Three things I will take from this class.

 1) There is no perfect example of a teacher. The only thing that matters is the relationship that the teacher shares with their students, 

During this class we have looked at so many different readings as to what makes someone a great teacher, what every teacher must know, and things to do as a teacher. Different things were pointed out in each article and every author had different opinions on how a teacher should teach. One thing that every author seemed to believe was that a teacher's relationship with their students is the most important part of being a teacher. At the end of the day, the relationship that we had with them will follow them for the rest of their lives.

2) We are all minorities. 

I know this sounds like a weird line that Mr. Shue said in glee, and no we are not minorities because we are all in glee club. Hell, I don't even think there's a glee club in the school. We are all minorities because there is something about all of us that is different than the stereotypical straight white male. Let's take Ricky from HSMTMTS as an example, yes he's a straight white male but he comes from an extremely low-income family, so he is not a stereotypical straight white male. Even Ej from HSMTMTS who's a straight white male from a rich family a minority is still a minority because he is Jewish and comes from parents who are emotionally and neglectfully abusive to him.  

3) Don't be quick to judge a student, you don't know their home life.

Everyone comes from a different home. We can't know everyone's life story. There's a reason why everyone does what they do. It is important not to jump to conclusions. 

For example, when HSMTMTS first came out I thought EJ was a narcissist. Then as the show goes on you find out that he only acts the way he does because he is trying to gain some type of love and attention from his father. Kids experience stuff like that all the time and when you're a teacher it is important to know why kids are acting the way they are before jumping to conclusions.

Great ways to teach LGBT youth

I agree with the editors of Rethinking Schools when they claim that LGBT topics need to be discussed in class. I feel like the best way to do so is by putting on HSMTMTS and having them discuss the things they took notice of in the show, about LGBT topics. What was Ashlyn's coming-out story like? How did the other characters react to Carlos and Ashlyn coming out, who do you think were their biggest supporters? Were you surprised to see a love duet between Maddox and Ashlyn? Were you surprised during the first love duet between Carlos and Seb?  If you are LGBT what LGBT character did you find yourself relating to most; Maddox, Big Red, Ashlyn, Maddison, Seb, Carlos, or Andy? Were you surprised when Andy turned out to be hiding his feelings for Big Red all along? Which LGBT story did you find the most touching; Madly, Seblos, or Andy X Big Red? Why? The beautiful thing about this show is how they take all minority groups and put them in a way that young minds can understand, while it mainly focuses on LGBT characters it also includes Hispanics, blacks, autistics, those whos parents are struggling financially, those who are being abused by their parents, and those with anxiety and puts it in a way that a young child will be able to understand. So even if the child may not relate to the LGBT aspect they can still find something to relate to.

I do understand that I will need to get permission slips signed by parents before showing their kids this show. But I genuinely do feel like this would be a great lesson plan. Due to the amount of diversity in the show, it would also provide a great project opportunity by having each student pick a character they felt like they related to and explain why they feel like they related to that character. For example, I relate to Maddox because we are both lesbians with autism who have problems making friends

.Example of the great LGBT representation Disney provides in hsmtmts.

My experience with Ableism in Education

 Like most people with disabilities, I was born with disabilities. When I was younger it was a lot more noticeable than it is now. So, I did face backlash when it came down to my disabilities. 

As I'm sure many of you weren't able to do, I wasn't able to read or solve addition problems right out of kindergarten. This was a major turn-off for schools when my parents tried looking for private schools to enroll me in. A lot of them didn't want to take a six-year-old who wasn't able to read or do addition yet, especially if that six-year-old had disabilities because they figured that I would never be able to read or do said math problems. The ones that did accept me wanted to put me in their special ed program which only provided a little support for students like me. 

My parents had decided that their best option was to give up on the private school idea and enroll me in public school instead. But since I also had summer vacation, they figured that it would be best to prep me a bit before trying to enroll me in a private school nearby. They figured that if I seemed to be at least a little ahead of my peers then I would have a shot of staying in the regular education classes. So during that summer, they worked tirelessly to teach me how to read and solve math problems. By the time the school year already started, I was way ahead of my peers. I was at the point where I could answer all of the teacher's questions before she even started the listen. Due to my parent's tireless efforts during that summer, my parents taught me everything I needed to know for both math and English for the next two years. They were determined to keep me ahead of everyone so they would spend about an hour each day with me, preparing me for more advanced levels of math and English than my peers were. By middle school, I was able to figure out my mom's master's degree college-level math homework.

People need to understand that people with disabilities are just as smart as everyone else and may require a little extra help to reach their full potential. Watch the video below for more information on disabilities. 

https://youtu.be/wIAhSeVpQsU?si=4b4-tIku1zSAuSXO