#much less a qpoc | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

deamaia · 4 years

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god i’ve been thinking all week how immeasurably powerful shadowhunters would’ve been if it were run and written by qpoc. imagine the NUANCE. then again it wouldn’t be as popular as it was because of said nuance but live in this fantasy with me for a sec if you please

omg yes please let’s talk about this because im so passionate about this topic. you are so right in saying it would have probably been cancelled earlier if they were all qpoc but like it would have been worth it. there’s a reason why most of kat’s and dom’s fans are white, and there’s a reason why most of them choose to ignore malec or just the characters of color in the show in general. we can all agree that the best characters in the show are played by poc, the most beloved and nuanced characters are poc, and yet they were given less storylines or not really good storylines... AND THERE’S A VERY OBVIOUS REASON FOR THAT. literally maia, luke, izzy, magnus, aline, they all had 3 times more depth than any characters played by yt people and yet the main focus was on clary and her family. like yes in later seasons it became everyone’s show but the entire plot was around clary and her family and the awful writing for that alway always always overshadowed the actual good storylines with poc in them.

AND let’s talk about the very clear biased in the writing room toward queer people, the fact that their show only got popular because of the gay couple yet they continued to do a disservice to them until like 3A, the fact that they purposely included scenes no one wanted to watch but chose to delete or exclude scenes with aline and helen, the fact that they chose a white gay man to thank alec for coming out instead of aline like they had planned (thank u to @isabellelghtwoods for telling me this), the fact that the only other gay couple they included was aline and helen and they were given like 3 scenes IN THE FINALE, the fact that they could have easily made most characters queer and yet they decided not to because of course a show can only have 1 gay couple, the fact that magnus and alec never say the words “gay” or “bi”, the fact that in the same episode where we saw jace rolling around in bed with a complete stranger half naked malec had their first time and we didn’t even know if it had happened, the fact that when asked about clizzy todd said “the show isn't about sex”...

shadowhunters will forever be one of those shows that did the most when normalizing queer couples, and i thank them for that, there’s a lot of characters that mention having had same sex partners or flings, in a lot of scenes with large groups of people they would show queer couples in the background, and they included more than just 2 queer characters, seriously it’s something we can’t take for granted, but that doesn’t mean that we as queer people and also queer people of color have to put up with the bare minimum, where we are constantly treated as taboo on a show that praised itself for its diversity, they could have done so much more AND THE SHOW WOULD HAVE BEEN A MILLION TIMES BETTER

IMAGINE MAIA FALLING FOR BECKY INSTEAD OF SIMON, IMAGINE CLARY FALLING FOR IZZY INSTEAD OF JACE, IMAGINE LUKE GETTING MORE SCREEN TIME AND GETTING ACTUAL GOOD STORYLINES, IMAGINE MAIA BEING TREATED WITH RESPECT INSTEAD OF CONSTANTLY MAKING HER GO THROUGH PAIN, IMAGINE MAGNUS BEING THE MAIN CHARACTER ughhhhh

#god anon you just ignited something in me i thought was dead sadfhosdah #my hatred for the writing sdafhafoidsh #i've got shit to say yk #Anonymous #ask

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loving---women · 4 years

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Me (Christina)

I chose this picture because it’s a little sexy and a little goofy, just like me. This is one of my favorite shirts because people either love it or hate it. It feels slightly subversive and it makes me feel powerful to toe the line of society’s dictation of appropriateness. I also love doing makeup, it makes me feel powerful, confident and artistic, and my eyeliner in this picture is *mwah*.

Since I present fairly femininely, most people assume I’m straight. My partner is male, which definitely doesn’t help. It’s tough being with a man as a bisexual woman because it feels like part of my identity that is so essential to me is constantly being erased. Dating a woman makes me feel affirmed in my identity. It makes me feel confident and secure. I feel like women speak the same emotional language; like it’s easier for us to be open and honest with each other because we understand each other. And women are just so beautiful.

I grew up in Seattle, WA, but moved to go to school in Nashville, TN. Seattle is obviously a much more liberal place, but I never really felt comfortable exploring or disclosing my sexuality growing up. I’ve dealt with really bad depression and anxiety from a fairly young age, and it made it hard for me to truly feel comfortable being myself with people when I was younger. When I moved to Nashville I was able to kind of start over and feel free to be myself. I’m still not out to my family, with a couple exceptions, but I feel like it would fundamentally change my relationship with my parents. They wouldn’t hate me or anything, but they have this idea of who I am so fixed in their heads that it would completely change their perception of me. I wish I could live closer to my mom, but I feel like I wouldn’t feel as comfortable being myself if I was always on the lookout for my family and people they know.

