EDSC340 Blog

  1. Key ideas or questions from the reading connected to course goals • What ideas or arguments stood out most to you in this week’s materials? Discrimination and violence toward LGBTQ+ people has become so normalized that it almost feels expected, despite decades of advocacy and progress made by activists, lawmakers, and communities. Much of what we discussed this week isn’t new information, but the way the public talks about LGBTQ+ people—often with dehumanizing language—has become frighteningly common. What gets lost is the fact that we’re discussing real human beings and their basic right to exist peacefully. Gender non-conforming and transgender people are facing the most intense discrimination right now. California’s 2024 law banning schools from outing LGBTQ+ students to their parents (Adamczeski, 2024) is both a sign of progress and a quiet horror. The fact that we even need a law to protect children from potential violence or rejection from their own families because of t...

  Reflections on Your Propensity to Learn and Personal Growth Throughout the Course Where do you notice growth in your own learning process? The readings- especially Nieto and Bode, and Titone- have broadened my understanding of what a culturally responsive teacher and school truly look like. The example in Nieto and Bode about a curriculum centered on the Cambodian American experience helped me realize that my approach to culturally responsive teaching has been somewhat limited. I initially wanted to design lessons that addressed social justice directly, but the case study showed me that social change can also emerge through subtle, thoughtful representation rather than explicit discussions of racism or inclusion alone. As Nieto and Bode warn, “If the topic of a certain cultural group is approached as merely ‘adding color’ to the curriculum, teachers run into any one of a number of pitfalls that run counter to the critical multicultural approach” (p. 368). I now recognize that som...