Equality 101

The following post can also be found at Ileana’s blog,  Feminist Teacher.

Yesterday was International Women’s Day across the world. Were you able to observe the day in your classroom or school in some way?

Depending on the school and its mission, a variety of schools across the U.S. celebrate National Latino Heritage Month in September; National Coming Out Day in October; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January; Black History Month in February; the Day of Silence in April, and many more important dates of observance.

But how many schools observe International Women’s Day? Probably not many schools, if any at all. Read the rest of this entry →

With last night’s Academy Award for Best Director going to Kathryn Bigelow, the Academy has awarded that Oscar to a woman for the first time in its history. There could not be a more perfect way to commemorate the strides women have made in entertainment and society. Bigelow’s win helps celebrate today’s theme: “Equal rights, equal opportunity: Progress for all.”

What I most enjoyed about her victory was not the fact that that a woman won, but that the best film-maker did. Bigelow put it best in her post award comments, “I’d love to just think of myself as a film-maker, and I long for the day when a modifier can be a moot point. But I’m ever grateful if I can inspire some young, intrepid, tenacious male or female film-maker and have them feel that the impossible is possible and never give up on your dream.”

That is what International Women’s Day is about.

The following post can also be found at Feminist Teacher in honor of International Women’s Day, March 8, 2010.

The Astraea Foundation funds LGBTI social justice activism both in the US and globally. (photo courtesy of Astraea)

Do you know who is funding the fight for queer social justice in Africa?

Do you know who is funding the fight for queer social justice in Latin America?

Do you know who is funding the fight for queer social justice right here in the US?

The answer to all of these questions is Astraea. No other public foundation is working harder for sweet justice than the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, the world’s only foundation solely dedicated to funding LGBTI organizations in both the United States and internationally.

For more than 30 years, Astraea has been a major leader in the social justice feminist movement. Astraea began in 1977 in New York when a small group of women created a multi-racial, multi-class, feminist foundation in order to address the lack of funding for women—specifically lesbians and women of color. According to Executive Director Katherine Acey, the founding mothers—including Stella Alvo, Audrey Barnes, Nancy Dean, Barbara Grant, Joyce Hunter, Roberta Kosse, Cynthia Long, Achebe Powell, Joan Watts and Leslie Kanes Weisman—“believed that even the smallest of gestures, when combined, could create, nurture and strengthen significant social change. And they were right.” Read the rest of this entry →

Today is International Women’s Day. This is a day to celebrate women’s advances and to contemplate how we can continue to make the world equal and equitable for all. This is also a day to consider what we mean and who we signify when we say “women.” Read the rest of this entry →

As a teacher, I do not believe that each student should be treated exactly the same.

This might seem like a shocking statement to you, especially from a blog titled Equality 101, but hear me out.  I absolutely believe that each student should have access to the same opportunities, and I believe wholeheartedly that each student should be given the opportunity to succeed.  But I do not believe that each student should be treated exactly the same.  Each student should not be given the exact same assignment as another student every time an assignment is given.  Each student should not be given the exact same reading material as another student every time reading is assigned.  And each student should not be given the exact same punishment every time punishment is required.

To me, equal rights for all in education does not mean each student should be treated the same.  It rather means that each student should be treated equitably (not necessarily equally): Each student should be given the ability to learn in the best way possible for him or her; Each student should be given every opportunity to grow and succeed and foster interests and lifelong learning; Each student should be given a punishment fitting the behavior and the student; Each student should be given equal and equitable access to every available program.
Read the rest of this entry →

One of the ideas given to bloggers today to help inspire thoughts for Blog for International Women’s Day was as follows: “Describe a particular organization, person, or moment in history that helped to mobilize a meaningful change in equal rights for all.”

As I read over this, the word that caught my eye was “meaningful,” and I began to wonder what I thought of as a “meaningful change.”  And wondering about this got me thinking about my classroom.  And my classroom got me thinking about my students and their capacity to change and learn. Read the rest of this entry →