Growing up I didn’t truly understand the privileges I have because of my race and SES. My worldview is fundamentally different because of them, and as much as I can sympathize, in some ways I will never be able to relate to the particular struggles that QPOC and impoverished LGBTQ+ folks experience. I grew up very Christian, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve found it harder to believe in what I used to. It just seems too good to be true almost. At the same time, if God does exist, I absolute do not believe he would ever condemn someone because of their sexuality or gender identity. Either way, I’m lucky that I don’t feel condemned or ashamed because of my sexuality the way some do.

Being attracted to women has definitely helped my confidence. For some reason it feels so much more meaningful when a woman finds me attractive than when a man does. And being attracted to curvier women has helped me accept my own body more. However, it is way more difficult to approach a woman I find attractive than a man. Unless I’m in a queer space, I’d be terrified they’d be straight and feel creeped out or even cause me physical or emotional harm if they were homophobic.

I want people to understand that femininity doesn’t equal straight, and androgyny doesn’t equal gay. Sexuality is not determined by gender expression or identity. Bisexuality and Pansexuality are a thing. We exist. Dating a man doesn’t make me straight, just like dating a woman wouldn’t make me a lesbian. I also want people to know about biphobia that exists in the LGBTQ+ community, and even within the WLW community. I’ve met lesbians who flat out said that would never date a bi woman. What I’m about to say feels like common sense, but you’d be surprised. Bisexuality doesn’t mean you’re more likely to cheat, or just experimenting, or actually gay but in denial. All that it means is I’m attracted to people of all genders, nothing more, nothing less.

#bisexual #lqbtq #wlw #quarantine

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jamiebluewind · 4 years

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Hi I just wanted to say thank you so much for your post about fiction characters and being labelled gay with the educational definitions at the end! As a bi person I'm always so conflicted/wary when I see people say that a canonly bi character is gay, as I've seen it used a ton by people who erase their bisexuality but on the other hand I've seen it used by people who accept their bisexuality. Like the other day I saw someone say that 2 bi characters represent gay solidarity in their (1/3)

anonymous asked: Hi I just wanted to say thank you so much for your post about fiction characters and being labelled gay with the educational definitions at the end! As a bi person I'm always so conflicted/wary when I see people say that a canonly bi character is gay, as I've seen it used a ton by people who erase their bisexuality but on the other hand I've seen it used by people who accept their bisexuality. Like the other day I saw someone say that 2 bi characters represent gay solidarity in their ending together and said that they're both gay and a homosexual power duo. And I know the person in question didnt mean for that to come off as erasing their bi sexuality (esp since some bi ppl label themselves gay which I do sometimes as well) but at the same time I'm kind of annoyed at it. Like I'm sick of fandom as a whole seeing canonly bi characters and acting like their attraction to the opposite gender isnt valid or, even worse, have them diminish or belittle their attraction to the opposite gender. I know most of it is just jokes (and I have laughed at some of the well done/funny ones) but as a bi woman I'm so tired of people acting like I should feel bad for being attracted to men. And its aggravating sometimes to see that mentality spread to characters that I love and can see myself in, even if I know most people mean no harm. Apologies for the rant but I saw your post and it really resonated with me! Thank you for reading this and I hope you have a good day/night!

***

I don't even know what to say! This was such a wonderful thing to find in my inbox. I'm so touched. Thank you. ^_^

People like you are part of the reason I made the post. Since I felt uncomfortable, I figured there were others like me too who felt the same. I mean, sure we cheer when any of our rainbow siblings get representation, but we still want to be able to see ourselves too!

Also, for anyone in a similar situation with two known bisexuals dating, you can call them (regardless of gender) something like a queer power duo (or a qpoc power duo if they happen to be queer people of color).

I really do hope that people take it all to heart. People who like more than one gender aren't "straight passing" or "actually gay" or dealing with any less stereotypes than any other LGBTQIA+ identity. We are people with a valid identity who face prejudice all the time (some areas worse than others). Many of us have dated someone who has either fetishized us or tried to force us back into the closet so that we will pretend to share their identity. Most of us have been told that we can't be attracted to more than one gender if we haven't [done x thing] with [y gender] yet or accused of promiscuity because ofour label. Just about all of us have dealt with the "so you're gay/straight now" when we start dating someone. So when we see a character that we can see ourselves in and that resonates with us, it can sting to see other people label them as straight or gay.

