Gender and Sexuality in the Classroom In the last few years, issues of gender and sexuality have made their way into the classroom openly, especially with the Obama administration’s legalization of gay marriage in the United States. NCTE talked about this hot topic extensively through panels at conferences, revised standards to be inclusive towards those who fit into the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. The Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education writes entirely about gender and sexuality as they affect the school environment. This topic is controversial because of its political background: there are people who find the mere discussion of these issues offensive, people who consider them major civil rights issues, and others who want to avoid the political tension entirely. More students are openly gay or transgender than ever before and there is more available media that speaks to and represents them than ever before. After perusing this hot topic, the major attitude towards this hot topic is that the classroom should be inclusive towards all students. This aligns with my beliefs as an educator and has helped me find resources to back my beliefs.
Technology in the Classroom When considering my strengths and weaknesses, I had no idea that technology in the classroom was a hot topic as well. Throughout my perusing of SPAs, their journals, and various exposure to hot topics this semester, I have had to consider the role of technology in the classroom. Educational Technology journal focuses on the topic as it presents research into a variety of technologies and their effectiveness. I am aware of the controversy around technology from personal experience. Although my research has not found much controversy surrounding technology, controversy I can consider is that some teachers are less willing to adopt new technologies than others. I believe this comes from access issues, or perceived access issues, than from any real controversy around technology itself. Personally, as I have been surrounded by technology, I can only find benefits of incorporating it into the classroom, but can understand the initial hesitancy of some educators. As the world advances, technology does, and education must follow suit. Personal Learning Experiences Another one of my hot topics is the recurring topic of providing students with an personal learning experience. Many of the strategies in the English Journal are centered around helping students engage with the material in ways that connect to their personal lives. In my methods courses as well as my differentiation course, a driving ideology is that students should have an opportunity to connect their lives to the things that they are learning in the English/Language Arts classroom.. Educational Technology even constantly talks about students’ personal experiences as a driving factor in the ELA classroom. Many ELA classrooms have shifted because of this hot topic. Previously, ELA classrooms were content driven and direct instruction focused. Now, English educators have shifted the ELA classroom to be discussion based and focused on bringing in students’ lives, experiences, and opinions over the content. ELA teachers would much rather have a discussion about how a theme present in a text connects with students rather than how it connects solely to the content. As this hot topic has taken over the ELA classroom, teachers have had to reconsider the transferability of the content. ELA teachers want to ensure that the skills (communication, writing, researching, and reading comprehension) impact students’ lives much more personally than ever. Banned Books English/Language Arts teachers strive to find diverse texts that better represent the experiences of our students, but teachers also face the issues of banned books. Common titles include The Hate U Give, Thirteen Reasons Why, The Kite Runner, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Despite the push for diverse experiences to be included in the literature that is present in ELA classrooms, teachers have to factor in the banned books regardless of the diverse experiences prevalent in the literature. Banned books are banned because of the potential emotional trauma that they can cause students, but by banning literature that depicts our students’ experiences, regardless of if it is challenging to talk about, we silence our students stories. The controversy wavers between allowing these books in classrooms/libraries regardless of their challenging discussion topics. Personally, I believe that students should have access to this literature because it opens the door for tough conversations for students. These stories can legitimize our students’ experiences or bring enlightenment to an issue that students had no idea about. While I acknowledge that students should be exposed to certain things when they are emotionally able to handle these challenging topics, I don’t believe it is anyone’s place besides the student’s parents to decide that these students are not ready for a topic. With these types of texts, parental involvement and support is extremely important.