Out teachers Brett Bigham ( 2014 Oregon Teacher of the Year ), Jane McMahon ( 2014 Wisconsin State Teacher of the Year ) and Shanna Peeples ( 2015 Texas State Teacher of the Year and 2015 United States National Teacher of the Year ) held a session focused on anti-bullying information and supports for LGBTQ youth who are being bullied at the National Network of State Teachers of the Year ( NNSTOY ) Conference July 12 at the Loews Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois.
This session marks the first time three openly LGBTQ teachers of the year have held a session together at the NNSTOY conference.
NNSTOY Vice-President and COO Brad Hull told the audience the ways they can help NNSTOY with its work ahead of the session.
Bigham'scurriculum creator and LGBTQ advocatetalk focused on bullying statistics. He explained that 28 percent of middle and high school students in the United States experience bullying while about 30 percent of young people admit they were bullies. Bigham said about 71 percent of young people and school staff have witnessed bullying in their schools with 62 percent of school staff indicating they've witnessed bullying in schools two or more times a month and 41 percent of them witnessing bullying once a week or more. He noted that when bystanders intervene, bullying stops within 10 seconds 57 percent of the time, so it's vital for that intervention to occur.
"Studies are starting to show that when bullying occurs it not only hurts those being bullied, it also damages the bullies and those who witness bullying," said Bigham. "LGBTQ youth are much more likely to be bullied than any other group. Bullied LGBTQ youth, or youth perceived as such, are more likely to skip school, smoke, use alcohol and drugs or engage in other risky behaviors."
Bigham explained that the reasons why he highlights these statistics is because suicide is the number-two killer of teens in this country and these two things are linked.
"If you have a transgender student in your school there's a 50 percent chance they will try to commit suicide at least once by the time they're 20 years old," said Bigham.
Bigham noted that more than one in every 10 high school students overall reported attempting suicide with more than 30 percent of LGBTQ youth reporting they've attempted suicide within the past year. He said among the transgender youth population more than 50 percent of them will have attempted suicide at least once before they turn 20. These numbers, Bigham explained, add up to an average of 5,400 suicide attempts each day by youth in grades 7-12 in the United States, with four out of five of those teens exhibiting warning signs ahead of time.
Teachers, Bigham said, can make a huge difference to curb these statistics and help LGBTQ youth feel like they belong with the biggest factor being if a school has a GSA. The presence of a GSA fosters inclusive comments by teachers and fellow students of their LGBTQ peers, Bigham explained.
Bigham told the crowd he was censored by his school district regarding his status as a gay man while also being honored by NNSTOY and getting international press coverage for being an out gay teacher.
"My personal story is I have to be out because I need to reach out to those young people who are LGBTQ," said Bigham. "I want to show LGBTQ youth they aren't alone."
McMahondirector of teaching and learning for the Baraboo School District in Wisconsinspoke about the day she and Bigham visited the White House with the other state teachers of the year and when she told them she was getting married when it was legal the rest of the teachers erupted in cheers.
"Our school district recognizes the need to work with a social justice lens," said McMahon.
One of the ways one can bring social justice into the classroom is by recognizing privilege wherever it manifests itself, McMahon explained. She talked about an essay written in 1988 that spoke about white privilege and how it's still relevant today. McMahon noted that in order for students to recognize their privilege teachers need to ask them: are they white, are they male and are they straight and if they fall into all those categories they have the most privilege. She said that while asking these questions, teachers must point out the reasons why this makes one privileged using statistics and real life examples.
McMahon noted that oftentimes teachers don't know about or seek out inclusive reading material including novels and that's an issue for not only LGBTQ students but also communities of color and young women who long to see themselves in books and other media outlets. She said the default literature is often about a young white straight male protagonist to the exclusion of other groups and it's important to have a variety of books throughout the year so every student feels included. Among the many books McMahon mentioned throughout her presentation was "I Am Malala" as well as titles featuring LGBTQ youth characters.
"Taking a stand is the next step," said McMahon. "I think it's time to get political … when the GOP presidential candidate promotes violence we have to speak up."
Peeplesteacher and instructional coach at Palo Duro High School in Amarillo, Texas and former features writer for the Amarillo Globe-Newsnoted this was the first time she's talked about being an out lesbian teacher in a public setting. She explained that she teaches in the panhandle of Texas in the city with the highest number of refugees per capita than any city in the U.S. Peeples noted that these refugees come from all demographics and from all over the world. She said her school gets labeled as the bad school, but she doesn't see it that way.
One way to get students to open up about their lives, Peeples said, is have them write things down anonymously as well as have them create projects centered on their writing. Peeples also has her students work in writing circles and due to what they share they begin to understand each other better and accept one another for who they are, including those who identify as LGBTQ.
Like McMahon before her, Peeples also mentioned having inclusive books in one's classroom and pointed out the Stonewall Book Award winners in particular.
"I say that for a very personal reason because books saved my life," said Peeples. "Books showed me that people survive and can be who they are and find success and happiness because I didn't find that in my own life … When I was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer at age 31 my mother told me while I was in my hospital bed God did this to me because I was a lesbian."
Peeples stressed the need for every LGBTQ person to have allies/supporters. She said these allies and positive media portrayals, especially in books, of LGBTQ people are vital especially if your family isn't accepting because books showed her that her mother was wrong.
See www.nnstoy.org/, www.mrbsclassroom.com/, www.shannapeeples.com/ and twitter.com/janemcmahon2 for more information.