My entire label is a mouthful (sex positive gray-demi-omnisexual), but having a word for how I feel makes me feel less like a square peg in a round hole because if there is a word for it, then there's someone else out there that feels the same. I sometimes just call myself bi (or bi plus) in person to avoid explaining (omnisexual is just not a word person know), so I get why so many people have such a diverse definition of what bisexuality could means. Sometimes it's just easier to use the word people know instead of trying to teach them one that they don't.

My search for the terms that fit my identity (femfluidflux* and sex positive gray-demi-omnisexual) took me until my 30s (because of COURSE my words weren't gonna be the easy ones!) and is why I learned so many labels. Honestly, it has helped me help others so much more than myself. I've helped people find their words and feel a little less alone and helped others expand their vocabulary to better understand and appreciate the people that use them. I know a lot of people think they only need to know a few words, but the truth is, knowing somebody's words, showing them a character/famous person who uses the same words, or something as simple as writing a fanfic/AU/headcanon that uses a word they use (or even just one that's similar) can ABSOLUTELY make their day and make them feel seen and wanted. Just by learning about a group of words that's about as long as a couple weeks' worth of spelling tests.

*femfluidflux: A gender which moves (fluid) between feminine and nonbinary genders with varying degrees of intensity (flux), but never moves into a masculine gender. The masculine/nonbinary form of this is mascfluidflux.

#bi pride #pan pride #omni pride #omnisexuality #bluewind answers #bisexuality #pansexuality #polysexuality #ace pride #ace spec

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fictionalnormalcy · 4 years

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I guess I could say I’m bicurious now. After 2019, I was so sure I was bisexual, before then sure I was queer. It’s that cliche thinking where you know there’s something that makes you different than others. I took an LGBTQ+ studies class last autumn, and I came to find people I was comfortable with. Joining a club titled QPOC (Queer People of Color). It felt different than all my years of K-12. I could speak freely and feel accepted.

So come 2020 I started exploring, seeing if I could explore the other side of the coin. Having romantic feelings for a female. But in the few weeks I got to attend school before quarantine hit, I didn’t reap any benefits. When May arrived, I joined a new fandom, and in trying to find others to communicate I did meet someone. They delivered feels as I never felt before. Well at least, I’d felt that strongly about fictional characters, but no one in real life. I got to know this person only knowing we shared a fandom and their gender unknown. Those were intense feelings that were super hard to shake.

Then I started talking to someone else, a guy that I did find it easier to talk to. Less on guard in my responses. But there was one night, where I had a dream where I was actually cuddling with a girl. And after mulling over about it the next morning, I started evaluating dreams prior to that where I had romantical interactions with someone.

There was a dream years back where I made out with a classmate. I hardly interacted with this person while in school, yet somehow I had found myself in this circumstance. In this fictional setting I felt nothing as we held each other close. Men were always the ones who I never felt anything toward in those rare occasions. But the women?

Holding hands with a girl made my heart flutter. Embracing one made me feel comfortable and wanted. Cuddling one while a friend made faces at me delivered indescribable joy.

I have never had much luck in the dating department. But based on how my dreams have made me feel, there is a chance I am a lesbian. I’m just don’t think I can verify it for myself until I do find a girl to go out with.

#LGBTQ+#bicurious #thought I was bi #never felt straight #personal post #sign i could be a lesbian?

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theboywhocriedbooks · 4 years

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How to Be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters

[Goodreads]

Everyone on campus knows Remy Cameron. He’s the out-and-gay, super-likable guy that people admire for his confidence. The only person who may not know Remy that well is Remy himself. So when he is assigned to write an essay describing himself, he goes on a journey to reconcile the labels that people have attached to him, and get to know the real Remy Cameron.

