things, think about your own um, homophobia, think about your own stuff that you bring into that classroom all the time. And how kids pick up on that.
Tara: Right.
Victoria: You know, and so yes it’s one thing to, when people say, “well I’m just neutral,” well you’re not neutral, there’s no such thing as neutral. That says a lot by you just leaving things out, right? And so you're not neutral about having pictures of your husband and kids if you’re a woman on the desk. You're not neutral about that, that sends a message.
Tara: Right.
Victoria: What books you’re choosing to read, what novels you’re choosing to study, what conversations you’re choosing to have. I mean, at this age, middle school, there's conversations--you can bring in lots of different things that are part of real kids’ lives and can impact them in really powerful ways everyday. So as educators, how are we having the conversations to even know how to address it in our own classroom spaces and working on our own stuff.
Victoria: we have to as educators do better in terms of what we're sharing, what we're showing. It can't just be on the walls, it has to be a part of the conversations, it has to be a part of the work we’re doing, the curriculum, the understandings. And I say honouring, because [it’s] honouring. I think honouring is an important word there. It’s not just about including, I think it’s, I think the honouring is really that point of validating and accepting that goes beyond just uh, an inclusion. And we just have to do more in terms of that, in terms of that curriculum. And at the same time, I’ll say it has to start with the educators’ own understandings.
Tara: Right.
Victoria: So the educators, there needs to be more across systems, where as educators there’s opportunities to think about your own biases, think about your own gender binaries that you put on people and places and things, think about your own um, homophobia, think about your own stuff that you bring into that classroom all the time. And how kids pick up on that.
Tara: Right.
Victoria: You know, and so yes it’s one thing to, when people say, “well I’m just neutral,” well you’re not neutral, there’s no such thing as neutral. That says a lot by you just leaving things out, right? And so you're not neutral about having pictures of your husband and kids if you’re a woman on the desk. You're not neutral about that, that sends a message.
Tara: Right.
Victoria: What books you’re choosing to read, what novels you’re choosing to study, what conversations you’re choosing to have. I mean, at this age, middle school, there's conversations--you can bring in lots of different things that are part of real kids’ lives and can impact them in really powerful ways everyday. So as educators, how are we having the conversations to even know how to address it in our own classroom spaces and working on our own stuff.