“History isn't something you look back at and say it was inevitable. It happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.”
                                     -Marsha P. Johnson
 

My sophomore year in high school, I had a poetry teacher named Mr. Jamison, who we called Mr. J. He found ways to unlock our angsty teenage emotions and turn them into art that felt bigger and more important than any other class we were taking. I bring up Mr. J not only because he was and is a great teacher that I aspire to be, but also because sometime after highschool I found out that he was a gay man in a long term relationship. In my highschool there were always rumors about his sexuality, but in the year 2000 so was everyone’s sexuality if they were even the slightest “metrosexual” or feminine. In my small town in Ohio, in the early aughts, being an out gay man came with problems in almost every field of work one did. In our current time 20 plus years later there are still narratives that hold those in marginalized communities in a light that is unfair and untrue about a whole group of people. As a happily married gay man raising a son with a passion for teaching I couldn’t help but wonder about Mr. J’s experience. The amount that he could have taught just by being a teacher in that small town, authentically himself. I saw little diversity in my teachers growing up, and no one (that I knew of) who I could see myself in. This offered little examples of the real world. Many different perspectives in my education were absent, both in my teachers and in the content.  I found a love of teaching through career trial and error, a lot of education, and inspiration from teachers like Mr. J. I came to teaching by thinking of how I would have liked my education to have been and thus has informed my teaching philosophy. I believe in dismantling systems of oppression such as racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination so that students can have safe, equitable, and inclusive learning environments where everyone feels respected and seen. 

 

My career and education journey has not been a linear track that leads directly to teaching. It is a winding path through State University, community college, online university, and graduate school and career fields like food and beverage, visual merchandising, marketing, and retail management that many find themselves navigating. I’ve found that while I saw this for some time as a weakness and that my lack of direction was hindering my success, I now see it as a strength that has brought clarity to my life and enriched my background as a teacher. I now bring up this winding path to reassure those students that don’t know what they want to do after high school that it is okay and they will find their way. For those students that are on a college path, it shows them that they may find that their interests change and it is okay to alter course if they see a more authentic path. Ultimately, I use my background to help navigate students' individual paths and help them stay confident in their choices for the future. 

In my high school Humanities classroom, I believe in a balanced curriculum of identity, academics, hands-on projects, and autonomy of choice. Through my experience with project based learning (PBL) I found that this methodology supports my beliefs and student learning. For example, a mini-project I worked on with my Cooperating Teacher, we were looking for ways to tie-in more world history to our larger project surrounding public health and Haiti. We set up this mini project for students to select a country of their choice and asked that it be one that had some connection with them personally. They made brochures of their chosen countries including information on the health of the population, the journey to freedom for its people, and cultural aspects that made the country unique. This was a small aspect of a larger project, but had rich learning not only around public health of a nation but also a better understanding of a place either they had ties to or wanted to visit. Students were excited to share visually the amazing cultural richness they discovered through their research. With opportunities to engage with our communities, hear from experts in the field, and create creative and tactile products to present learning outcomes PBL is a way to engage students in ways that traditional learning struggles with. 

 

The environment I strive to create focuses on making students feel safe to be themselves and includes literacy practices daily. The start of this is having a curriculum for the semester that is representative of many identities. It is important to not only see diversity in characters in a book but also by the authors that write them, giving positive examples of representation in the classroom. How I do this daily is I start the first 20 minutes of class with a literacy practice. This could be reading and responding to an article, independent reading, a writing prompt, a think and discuss, or a game/activity. Then after each unit we study we prepare for a socratic seminar. This practice of putting to practice the learning and research that we have done to have a guided discussion will help students make tangible their opinions and learning.

 

Creating a safe space for students to learn and a positive classroom culture is of utmost importance. An example of this is I facilitate setting up co-created classroom norms or values to help us start to establish our environment. They are referenced daily and in different ways to ensure all students know the expectations of their community. I allow students to make social mistakes and use these mistakes to learn as a class without calling out students individually, but calling out the words or ideas that are maybe offensive or flippant in use. I am kind and understanding in my approach with students. When I see students struggling or opting out I commit to making time to connect with them one on one and figure out what motivates them. This could be going on a walk together, getting lunch, or playing a game. Finding an activity where we can connect and have a casual conversation to address any struggles or issues is my way to build trust and find ways to support and help. As a gay youth I felt very unsafe in school so it is my ultimate goal to create a universally safe space that is inclusive to all students regardless of identity markers and their intersectionalities. 

 

Part of making students feel safe is an effort to actively combat prejudices and biases, and foster open discussions about all issues relating to students' identities. Nikole Hannah-Jones creator of the 1619 project was one such voice I brought into the classroom to aid my students knowledge on the history of Black music. During this project students were asked to listen to Jazz and Blues songs and visually represent one of their favorites through art of their choice. While they worked on that we watched and discussed the ‘Music’ episode of the 1619 project on Hulu. Her voice and excellent journalism was an engaging storytelling of how Black music genres  were birthed from movements happening around the same time.  Finding partners and content that can fill representations that I do not reflect can help all students be seen in diverse rich ways avoiding biases and prejudices, incorporating joy and excellence, and affirms identities and intersectionalities to further students safety and advocate for justice.  

As much as I acknowledge my identity in the LGBTQ+ community, I acknowledge my identity as a White Man and recognize the White supremacy culture we live in as well as a patriarchal society. Communicating and acknowledging my privilege in the classroom acknowledges that these structures of power exist. Within my curriculum it is my duty as a teacher to visibly leverage my privilege to be a co-conspirator in an inequitable society. I do this by incorporating community work in projects with authentic speakers of diverse backgrounds to make connections to the content and students’ lives. Bringing this visibility to communities of color and other marginalized groups, the injustices they face and historical compounding factors, can help students brainstorm solutions on how we can be more than just performative allies, but co-conspirators. I believe the direct acknowledgement of injustices in the education system and teaching and learning about the systemic ways in how we got here is a way to avoid the gimmicks that perpetuate injustice and reinforce biases. That is why I make a point to look at critical perspectives throughout history and give voice to multiple views of events.  This then leads to conversations about how the historical events have affected the world, our country, our state, our communities today. Consistently tying history to the current world is a way I like to make Humanities relevant to students' lives.

 

In efforts towards my mission of being a teacher that acknowledges systems of oppression, creating safe spaces, and encouraging representation in the classroom, I believe these to be my core values as a teacher. I will be promoting literacy and visibility through these core values and give students the space to explore their identities and be accepting of those different from themselves.