Thoughts:

I met Julian Winters in 2019 while I was helping out at YALLWEST. He’s super nice and I was looking forward to checking out his books, mainly because I knew they had queer characters of color at their forefront. I decided to start with this book and I am so happy that I did because it was so damn good! So much of it is about identity, obviously but also the ways identity interacts with things like friendship, love, and school. The characters all felt very fleshed out and were so lovely, and there is a cute dog so that’s always a plus! There were so many important themes/ideas shared throughout this book and some of them were a bit heavy-handed but that’s completely fine. I love heavy-handed things. My view is this: this book is for young adults and many young adults really need to hear these things told to them directly in a way that often isn’t in popular media. That they’re valid, that queerness is okay and comes in many forms, that people of color can be queer, that racial fetishization isn’t okay, etc. ALSO! The main character AND his love interest both are not white and that brings me so much joy (that I’ll go on about later!) The point is, if this sounds a little like it might interest you then you gotta pick it up now! Going to go on about it in SPOILER-Y DETAIL BELOW: _______________________________________ I loved this. Lucy was my favorite friend but I think I could have liked Rio more had she been in it a little more beyond their fight but Lucy was just generally really good. I loved the cast of characters because most of them felt so individual. Well, I would say that there was a set of twins that really fell on the sideline but aside from that everyone was so fleshed out. I loved his family because they were so warm and felt really close, which was important to his character as an adopted kid. The birth sister, Free, was so good too though. She didn’t even have too many scenes but I felt the connection and I loved it when she would talk about their birth mother. It was just such an interesting and complex situation to be in and I thought it was handled honestly and very well. The other best character was obviously Clover.

Ian was so good. I had a playful friend crush on someone named Ian in high school so I did think of him lol. I really liked Ian and Remy’s relationship though. It was a lot less dramatic than relationships I’ve read in YA and I appreciated that. They were friends and connecting so it was nice. I appreciated the honesty in the book generally but especially between these characters. The lack of drama was really in them being pretty honest during certain moments instead of stewing too much. It was just cute. They had lots of little moments, like the cafeteria whisper, the pool, the walking the dog talks, etc and it felt very natural. As I previously mentioned, it feels so good to see an author of color writing two queer characters of color romantically involved. We all know how white the media can be but even when they do give us, say, a gay Black character, they then give him a white boyfriend. So often, that’s what happens. But not here, and I loved it. It really reflects my own experience as a qpoc and that always feels good since it is so rare.

I did say things were heavy-handed but again, I do think things NEED to be heavy-handed at times. Especially since certain ideas aren’t directly addressed too often that when it is addressed, it can feel almost clunky. I thought it was very well done here though. An extension of that, I really appreciated how diverse the cast of characters was. It felt very natural.

The topic of identity was so big, understandably. I love an introspective narrative and I thought this one was set up well — Black gay guy adopted into a white family, there really are so many identities at play there alone. Then you add his relationships with people (friends, family, birth family) and the pressure of school?! It was intense and I enjoyed watching Remy explore these certain aspects of himself and trying to understand them or how others view them perhaps.

Outside of the heavy-handed comments, I did see a few critiques online for this book. One was the Harry Potter references but I was okay with them despite my current feelings about that franchise but I can understand the annoyance there. He also made Buffy references and I’m obsessed with Buffy so that made up for it to me lol. A lot of more serious critical comments were about the references to the main character getting a boner. It was referenced directly and indirectly a handful of times and it did catch my eye. My response to that, as a person who has a penis, is that boners happen literally all of the time and so that’s life. I just think people are uncomfortable with the writer referencing it because it so rarely is talked about in YA. Like periods or condoms lol. The last big critique I saw was around the outing of a character. After the MC spends the whole book emphasizing he can’t out his love interest, a side character randomly reveals her bother (the school loner) is “demisexual and not straight”. Reviews/thoughts I saw about this question the characters agency over his identity, especially since we never actually see him speak. I did feel like this was a fumble.

Overall, I think it’s a fun and almost perfect book. It made me smile and laugh and I can’t wait for little queer Black boys and queer boys of color to read it. I hope you enjoyed it too!

#very good! loved it #julian winters #how to be remy cameron #queer ya #2020

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fandomshatepeopleofcolor · 5 years

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Hey so as a longtime RENT fan, one of the things that has ALWAYS resonated with me is the diversity like! The characters look like me! I’m Lebanese so like they’re not /exactly/ like me but I got a lesbian of color in Joanne and that was SO important to baby closeted me! This is more a discussion of RENT in general but like, I hate it when whites complain about RENT. It just means so much to me! It was the first price of media where I saw lgbtq+ people, much less lgbtq+ poc.

