I took a "mental health day" last Friday (see this site), and it was well worth it. I was able to clear my head and regain momentum for this week. I have been so productive in the past three days, and I am certain it is because I took that day off last Friday. Ahh.
There is something that has been on my mind for a while now, and I just recently got the courage to say something. Many of the students will talk to each other casually and they will respond with, "that's gay," or the ultimate "that's SO gay." Yesterday, one of my 12th graders said it to a friend, and I was feeling fiesty, so I just asked him, "What do you mean when you say that?" I know it caught him off guard and a little clarification had to go on, but he finally said, "I don't know, I guess I mean what he said was weird or strange." So I said to the student, "why didn't you just say, 'that was weird,' then?" By that time, we had the whole class's attention and had a very civil, productive conversation about saying what we mean.
We talked about using a label like "gay" or "queer" as an insult and how it can be offensive and disrespectful. None of them got angry, and none of them acted like they used it in a hateful way. I was glad I brought it up, though, because they were all interested in the conversation and most of them looked surprised to explore what they had all been saying. One student pointed out that by equating gay to weird or strange, you're automatically making a judgement. Given, she didn't say it exactly like that, but that was her point. Another person brought up that it's not only sexuality you have to be respectful about, it's also religion, politics, etc. I don't know if it will do any good or not, but I hope it at least got them thinking...
