Multicultural Education and Glee

Glee has been one of my favorite television shows since it first aired about 3 years ago. There are so many storylines that intermingle and deal with real-life issues that many teens face today. The characters in the show are growing up in a rural town in Ohio and this season had followed the students through their journey of their senior year of high school and choosing a path to take in life and where to go to college. The number of issues that arise in the television show is never ending, from LGBT issues, to teen pregnancy, to interracial dating to diabilities.

            One of the stars of Glee, Kurt, is gay. He is extremely lucky to have a father who cares so much about him and loves him exactly the way he is. Yet in school he is bullied quite a bit by one of the football players. The biggest irony of the situation is that the football player is actually gay as well, but has not come out yet and is covering up his own homosexuality by bullying Kurt. He uses both physical and verbal bullying towards Kurt, and even forces Kurt to transfer schools. Kurt portrays himself as a very put-together and confident individual at most times. He has a very unique sense of fashion and is not afraid to flaunt it. But there have also seen times that he has had complete break-downs on the show. For example, last season Kurt was voted as the Prom Queen by his entire school as a joke. But it was not really a joke and was a form of bullying. I would say that Kurt has found a group that he identifies with and feels comfortable around which is the Glee Club. When he is around his friends he acts like himself. Kurt is also fortunate enough that his teacher Mr. Shoe is so supportive of him and is always there for him.

            Another one of the major characters in the show Glee is Artie. Artie is paralyzed from the waist down and thus in a wheelchair. His greatest wish is to walk again one day, even though the probability of that ever happening is very slim. Glee is a club that choreographs different songs and dances into musical numbers. Because Artie is in a wheelchair, he is not able to dance. But this does not stop him from moving. He is always incorporated into the various musical numbers and does and amazing job moving in his wheelchair. He has one of the best voices of all of the males in the club and shines as an integral part of the team. In terms of bullying, Artie does face bullying for being in a wheelchair as well as for wearing glasses. But I really admire Artie because he does not seem to very phased by the acts of bullying by others towards the Glee club. I can only recall one instance in which Artie lost his temper, and it was not as a result of himself being bullied but rather because one of the other characters in the show Blaine was being bullied.

            Our textbook talked about James Banks and his approach to multicultural education. He believed that in order for groups of people to understand one another and have positive attitudes towards those who are different than themselves, that diverse groups need to be integrated with one another. This method of multicultural integration is very apparent in the Glee club as the club is composed on many different teens who all have their own issues. But the Glee club is like a family and I believe that the reason for this is that they all have a positive attitude towards one another. They are all there for each other in times of need and despite their differences, they can always count on another.

Bullying and The "It Gets Better" Campaign

According to recent statistics, every day many kids experience acts of bullying in schools. These aggressive behaviors often cause social rejection to others, as well as a plethora of different personal effects. The word bully can be defined as a person who is cruel to another, and the act of bullying may take many forms. In recent years, a term know as “cyber-bullying” has also become more common. While traditional bullying requires face-to face contact between the bully and the person being attacked, cyber- bullying uses technology rather than direct contact.

Cyber-bullying is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly popular. This type of bullying is done entirely through the use of technology, whether it is through the computer or through the use of cell phones. When used improperly, technology has a negative effect on the youth today. Children and teens are saying very hurtful things to one another through technology and this is having very negative effects. Some of the negative effects that have been correlated to cyber-bullying include depression, anxiety, and even suicide in some extreme situations.

The website “It Gets Better” is full of videos posted by people across the country that address the issue of bullying towards people of the LGBT population. These videos are posted by normal every-day people, famous celebrities, and even big companies such as Disney, PIXAR, and Apple. But the messages that the videos send are very similar: no one should be bullied for who they are or who they chose to love. Every person deserves the same love and kindness, no matter their sexual orientation. The videos on this website offer anyone of this LGBT community a friend and also show people of this community that they are definitely not alone. For example, in one of the videos that I watched, a man of about middle-age told his story. He was originally married to a woman and had two children with this women. But he knew inside that he was living a lie and today he is divorced and has a male partner. He offers his personal email address during his video for anyone who just needs a friend. Each and every one of the videos that I watched was very heart-warming. Many of the videos were made after many teens took their own lives after being taunted and bullied for being LGBT. The videos give hope that “it gets better”. It is truly amazing how the LGBT community is so close net and they lean on one another for support.

 One day when I am a physical education teacher, I hope to be a person who my students will be able to confide in. I will have to get my students to realize that although I am their teacher, I am also a friend who is there to listen to them in times of need. I work at a summer camp with young children over the summer. Part of our staff summer training was a bullying seminar where we learned how to deal with bullying with our campers and I know that I will be able to use what I learned here as a physical education teacher. The issue of bullying is not one that can be ignored and it must be dealt with immediately. There need to be consequences for bullies and they must know that taunting and acts of hatred towards others will not be tolerated.

