Blog 8- Two Moms

Ms. Ribiero, the teacher in Case Study 9.4 from Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education, was trying to do the right thing by adding the two books to her classroom library that depicted families with same-sex parents. However, what she should have done before placing them in the library was educated her students a little on it first. Of course it would not just be education on gay marriage or gay rights but on family diversity. I believe the reason the students reacted the way they did when they saw Denise reading the book was because they had no prior knowledge of it. They did not know there could be a home with two moms. When Brandon saw Denise reading the book, he said to Ms. Ribiero, "She's reading a book about weird people." Had he had some prior knowledge about this being something that truly does occur in the real world, he most likely would not have made that hurtful comment. Ms. Ribiero did not respond to the comment the way she should have. Instead of telling Julia and Brandon, "focus on your own books and let Denise focus on hers," she should have told them that it was not a book about weird people because homes with two moms did exist. Then, she could have told them to focus on their own books. Other than reading the book aloud later on to educate the students about diverse families, Ms. Ribiero could have researched an engaging video on the topic to show the class. The students actually seeing that it happens is more powerful than if they read about it. In my opinion, the point about bullying that Ms. Ribiero made to Principal Hernandez is very true. Teachers and educators have a huge responsibility to educate students about diverse family structures such as same-sex parents or guardians because there is a chance that their unanswered questions about the topic will later on turn into bullying. We can prevent this bullying through education.

Reference

Gorski, P. & Pothini, SC. (2014). Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education: "Case 9.4 Two Moms". New York: Taylor and Francis

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