SocialJustNess

Vanessa Ruggieri Dr. Lesley Bogad FNED 502 June 19, 2019 Teach-Out Final Project — Theory in Practice: Final Reflection For my final project, I created a video and handout to share with my Admissions Office Staff and Student Workers. The topic that I chose was The Importance of Safe Spaces on College Campuses for Both Students and Faculty/Staff in addition to how to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. Queer issues are important to me as a young queer professional working in Undergraduate Admissions. I chose to teach about this issue to raise awareness and promote diversity within the office, and eventually campus-wide. After showing the video I made to some of my student staff and peer staff, I received some of the following comments: “ I learned the meaning of “queer” and appreciated delving deeper into these issues.” Many of the students told me stories of their friend and peers coming out to thier families or afraid to come out due to Religious bias being discri...

YouTuber Franchesca Ramsey defines “Ally” as, “A person who wants to fight for equality of a marginalized group that they're not a part of.” and says the base way to be an ally is to, “Realize that you are going to make mistakes and apologize when you do” (2:32)  In addition, at 3:00 she made a powerful point in explaining that “Ally is a verb!” Saying that you are an ally is not enough, you need to also act on it as well. This video, in addition to the links she added into the description box, provide us with excellent resources going forward. Teaching at the Intersections , from Teaching Tolerance by Monita K Bell. (2016) was the perfect article to summarize everything we learned in this class.  This reading opens on a black ninth-grader, Nicole. “Nicole’s teachers know very little about her life. When they look at her, they see an African-American student who isn’t doing well. They also see a typical example of the deep racial disparities that exist within absentee...

“Under the proposal, the time students spend with a certified ESL teacher would be cut from three periods a day to one period a day for beginners, and to no time at all for intermediate and advanced English learners... leaving content teachers to provide both language and content instruction...Rather than guaranteeing that students work with trained ESL teachers, the new regulations allow for ESL students to be in any classroom in the school as long as the teacher collaborates with a certified ESL teacher outside the classroom...We would never suggest that children be taught science by a history teacher who is in close collaboration with a certified science teacher.” (p. 1-2) I am honestly appalled by this. The first question that came to mind was, are all teachers trained in both their content and ESL? I assume not. Also, it is surprising to me that what they are proposing will have no direct interaction between the ESL teacher and the student, they will only interact between the ...

"Safe Spaces" - Vaccaro , August, Kennedy  In this text, Vaccaro, August, and Kennedy argue that educators can create safe spaces for their students, through communication and curriculum. In order for these two tools to be successful, we need to start talking about diverse experiences and accepting the experiences of others that are in the minority in terms of gender, sexual orientation, and identity. This is something I, like many queer folks,  heard all the time growing up, is blatant heterosexism, which is defined in the article as, “heterosexism is the assumption that everyone is or should be heterosexual.” (Introduction) In order to create change, we need to begin to acknowledge differences among each other in a positive way.  The beginning of a solution to create increase visibility for queer folks and, in turn, create safer spaces in our school systems is getting LGBTQ+ folks included in the curriculum. Whether the biases are intentional or not, there is no do...

“Before Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975, millions of children received inadequate special education services...and at least one million children were prevented from attending public schools altogether.” (0:30) ONE MILLION! This was so astonishing for me to read, and my pure shock for the lack of representation for differently abled students only increased as the video progressed.  “I’m sorry we have to do this to you.” (3:21)  What the head of Special Education said to the Principal of Richard’s middle school when he was going to their school. I’m sorry?!? Seriously? I hate that even before Richard got his start at a “normal” school he is seen as an inconvenience, by the head of Special Education of all people.  “I think it’s cool that they have them in here...it’s a better learning opportunity for him and for us to interact with him.” (12:52) It was nice to hear how accepting the students were about Richard. At this poin...

Choose a topic The Importance of Safe Spaces on College Campuses for Both Students and Faculty/Staff Choose 2 articles to summarize (actual summaries due Mon, June 10) "Safe Spaces" - Vaccaro, August, Kennedy (2012) “PRIVILEGE, POWER, AND DIFFERENCE” by Allan G. Johnson Explain what and to whom you will teach... and how I will create a presentation to give to my tour guides, student workers, and faculty/staff about the importance of inclusivity in admissions decisions and as a whole. I am not sold on a deliverable yet, but would love to create a pamphlet and presentation. Maybe even a video! I am currently in a presentation class as well so I would love to incorporate the skills I am learning in that class into my final presentation.