I know exactly how you feel!!! I still remember the first time I read about the musical I was reading an article about it in a bank I think I was about twelve or thirteen so like 2 or 3 years before I came out to my friends. And up until then all I’d seen about gay people was And The Band Played On which had exactly one character of color he had like a line in it. But there was a picture of the actress in the magazine and she was afrolatina and she looked like people I knew and who’d taken care of me and were my friends. This was the more like my world. I know the movie didn’t come out until 2005 but when it did I was so happy that we still had an afrolatina for Mimi!!! But yeah we definitely needed to see qpoc.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Bisexual but the main character/actress is Iranian-American. So not Lebanese but still MENA.

mod mal

#rent #qpoc #qpoc rep #fhpoc asks #jocelynfray

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luftsangfm · 5 years

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‘ We are the 2S in Trans & QPOC, When I Die Don’t Remember the Bad Things About Me ‘

We’re living on Borrowed Time

I’m going to die from a Hate Crime

Life Expectancy of a Trans POC is 35

How at 33 am I still alive?

As a Native Woman, I’m already 10 times more likely to lose my life

Guess I’ve just had luck on my side

But every time another Trans Dies

We feel slightly less safe from the already not feeling safe we feel inside

And every time they laugh when we lose another Trans Life

It’s like looking us in the eye while they stick us with a Knife

The Public doesn’t see that they love to laugh at our existence

So here is my Face, My Indigenous Two Spirit Resistance

Because I know one day I’m Going To die

By the Hatred of White Christian Values or a Brown Man Colonized

And even when we see each other, set aside the petty patriarchal competitive Hate

I say to myself, That Trans is lucky to not have yet met her fate

I realize that I’m ten Times less likely to die in my Sleep

Sometimes my Eyes are tired from how much they Weep

I won't just get to doze off & leave this Earth in Peace

I probably won’t even leave this Earth in One Piece

But I say to my Trans Girls, to My Brown Girls Try to smell the Flowers

Let the World see your Glory in all That Brown Trans Power

Sure Today or Tomorrow could be our Last

But I carry on every day not yet defeated by my Past

And today they just see us on a Tangent Again

Not a word of solace but only a Silence they will Lend

I want you to see the Battle in my Eyes

I don’t want any Bigots to mourn me when I die

Not the ones so quick to laugh or condemn

To turn their face when hate comes out the mouth of their friends

Because today I’m the Woman I needed to be

To give hope to Children who are much like I used to be

Only back then I didn’t have to worry about the tormenting Online

I wish I could share with you some of my Borrowed Time

Every time you consider Suicide

Think of how much your existence will help Save this place if you decide to Survive.

By Marcy Angeles

#TransgenderPoetry #TwoSpirit #NativeAmerican #MarcyAngeles #Apache

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vtori73 · 3 years

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Im probably not going to finish this series, at least now it feels less like pulling teeth and more like I'm just bored very rarely laughing or chucking at a joke.

So for now my overall thoughts are this after watching almost 3 episodes:

As much as I don't think stereotypes are bad, because they AREN'T necessarily, especially IF the Queer rep was diverse but... it's not, not really. This comes off VERY much as being for White gay people and possibly even cisheteronormative gay people. And looking it up I see some Queer people who are talking about Q-force saying they like it, related to it, think it's good, etc and that they like it because it's gay and doesn't shy away from it and I honestly just... I don't feel that way AT ALL.

I don't feel represented with this show which is fine/doesn't make the show necessarily bad its more so that I feel is it VERY much comes off as a VERY binary take/rep for Queer/Gay people and their lives. I said it seems like its for White gays/cisheteronormative gays for a reason, because while yes, it doesn't shy away from being gay, actually showing gay sex, and whatever else people say we need more of with gay rep it does still feel like the LG are the only ones getting it and are prioritized... again.

Q-force comes off very much more so as G-force, G being for Gay because Queer too MANY of us in the community is a political statement about not being what the Cisheteropatriarchy sees us as, being stereotypical or not & not toning it down for them and being whoever we want and going directly AGAINST them & while the show doesn't tone things down it definitely works from a binary with its lack of interest in those of us who are outside these identities such as Bi, Ace, Aro, Trans/Nonbinary, etc! Like I said though I've only seen 3 episodes (there are 10 in total) so it's a bit early to say for sure but I believe one person talking about liking the show did mention it doesn't have any trans characters/rep which too me REALLY says something about the show.

