Sexual Orientation and You (Or More Importantly) Sexual Orientation and All of Us
Unit Objectives
- Understand historical evolution of sexual orientation.
- Broadening perspectives of future teachers on sexual orientation.
- Prepare future teachers to broaden student perspectives as they teach sexual orientation.
- Prepare teachers to help their students take action based on their beliefs
- Consider controversies and complexities of teaching sexual orientation.
Day 1 - Historically Gay - Sexual Orientation through time and place
Readings:
Native American, Classical Greece, Islam, Modern Psychiatry.
Goals:
- A broadening of perspective in terms of historical views of sexual orientation across several different cultures.
- Inquiry into etymological origins of the various types of language used to describe / categorize different sexual orientations throughout history.
- Engage in dialogue on the possibility that any and all labels and "sexual categories" are illusory and that identity politics actually contributes to continued inequality and the "Other" status of those who engage in a less popular form of sexual intercourse.
Questions to Consider:
- What differing views exist within this culture if any? Is there disagreement?
- Which article interested you the most? Why? What, if anything, can this historical/cultural view of homosexuality/transgender have to teach modern America?
Links to Consider:
http://www.etymonline.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/etymology/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucaulthttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/21/phil-snider-missouri-pastor-anti-gay-rights-speech-surprise_n_1997036.html?&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009 Starting Video
Day 2 - Sexual Orientation and Utopian Ideology
Readings:
Boy Meets Boy
Poets of Comrades: Addressing Sexual Orientation in the English Classroom
Teaching Social Justice through Young Adult Literature
Goals:
- Boost overall knowledge about sexual orientation.
- Gain new skills to use as teachers when approaching the topic of homosexuality.
Questions to Consider:
- Why should or shouldn't we use Boy Meets Boy in a high school classroom?
- What problems or frustrations can you predict happening when assigning a novel like this to high school students?
- Based on the Poets of Comrades article, what can we as teachers do to prevent negative ramifications when teaching a novel like Boy Meets Boy?
Day 3 - Gender-Queer Terrorism and Social Action
Readings:
The Complete Lockpick Pornography
Breaking the Silence
Goals:
- Consider Sexual Orientation from a perspective of confusion and anger at injustice.
- Compare the concept of social action portrayed through the academic article, as opposed to the vigilante social action in the novels.
- Critically engage with attitude of the ‘Other’ as portrayed in the readings and be able to recognize social action as various methods of approaching topics.
Questions to Consider:
- Consider this quote from Lockpick: “The hetero-normative ownership paradigm is a tyrant belief system that deserves to be undermined on every front, from political protest to petty thievery.”
- After reading book 1, how do you think the protagonist justifies this belief system, and do you think that this belief is held through the novella?
- Consider this quote from We all got it coming: “If I report him, he'll get fired. And I guess that'll make me feel better, except I know that he'll start to actually hate gays then. You take away the one thing that makes somebody happy, and you're the bad guy. It doesn't matter if he deserves it. Nobody believes they deserve it. I report Wallace, and Wallace has his life ruined by a gay.”
- Consider this quote from book 2 in relevance to book 1. How is this protagonist’s outlook different from that of the protagonist in book 1? If both of these characters seem to have the best interest of those that are not heterosexual at heart, which do you think is more correct in their actions and thinking?
- Finally, what are your general reflections on the novellas? What surprised you, shocked, confused you, what do you want to explore in more depth?
Interesting Links:
www.asofterworld.com - Sift through these, and a theme arises
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn8QOGSsu30
Day 4 - Sexual Orientation The Media and The Now.
Read blog posts from www.thegirlinside.com
- “Growing Up Girly”
- “The Name Game”
- “The Big Bathroom Dilemma”
- “Mixed Messages” ( after reading “Mixed Messages” look at www.peopleofwalmart.com , search for pictures of cross dressers)
- Article: “Confronting Bullying: It Really Can Get Better”
Goals:
- Broadening students’ and instructor’s understanding of the transgender/transsexual scope of sexual orientation
- Connecting formal and informal texts about transgender/transsexual people to offer academic and real-world perspective applicability
Questions to Consider:
- After looking at People of Walmart and reading “Mixed Messages,” what did you think? If there were any emotional responses to the captions and pictures of people of Walmart what were they?
- What connections did you find between the blog and the bullying article?
- What other times have you seen transgendered/transsexual people represented in the media?
Grading Criteria
- Nicenet: Give in depth responses to the questions provided in the nicenet posts, respond to peers atleast once. (25 points)
- Participation: This will be reflected in your completion of Nicenet and your participation in assignments and activities given in class. And we ask that you are able to voice your thoughts through the unit. (25 points)
- Final Cumulative Project: This will be your final piece that you complete to apply what we have discussed and learned through the unit. It is listed below. (60 points)
Cumulative project
Through this unit we explore the idea of sexual orientation and other matters that are of the gender-queer interest. It is because of this that it is important to think about sexual orientation and its application for your students.
In roughly 2 to 3 pages, map out a brief but thorough week long mini unit with an overarching theme of Sexual Orientation. In it, include the following:
- Useful main text (could be book, film, short stories, etc) that involved the concept of Sexual Orientation. 10 pts
- At least one hands on assignment for students to use in class period for their week. 10 pts
- A short cumulative assignment for you to score at the end. 20 pts
- At least 2 instances where the students do reflections based on ideas presented within the topic. (These are questions related to text, or discussion you would like to take place, be creative) 10 pts
- At least 2 artifacts of the media 10 pts
This is not meant to be an overly formal week long lesson that you are creating. This is to be merely a day by day which gives us a logical progression of how you would like to approach a topic like this. Because of this, you have the option of setting this up in a format which you find easiest for you to look back on. Further, you have the option of incorporating these elements as you see fit. What we are looking for is these elements incorporated in a meaningful way for the topic. If you have any questions, feel free to email us.