From Here to Carlson: Fighting Invisibility in the Classroom and Beyond

Carlson argues that LGBTQ students as well as students of color and female students are underrepresented in the classroom and the curriculum and are made invisible.

Carlson's main ideas are that:

● A “norm” is set, and gayness is considered to be outside the “norm.” People who are considered a part of the “normal” community are white, middle class, male, heterosexuals and anyone who doesn't meet that criteria is disempowered for it and made invisible

● Gayness is usually not represented in schools. LGBTQ teachers are not always allowed to express their sexual orientation

● People who support the idea of a homogeneous community resent people who are different because they interfere with the idea that everyone should try to be “normal”

● Some students are valued more than others in the classroom. Certain qualities are taught to be more valuable than others (whiteness, maleness, heterosexism, wealth, physical and mental ability)

● Diversity in the classroom gives every student a stronger sense of self importance and confidence

● Gayness is not included in curriculum and LGBTQ teachers have been discriminated against and sometimes removed from the classroom, leaving LGBTQ students even more underrepresented

● We are given most of what we identify ourselves as (gender, religion, race, social class) and both society and our personal choices effect what we can do with what we're given. Not everyone has equal opportunities

● Teachers are still allowed (in some situations) to let personal beliefs influence the way they behave towards gayness in their classrooms. Something that teachers who have racial or sexist prejudices are not allowed to do so plainly

Quote: Carlson Pg 239
"Public schools have attempted to be "total institutions" in that everything students do during the school day and are exposed to in the curriculum is controllable." Like communist Slates,they have been based on the presumption that if students in the school community can be kept shielded from "bad influences" and provided only "positive" representations of community life, that they can be molded into "good," "well-adjusted" citizens and workers."

Media NOW! Carlson

mainstream gay: how THEY see the community:


grassroots gay: from the community out:

Carlson to Delpit: Not Letting Anyone Fall Behind

Lisa Delpit's main ideas are that:

• there is a "culture of power" in which people with power, that in most cases they are not aware of, act, dress, talk, and behave, a certain way, different than those without power

• everyone has to be taught the rules and codes of power if they are to have an equal chance and not perpetuate the power cycle

• those outside the culture of power are most aware of its existence

• those without power need to be part of the discussion on how to end the inequity, and those with power have to be willing to participate, and even give up their inequitable power

• intention and implication are separate, and so we must not only teach with the right intentions, but constantly check that the implications still match or benefit our intentions instead of contradicting them

• the point is not to teach students to give up their ways, but allow them to know the culture of power so that they may have it in their arsenal for disposal when needed

Quote: Delpit pg 29 "(Parents of children outside the culture of power) want to ensure that the school provides their children with discourse patterns, interactional styles, and spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society."

Media NOW! Delpit/ Carlson

Carlson to Kahne & Westheimer: What Are We Hoping For?

Carlson would stress the idea that there needs to be a focus on topics and issues that are beyond the idea of white, heterosexual, male, culture. Schools do not seem to spend enough time creating an environment that celebrates people of all different walks of life; if this was done then others would be understand, accept and live along side of those who are different then them.

This would flow perfectly into Kahne and Westheimer who asks the question "in service of what?"...

• Educators and legislators alike maintain that service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling.

• The hope was that students' values and beliefs might be transformed by these experiences.

• The ability of a service learning curriculum to foster authentic, experience-based learning opportunities, to motivate students, to help students engage in higher-order thinking in contextually varied environments, and to promote interdisciplinary studies has led some, such as John Brisco, a leader in the field, to label service learning "the Trojan horse of school reform."

• However, there are numerous ways in which a curriculum focused on giving provides opportunities tor students to develop caring relationships, especially when compared to a traditional academic curriculum.

Media NOW! Kahne & Westheimer/ Carlson

Carlson to Collier: Bridging the Language Gap

Carlson and Collier have similarities due to the ideas of embracing the ideas of code-switching and the encouragement of using different languages that embrace cultural heritage and background.

Collier states...

• Teachers must be creative and flexible, serve as a catalyst for discovery as students learn to operate effectively in their multiple worlds, be able to mediate and resolve intercultural conflicts, keep students on task, and serve as a support base

• Instead of eradication, the most popular view among linguists and bilingual educators requires the teacher's conscious recognition of"bi-dialectism."

• Code-switching, the most creative and dynamic process of the three, is highly structured. It is governed by the grammars ofboth the first and second languages. It is not a linguistic weakness.

• The reasons to use this whole range of activities in the classroom is to eliminate boredom, raise awareness, and make language teaching as well as learning as culturally relevant as possible for students. In this manner, it is hoped that the learning process will not only enrich the life of the student, but also that of his or her teacher.
  

Media NOW! Collier/Carlson