Gerri August: Safe Spaces
Dr. Gerri August is an assistant professor of Educational Studies at Rhode Island College. Before joining the RIC faculty in 2005, Dr. August taught middle school English; served as principal in a K-8 setting; co-founded Educational Interventions, an educational consulting, advocacy, and tutoring firm; and counseled special needs students and their instructors at Johnson & Wales University. Her doctoral dissertation, a critical ethnography conducted in a kindergarten classroom, explored how a democratic, transformative educator created constraints and possibilities that encouraged students to recognize and respect difference. She is a co-author of Safe Spaces: Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth. Dr. August was an Education Alliance Fellow (Brown University, 2010-2011) during which she conducted research relative to teacher candidates' perceptions of English Language Learners. Her research interests center on transformative pedagogy. (http://www.ric.edu/academics/faculty_Details.php?id=9943)
Quotes
“Heterosexism is one of those unexamined avenues of privilege. Assumptions that everyone is (or should be) heterosexism shape most classroom interactions, whether academic or social. Assumptions about gender binaries and appropriate gender roles also pervade our classrooms” (84).
“The off-stated objective is for children to learn that families come in different shapes and sizes, live in different dwelling, observe different traditions and celebrate different holidays. Teach around our nations narrate stories about single-parent families, adoptive families, divorced families and foster families”(85).
“Nevertheless, students from privileged groups were not challenged to think critically about their perceptions, and students from marginalized groups were, well, marginalized. In these instances, teachers missed opportunities to invite discussion, challenge stereotypes, and raise awareness of privilege and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity”(96)
“The off-stated objective is for children to learn that families come in different shapes and sizes, live in different dwelling, observe different traditions and celebrate different holidays. Teach around our nations narrate stories about single-parent families, adoptive families, divorced families and foster families”(85).
“Nevertheless, students from privileged groups were not challenged to think critically about their perceptions, and students from marginalized groups were, well, marginalized. In these instances, teachers missed opportunities to invite discussion, challenge stereotypes, and raise awareness of privilege and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity”(96)