09/10/2020
This week I found to be very interesting. Our guest speaker Jacq Brasseur was extremely knowledgable on the subject and shared first hand experiences of a system that wasn’t built for them.
During their lecture, Brasseur, spoke a lot about how there wasn’t not enough representation of LGBQT+ people in the curriculum. Children that are apart of the LGBQT+ community are unable to see themselves in the world around them which can be extremely hard on their self-esteem, academic performance, social skills, etc. It is important that all students see themselves represented at school, which will help with creating an environment where being apart of the LGBQT+ community is seen as normal compared to today where it is not. Brasseur also pointed out that being a lesbian often coincides with being white in children’s literature. They suggested that educators find literary resources for the LGBQT+ community that contain all races. This was very interesting to hear because many educators would not have thought of this, they would have just seen it as an inclusive resource.
As a future teacher, I want make sure that queerness is incorporated into my classroom. I am not sure if this will always take the form of LGBAT+ but it may just be teaching in ways that go against the norms of a traditional classroom. One way I want to do this is by introducing flexible seating in the classroom. Students would have the opportunity to sit wherever they like, and choose from multiple different chairs to sit on, for example, a desk, beanbag, couch, etc. This strays from the norm of desks lined up in rows. Below I have attached an image of a flexible seating arrangement in an elementary classroom.