This honestly is also why I always feel weird and not fully get when White gays/queers talk about "yeah, not sorry to be gay/queer, I am stereotypical so this is good we need more stuff like this etc" I mean... these stereotypes have been around for forever, do you just want to see it done by gay people instead now? What does that exactly do FOR Queer community in general though? I'm not saying no stereotypes ever but fuck, what I want is some shit that ISNT what I've seen all my damn life but now it's okay because yay a gay person did it! No, I want QPOC, maybe they are the stereotype instead that are usually thrown on white people, that would at least be more interesting to see because we are hardly depicted in general while ALSO actually avoiding racial stereotypes along the way! What about Fat, disabled queer people who are aromatic or nonbinary, or bi or polyam or all those things but we won't get that with mainstream media because mainstream media DOESNT want that and honestly....

this might be a HARD pill for many gays/queers to swallow who like this show and stuff like it but if this show was ACTUALLY all that progressive and challenged anything it would most likely not even exist or be aired and if it does end up being/becoming so it most likely will get cancelled for it. Our society isn't going to promote things that question it, why would it, and honestly I feel this show just helps demonstrate how more and more the LG community is becoming assimilated into mainstream culture and how many of us don't really seem to mind that.

*I know I know, some don't think thats a "bad" thing, you might not understand why but basically the problem is this kind of conditional acceptance ALWAYS comes at a cost, once they get their acceptance they pull the rug out from under the rest of us, keeping it to themselves and not caring whatever happens to us. Also, I'm not saying that's the shows fault, I want to be CLEAR that's not what I'm saying I just went a bit off track a bit, my thoughts started off as "my thoughts on a Gay show" and ended up rearing off track into a discussion on White LG communities attempts to assimilating and why that bad. I mean, I most likely have ADHD so me going off track isn't new, lol.

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maryanntorreson · 3 years

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Introducing the launch of the TED-Ed Innovative Educator Alumni Innovation Projects

TED-Ed Innovative Educators

In 2015, TED-Ed launched the TED-Ed Innovative Educator (TIE) program, a year-long professional development program for dynamic educators who are dedicated to celebrating the ideas of students and teachers around the world. Six years later, we have 104 alumni representing over 20+ countries, constantly thinking of new ways to innovate in education.

2020 brought on unpredictable levels of global change: a pandemic, racial reckoning, and world-wide political upheavals. The traditional system of schooling has experienced significant disruptions in the past year.

These changes signaled a call to action: the TIEs, coming from rural, urban and suburban communities, in roles including classroom teachers, adjunct professors, superintendents, librarians, college advisors, district tech specialists, and more, are coming together to build some solutions.

First, the TIEs identified problems in global education and turned them into four main Opportunity Statements:

1. Redesign instruction: Reimagine how instruction can comprehensively meet the needs of all students. 2. Redesign how we address inequities: Reimagine how to empower teachers and communities to address race, equity, inclusion, and justice issues. 3. Assess innovations in pandemic: Assess how to carry forward the innovations created during the pandemic into full-time in-school instruction (and continue to build a culture of school/district innovation). 4. Reinvest in educators’ well-being: Reinvest in how best to support our teachers and admin, professionally and personally.

Next, each TIE has chosen one Opportunity Statement to work on for their Innovation Project. Follow their journey over this year as they collaborate, design, test, and share their innovations; we will be reporting back through the project development.

Explore why some TIEs are working on their chosen Innovation Project:

Redesign instruction

Alejandra Guzman (Texas, USA)

I have worked in the curriculum and instruction department in two different school districts over the last 6 years. I know that in many schools, some parts of instruction, curriculum, and assessment are out-dated, focused too much on standardized assessments and not on deep learning, making connections with other content areas, and application to solve real-world problems. This type of instruction will strengthen student critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills. I believe rethinking what instruction should and can look like and creating a realistic instructional model will help many educators go back to focus on what the true meaning of education should be.

Christie Simpson (Perth Western, Australia)

I work at school in a low socio-economic area. We have high rates of poverty and transiency and over 60% of our students have some developmental trauma. Only 35% of our Year 7 students arrive at high school able to read at grade level. 35% are still learning to read with fluency and 30% are still learning to decode words. How do teachers cater for this? Mostly, they try to muddle through the vast amounts of content in our curriculum, often using ineffective – though well-intentioned – discovery or inquiry based learning practices. I know there is great value in those models, but I also know that our students need strong foundational literacy and numeracy capacity as well as concrete background knowledge which they can draw on as they start to inquire. I’d like to see us arm teachers at both ends of the instructional spectrum, so that they can competently and effectively meet their students at their point of need.

