Some Wins

A couple of wins today that I hope are a result of this project. First, one of my advanced students that I had a rocky relationship with at the beginning of the year went out to the hallway during class. He looked upset. So I went out to see what was going on. He was crying and when I went over to him he just hugged me and cried into my shoulder. He is having some struggles at home after coming out to his family. I was able to tell him I was proud of him for honoring who he is, because I am. Coming out is hard and brave and I told him as much. It seemed to help him to have an adult tell him that it is okay and hat he is okay. A few months ago I don't think he would have confided in me, and I would not have deserved his confidence. But I've been working to be more aware of how I interact with him and I think it is working.

Then in one of my beginning classes, a student called someone else a "f*ggot." I pulled him aside to talk to him about that kind of language. Cussing is what it is, but if someone cusses someone out or uses a insult like that then I try to address it. Making who someone is an insult is unacceptable. Using gay, girl, retarded,etc. as insults suggests that gay people and women are not as good as others. I told that student all of this, that using derogatory terms for a group of people as insults in not okay. He seemed to get it and apologized. When it comes to issues like that I try to change the behavior instead of just punishing it because most of the time they don't understand why the language they use is a problem. Last year I probably would have just punished or yelled at him.

I have a hard time seeing success in this project. But it's days like today that make me feel like I'm actually improving.