Giving parents a lesson on gender identity

Do I set up a blog just for talking gender identity to antagonistic parents and feel somehow connected to them, or do I try to develop a website where parents of straight kids can go if they are “freaked out” to learn their little one has to go to school with a trans-gender kid, or has a friend raised by two mommies? The Website would be a bit more distant, but I know nothing about developing a website. Blah!
If I could develop a website here are some of the pages I would want:
• Basic definitions of gay, lesbian, homosexual, homophobic, transgender,
transsexual, etc.
• Statistical information regarding % of population who identify themselves
as GLTB, their high school drop out rate and suicide rate, etc.
• General information on the stages of coming out
• Information on bullying and how to stop it
The trick to talking to parents of the straight kids is to use resources not associated with “homo-friendly” publications. (PFLAG, etc.) In order for the audience to trust me I have to use information from sources like the American Pediatric Association, the American Psychology Association, etc. No easy task, but I am sure the research is out there and sufficient.

Guiding Miss Guided

ABC has a new sitcom entitled Miss Guided that demeans the teaching profession in the worst way. Educators are portrayed as “one semester ahead of the students,” socially awkward, and sexual predators. The school is portrayed as halls filled with sex and violence where students even “flunk remedial P.E.” The basis of the story is a terribly flawed guidance counselor returns to her high school to begin her career. She is overwhelmed by the immature feelings of her school days and is so introspective she cannot adequately guide the students. If you want to see the pilot episode and judge for yourself (hey, maybe I’m a tad too sensitive), log on to http://abc.go.com/, go to full episodes, find Miss Guided, and view “Homecoming.” Let me know what you think.

Confessions of a wanna be English teacher

I am not alone! That is my discovery for the day, and is also the beginning of confessing a long held burden on my soul. See, I don't like grammar. I don't even have the slightest idea about grammar, nor how to teach it. ("Real" writers don't use contractions or words like "it" in their writing! That much I know!) As an aspiring English teacher I am suffering the effects of my upbringing. I am a product of the "free" 60's and 70's where children were encouraged to call their teachers by their first names, and it was assumed that if given an encouraging environment students would naturally learn...without direct instruction. Thus I don't ever remember learning anything about grammar and punctuation. Sure, I picked up on some rules through writing, but not enough to actually get up in front of a pack of 9th graders and teach it!!
But I am not alone! I read today in an English Journal that this is a rather common phenomenon in the English Arts classroom. Most English teachers approach their assignments feeling ill prepared for teaching grammar, especially in the light of NCLB's tough standardized testing. The good news is that teacher's learn the rules of grammar through teaching. Yay! There is hope. You have no idea how stressed out I have been over this educational flaw. Maybe, just maybe, with a few years of teaching grammar under my belt, I will ready to be an English teacher after all.