Georgios Villias (Athens, Greece)

I honestly believe that living in a world which overwhelms us daily with information, it is humanly impossible to stay focused on something unless it is useful, exciting, and meaningful for you. This reality applies to schools as well. Instruction should be much more than just content knowledge. Instruction should also care about developing skills, showcasing each individual’s unique talents, engaging learners to act in real-life situations, nourishing and inspiring youngsters’ minds, teaching moral values in a social context and so much more. Molding students’ character, encouraging active citizenship, and raising the next generation of ethical problem-solvers always start from family and school. I would be honored as an educator to make even a minor, constructive contribution to my students’ lives towards that direction.

“Instruction should be much more than just content knowledge.”

Kristin Leong (Washington, USA)

Students and teachers deserve more diverse, timely, and dynamic resources and more support. Teaching is hard. Online teaching during a pandemic, a civil rights uprising, and an insurrection is really hard. In addition, the news cycle is relentless. The Sisyphean task of educators to constantly find great resources to build an engaging curriculum that responds to quickly-shifting current events is profoundly challenging. Lastly, our students are increasingly diverse in race, culture, sexual orientation, and gender identity, while our teachers remain mostly white, female, and heterosexual. Connecting with young people across these divides, when you instruct 30+ students at a time, only compounds the challenge of designing original curriculum. As a former QPOC teacher myself, I know teachers need more support and a reliable flow of trustworthy and updated resources by diverse sources to connect their classrooms to current events in ways that inspire students to engage with the world and their learning.

My weekly newsletter ROCK PAPER RADIO is one way I’m offering support to teachers. Every Thursday, I share three multimedia stories by diverse thinkers and creatives delivered via email for free. The newsletter is quick (less than five min to read), and organized by format (an audio feature, an essay or article, a human interest story). All stories are linked to current events and framed for personal engagement.

The Black Lives Matter movement has shaken awake all of the systems that make up society, including our education system. Young people are paying attention and rightfully demanding more inclusive and more current curriculum now. I’m thrilled to be part of this TIE alumni group working to usher in that much-needed change with heart, innovation, and more than a little bit of courage.

Mahrukh Bashir (Tangerang Selatan, Indonesia)

I have encountered instructional models dominated by the ideas of transfer of content and knowledge with the implicit understanding that learners are merely vessels to be filled. This system had, and still has, standardized curricula delivered in standardized ways and the effectiveness assessed using standardized testing. On the other hand, I have been refreshingly greeted by ideas of developing students’ talents and dispositions, differentiation and individual needs. However, the perfect instructional model that takes into account individual needs and delivers academic rigor and deep learning is yet to present itself. I want to explore and implement an innovative model of instruction that comes closest to this, what has effectively become “the holy grail of modern education.”

Reimagine how we address inequities

Craig Zimmer (Ontario, Canada)

I love the fact that we are having some real conversations here. We need to advocate for students and show that, as educators, we are on their side no matter what. In 2021, we have to ensure that education is inclusive and accessible to all students. This is going to require very big changes and it all starts when we go to work to bring about real reform.

Fred Sagwe (Kisii, Kenya)

I believe the approach to inequities on race, equity, inclusion and social justice issues means different things depending on the region and countries. For example in Kenya and most parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the challenges have a gender-based perspective. There was the challenge of FGM among young girls who, after circumcision, are married young, hence dropping out of schools. Also, marginalization in less developed regions in Kenya also hinder favorable educational outcomes. School infrastructure is a concern too, including the availability of reliable internet connectivity. The government is trying to remedy the situations.

Jen Ward (Michigan, USA)

This past year has served to highlight in so many different ways the divides, gaps, and inequalities that are systematized in our educational spaces. I selected this project because I believe as a global group of change-makers, we are able to come together, dig deep, and put forth proposals for real change to ensure that all students have an opportunity to learn, grow, and be heard.

Sandy Chambers (North Carolina, USA)

Working to change a system that perpetuates inequities is my calling. Working with others who believe that change can happen is inspirational and hopeful. As an administrator, I have more “power” than I think. I know we can make a change!

“Empowering starts with radical truth-telling, which means listening to all stakeholders, especially students.”

Shameka Williams (Georgia, USA)

I want better for all students that have unfair disadvantages due to a system that was not historically designed with all children in mind. I want better for each generation, so they do not experience the same setbacks as those before them and have to work harder to prove themselves as equal. Moreover, I want to tackle this problem with others that bring different perspectives so that the narrative and outcomes are inclusive of everyone! One perspective cannot be the solution to this global issue.

