LGBTQ Inclusive Schools

http://www.welcomingschools.org/.  

Welcoming Schools is a website that provides resources for a LGBTQ and gender inclusive school. There is professional development training that they provide to elementary school educators around prevention of bias based bullying, being inclusive in schools and support of Transgender and non binary students.  They also provide resources for those working at a school.

This website provides tips for having an inclusive classroom.  For example, what could that look like and what conversations could be helpful.  They also include ideas of how to respond when a student says harmful things like, "that's so gay".  In addition, they discuss how to initiate these conversations with students who use hurtful language about gender and they give sample responses.  It gives ideas on how to navigate these conversations, which can be difficult, especially with younger students.

There are lessons on how to create an inclusive school and also how to prevent bias bullying.  Also, they mention how books can be a great tool for teaching students to be inclusive and there are lesson plans for the books. 

The HRC Welcoming Schools approach is firmly grounded in research and they also have a case study of the program’s efficacy with 12 schools.  There are numerous videos showing these lessons and the purpose of welcoming schools. This is great resource to have guidance in creating a dialogue with students and a positive environment at your school about being inclusive. It provides support in knowing how to address questions and conflict that come up in schools in order to have a safer and more welcoming school environment.

Safe School Ambassadors

For my item of interest, I chose to write about  the Safe School Ambassadors (SSA)  program used to stop bullying in the school. This program helps students to take an active role supporting other students who may be teased at a given moment. The staff members give these tools to popular students who may have the greater social influence to reach out to vulnerable isolated students.  This immediate intervention is quicker and often more effective than conflict resolution. While the popular students may mentor the other students, they are observant of  their peers' risky behaviors and sudden changes of behavior. There have been results where there is less wasted time disciplining troublesome students when school administrations implemented this program.

The Safe School Ambassadors program is one of many anti-bullying measures that are successful at stopping students from hurting one another. There are many times of bullying that consist of cyberbullying, under the radar, as well as mistreatment of LGBT individuals. I would like to incorporate this program in the future. Rather than assigning students to be ambassadors, I want to have them volunteer for the positions.This can be an afterschool activity where the students can foster new friendships and partnerships with others.  I want to foster a positive atmosphere inside and outside of the classroom for all students.

http://community-matters.org/programs-and-services/safe-scho

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Bully Free Classroom

This packet is extremely useful and helpful, it not only talks about what bullying is and eliminating myths, but it informs students, and teachers, and families on what to do about it.  The packet helps students who are getting bullied and it also helps students who ARE bullies. This is geared towards students who are K-8th grade.  This helps students with the problem solving process.The book helps students, teachers, and families to create specific strategies to help students who are bullied and those who are bullies.  The booklet gives examples, and worksheets for students to come up with their own solutions to provided situations.  This makes it so that the students learn how to apply problem solving methods to make their own solutions while being provided with some by the booklet.
Model: promote a school climate and culture conductive to student learning and teaching excellence. It facilitates engagement between student, family, school, and community. This tool is for everyone involved in the school system and it helps everyone differently but for the same goal: to be bully free.