NR NWTSJ common ideas

NR -- not related to Beduc566
So yesterday I went to NWTSJ in Olympia. It was a great experience overall. I can't believe teachers can get credit for going to these. Yes it was from 8am-4pm, but it was so much fun and nice meeting people with similar goals from all over the state and also some from Oregon.

Met some cool girls from Bellingham. They left there at 5am! Crazy. They are participating in an ESL teaching program up there. Two want to teach English in Japan. Semi-met some girls from UW MIT program. I didn't get a chance to ask which campus they are at. They were all doing student teaching. I really enjoyed bumping into one of the Micks from our Med program. It was nice having some one-on-one conversation with him and finding out more about his passions.

I attended 3 workshops. The first was "Black kid/white school," the second was concerning LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgendered, Queer), and the third was concerned with education for special needs children and integrating them in school with "regular" children.

Common theme: marginalization of a minority and the consequences of that marginalization.

Why did I choose these particular workshops? To be an affective teacher, I know that I must be aware of what my minority students may be experiencing and I must be supportive and provide a safe learning environment for them (as well as all of my future students). Being that I am not a minority, I cannot easily see what might be obvious to people of color or any other minority. I have to train myself to see what might be hidden attacks on these students. Some racism is not easily seen. I learned from these different workshops that there are "code" words used that proliferate the marginalization of minorities. Terms such as "those kids," "free & reduced kids," and others are used to separate children who do not fit ideals from those who do.

I am still digesting all of the information I acquired from these workshops and may write some more on the topic later.