Friday, February 21, 2014

What Will You Do To Stop The Silence?



For this blog piece I am going to do a reflection on “Safe Spaces” by Annemarie Vaccaro, Gerri August, and Megan S. Kennedy. 

While reading “Safe Spaces” I was continuously thinking about how I do not remember having any experiences with my teachers including LGBT ideas into curriculum.  With this being said, as I read the many different ways that teachers have included this idea in their classroom I was pretty taken aback about how I never had this.  But as I got to the end of the article one thing came to my mind that I was able to connect to this piece.  In high school, I remember there being one day a year called the “Day of Silence”.  I am going to be honest and say I never really knew what this day was truly about expect for the fact that individual’s who were gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender did not talk for the whole day.  Looking back at this I now have a different perspective on the idea.  Those who may be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender were searching for their place.  I feel as if this day must exist in order for LGBT individuals to have their voices heard by not saying anything at all, or even so they have one day to not feel “invisible” while drawing attention by participating.

Day of Silence is defined as a day to protest the bullying and harassment of LGBT students and their supporters, which once again brings even more meaning to the idea.  This one-day opens peoples eyes to how LGBT people may suffer and maybe makes others think twice before they say what they say.  It gives the students a “safe space”, where they are not the only one participating.  They may feel welcome to being “different”. 

Overall, looking back on this one day that occurred each year in my high school career I was able to reflect on the ideas brought up in “Safe Spaces”.  LGBT students need to feel like they belong or have a space in a classroom and even in society.  Including these ideas in a school allows others to be aware of what is around them and maybe even gain more comfort on the idea.  No one individual is the same but everyone should be treated equally.  

At the top of the Day of Silence website it asks, "What will you do to stop the silence?".  As future teachers, I feel as if this connects directly to us and what we can do in our future classrooms!




9 comments:

  1. loved this post! i'm using it to make my post this week!:)

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  2. Good post this week. I love that you talked about the day of silence. My school as a whole never did the day of silence but my AP English class senior year did. I love that it was a way to show that people don't have to be part of the LGBT community in order to support the cause. I also really liked the last picture you added to your post, (the "Keep Calm" one) it's great love the 'Be proud of who you are' idea. Overall great post!

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  3. Loved this post! For me as well, I do not remember having LGBT mentioned in the curriculum until maybe high school, and even then it was briefly touched upon. When I was reading I did not think of the day of silence but now that you mention it, i can understand their purpose better. good work !

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  4. Hey! I really liked this post! I cant agree more with the points you made, and I cant express enough how much I agree with the fact that I also never really had LBGT topics mentioned in my school years, at all until now. I didn't even know about the "Day of Silence" until now!
    Nice Job!

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  5. Hey! I really like this post because it is about something I think we have all seen in our high schools and never really understood. It makes a lot more sense now, these people want to be seen and recognized for who they are. I have also never had any LGBT topics covered in my schooling, so I could see why they want to make a statement like they do during their "day of silence". Great post and insight!

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  6. Hi I really liked your blog! Looking back at my whole schooling experience the Day of Silence is the only thing that ever related to LGBT. After reading this article that day makes a lot more sense. Great job!

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  7. I loved your blog this week for its ideas and it is such a cute set up. I actually participated in the day of silence my freshman year. And I think you can figure out how that went for me (I can barely not talk for 5 minutes). I don't think I even knew that homosexual relationships existed in elementary school to be honest so I was really able to connect with what you said! Thank you for sharing!

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  8. Great way to use a reflection -- glad this text triggered some memories for you.

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  9. It's good to see someone else who struggled to remember teachers incorporating stories about LGBT experiences into their teaching. I had trouble with that myself and it's a shame, because it's something that teachers really should be doing more of. Also like you, however, I do remember the days of silence in high school and think they're a great way to draw attention to LGBT issues. Nice post!

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