October 22nd, 2018

This weeks chapter was on culture and diversity. Truthfully, most of the content on culture was a review for me, as I have learned about it in previous classes. I found the information on sexual identity and gender-role identity to be rather interesting. I believe it is important for teachers to understand the varying sexual identities and how typical gender-specific roles can impact a student. The biggest learning I think I had was reading through the suggestions of how to reach out to a student struggling with sexual identity. I like how it is broken down into a five step plan that can be easily followed, even by someone who may not be educated on the topic. I also found the statistics of how many males and females engage in same sex activities, or find the same sex attractive. It was shocking to me that the number of males engaging in these activities decreased, while the number of females increased. I believe that this is mainly due to societal norms; many people view gay as being ‘wrong’, while being a lesbian may not be such a big deal.
The first connection is had came when I was reading the section about socioeconomic status. I have a friend who is currently volunteering in at a school North Central and they tell me that its truly like a completely different world. Majority of the students have so much going on at home that coming to school either seems like a break from the chaos, or it makes things worse. Another connection I made was when the text talked about knowing your students, respecting your students, and teaching your students. I believe that my high school teachers did all of those things for their students. I come from a small town, with very small class sizes and close relationships within the community which made all students, no matter what their culture, feel included.
My question this week is how stereotyping can be avoided completely, or if it even can be? It is stated that even positive stereotypes can negatively impact someone.