Will I have what it takes?

Today in class, we continued our discussion on diversity a little and then we proceeded to begin diving into our own personal philosophies of physical education and teaching. Most of the other EDU 470 professors have their students write essays about their beliefs, and what they hope to be as a future teacher. I do agree that it is definitely important to put these philosophies into writing. But in class today Professor Yang did something a little different. He put up a list of a few questions to get us thinking a little bit about who we really are as future teachers and what it means to be a physical educator. As the group was sitting in a circle, we went around the circle and “rapid fire” elaborated on one of the questions and what we believed in. It was really neat to hear all the different things that my peers had to say. Although we are all united in our common goal to be physical educators, we all have slightly different outlooks. Being able to think off the top of my head will benefit me in many ways when I am out there looking for my first job. I hope that I will have what it takes to know what to say in these situations I may find myself in. For example, will I know what to say when the superintendent at my school asks why physical education is really that important? I know that doing these activities in EDU 470 class is the perfect way to practice and although it might seem stressful now, I know it will only benefit me in the future. You never know when a single small conversation might end up landing you a job!

MyPlate

This semester one of the classes I am taking is Nutrition. It is one of the undergraduate requirements for the 4 + 1 Health Master’s Program. We recently learned that the food guide pyramid has been replaced with something called “MyPlate”. As you can see in the graphic, the new image shows what portion of your meal should be grains, proteins, fruits, vegetables, and dairy. The website promotes eating more vegetables, more whole grains, and healthy and lean proteins. It is an improvement from the food guide pyramid in several ways. By looking at the food guide pyramid, it is very hard to tell the percentages of each food that you should eat in your daily diet by looking at a pyramid. I definitely think that MyPlate is a big improvement because it shows the portions on a plate. I think that a person can relate to this type of illustration more that a pyramid.

According to the plate, half of what you eat should be fruits and vegetables at each meal. The drink on the diagram is milk. The website is really neat and has some different features that can help with weight management and calculating calories. It also helps with telling some different ways to burn calories and increase physical activity. As a future physical educator, one of my favorite features on the website is the part that describes what physical activity is and why it is so important, as well as how much is really necessary every day. Many Americans are not educated on these facts and this is why the MyPlate website is so important. It is easy to use and easy to understand.

My Healthy Resolutions Video: Making Fit Happen!

First SCOPE Media Video

Today in class we watched the first SCOPE media production. The video really came out awesome and I was excited to see that everyone’s hard work paid off. Trent did an awesome job directing and producing the video and he really deserves a lot of credit for all the hours that he put in. I think that the rest of the video crew and me did a good job formulating our ideas on the concepts in the chapter. It was important to make the skits funny while informational at the same time so that we could keep the attention of our viewers.  After all, no one really wants to watch a boring video where the actors and actresses just list off the facts of the chapter.

It became rather apparent today that there was a huge discrepancy in the number of hours different people spent on the video. The audio crew obviously did not have as much work to do but they will now be in charge of filming the next video. I think that Trent spent a great deal of time on the video, maybe even too much time. In the future, it will be important to divide up the work a little more maybe. So instead of myself and the rest of the video group spending about 4 hours each on the project and Trent spending 10 hours, the work will be divided up a little better.

Working together in groups is always a learning process and must take patience. Now that we have the first video under our belt, we will know how to be more effective next time!

Blog is back up and running!

I have not really blogged since I took PED 201 but now that I am taking EDU 470 with Professor Yang I am excited to get back into blogging. Today was the first day of classes for the spring semester and I have to admit that I am already feeling a little bit overwhelmed. This semester some of the classes that I am taking include EDU 355, EDU 470, PED 356, Anatomy II, as well as Nutrition. Thus the course load is heavy but I am excited because this semester I will be fully immersed in the Physical Education Major. I am especially excited for EDU 355 because it includes field work and observations at a local elementary school. I think this will be a great experience and I truly am most passionate about working with elementary aged students. After completing my observations for EDU 256 in a middle school and high school last spring, I realized that although I would take a job in whichever grade level I was offered, I really do enjoy working with the younger children more. They have such vivid imaginations and are really are excited to play and learn. I am also really excited about taking PED 356 which focuses on adaptive physical education. I am in the adaptive physical education concentration here at SUNY Cortland so I have already taken a few classes with the adaptive focus, but I am really excited to work more closely with students with disabilities. As described by Professor Yang this morning, EDU 470 will really dive into discovering more about our own individual philosophies of teaching and coaching. I think this will be a real eye-opener to our beliefs on physical education and what we strive to be as future physical educators. Although look at each syllabus given to us by our professors may seem overwhelming right now, I know that all the hard work and dedication will pay off in the end.