On a queer inclusive curriculum:

I don’t really know how to begin to address some of the questions brought up around a queer-inclusive/supportive curriculum. As the questions about how to cope with and work around bigoted parents and policies suggest, there is a lot to push back against in this particular area. However, I do have some pushback of my own against the question about how to care for queer students without devaluing the beliefs or worldview of students resistant to queer-related conversations. I understand the importance of cultural relativism plays in intercultural communication. However, I draw the line for myself when those cultural practices start to infringe upon the rights or actively cause harm to others. I would argue that beliefs and world views that nurture queer phobic mindsets should be devalued. This does not mean that as a teacher you should disrespect or shame students for having been raised in those value systems, but you can make it clear that it is not and will not be a part of your classroom culture. The best way I can see to strive towards this is by openly and unabashedly celebrating all facets of human identity and sexuality.

This ties into the question of how to integrate queer literature without targeting or isolating queer or questioning students. I don’t think the most effective way to do this in an environment where there might be a great deal of pushback is through presenting a piece of queer literature as such, and marking that as its purpose of study. Instead, take texts like Carol, The Hours, or A Single Man and note it as an important work of fiction for all that it has to offer. Other components of queer representation can then be built off these core texts to offer a diverse perspective on the issue, just as with any topic of literary discourse.

This is devaluing through building up, not tearing down. It is not our job as educators to allow students to go through life without being challenged in their beliefs. Quite to the contrary, I think it would be amazing if every students, every day of their school career, had some “truth” or another laid out on the examination table for dissection and analysis.

On poetry, personal narrative, and enactment:

I never understood why poetry is always made out to be the pinnacle of expressive composition. Even a reading that claims boldly that poetry needs to be taken off of its pedestal in the classroom simultaneously positions it as an essential tool for self expression. Personally, I always found poetry stifling. Short form prose has always been the vehicle of choice for getting my thoughts out of my head. I think there is often an artificial demarcation between prose and poetry that has put me off of the latter. I like to blend them together and still be free from the connotations and expectations I see inherent in the term poem.

Intersession was also an example, for me, of how prose can be performative and how performance can get students excited for their prose. This was both in spontaneous and written composition. The readings this week gave me some ideas for future activities that I think could be very effective writing exercises, such as reading a line and trying to milk as many subtexts out of it as possible through variations in inflection, emphasis, and pace. I think this is something I have undervalued in the past, and structuring intentional performance explicitly into my future lessons is something I intent to work on.

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