Tim Leistikow (Minnesota, USA)

I am not sure how we achieve any meaningful change in our system (I teach in the USA, but I assume similar issues in other countries) until we start telling the truth about the history that led to the inequities that exist and persist today. Empowering starts with radical truth-telling, which means listening to all stakeholders, especially students. I have done a project with students on creating the ideal education system for the past 10 years, and every cohort sees addressing inequities around race, gender, religion, sexuality, socio-economic status, and more, as being a primary first step to making schools a better place for students.

Wiputra Cendana (Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia)

Equity and equality become great challenges especially for the students who have learning difficulties, connectivity issues, and other variables. This project is to give a new learning model as I synthesize from a particular current teaching experience. I truly hope the project will be a small sparkle and idea which can equip educators around the world to confront these issues. Entrust the learning essence and ‘meat’ will be absorbed well by the students across the world. Let’s think globally, connect intentionally, share clearly, and act locally.

Assess innovations during the pandemic

Lisa Winer (Florida, USA)

I found that during Hybrid teaching, I couldn’t see my students’ work – they used to work on whiteboards or I could walk around and see how well they understood. But even then, I didn’t hear from or see everyone. For my capstone project for my EdD, I am researching how to add ed tech to the classroom to help capture student thought and to include the voices of the students who are quiet or who aren’t risk-takers. I want to hear from all students and showcase them all as well. This was something brought forth from the pandemic because never before had I not been able to see the work of my students as they were thinking.

Maggie Muuk (Kching, Malaysia)

I would want to know more about innovation as many of my students were left behind by this pandemic. Many of them do not have sufficient access to gadgets or internet to enable them to stay aligned with the lesson. Currently, we are only using WhatsApp to communicate. I’m looking for low technology to make them want to study.

Małgorzata Guzicka (Legnica, Poland)

I truly believe that because of the pandemic, we have rediscovered online learning. Teachers are learning how to use different platforms and educational apps to enhance online learning; students are doing projects in groups using educational websites. I think it would be awesome if students and teachers from different countries could work and learn from one another, do projects together and meet online. I am thinking about a project that could help teachers and students learn from one another about their cultures.

Shawn T. Loescher (California, USA)

The pandemic has represented a time of tremendous learning for our educational and social institutions. Within the pandemic, nearly 1.5 billion children around the world have had disruptions to their typical educational environment. Through this disruption, we have learned that there are multiple modalities and ways of learning. To me, the challenge we face as we emerge from the pandemic is which of the many successful lessons we’ve learned should be adopted and institutionalized to advance academic performance, address inequities, and redesign our schools, in order to create a more human-centered experience that is sustainable in scale and scope.

“The students we will meet on the other side of this pandemic will deserve better than a return to the ‘old normal.’”

Susan Herder (Minnesota, USA)

Educators and students were forced to change suddenly in the midst of the pandemic, often without adequate support. I chose this project because as we return to a combination of in-person and online classes, teachers need to be able to let go of the practices that are not effective and continue to use innovations that engage students and close gaps and eliminate inequities.

Tim Couillard (Virginia, USA)

Well frankly, there is no going back. The students we will meet on the other side of this pandemic will deserve better than a return to the “old normal.” I suspect (and secretly hope) they will demand it. Amid the toll and tragedy of this past year, I hope we find a way to get education “unstuck,” to shed the lockstep factory model of learning once and for all. Let’s hope that necessity is still the mother of invention. I suspect that we have all had a chance to cultivate some new habits of mind that will be as useful in-person as they are at a distance. I’m excited to see where that leads us.

Lastly, I hope that we abandon, or at least push back against, the anxiety-fueled march of “more is more” when it comes to education. Students are people first, learners second. They are more than the test data the system can coax from them to tout their “success.” If we truly believe in social and emotional learning, we need to reject it as a mere tool to boost productivity. We need to not only mean what we say, but ask ourselves if our actions match our words. Ultimately, I hope we can look back on all this and say, tired as we are, we still found the strength to work for a world where what we have gained from this pandemic will be greater than all we have lost.

Umar Anjum (Lahore, Pakistan)

I am working on this as I have seen that inequalities and gaps in the education system have been growing and merely adding more resources is not helping. That is why I believe the answer is hidden in the Innovations.

Reinvest in educators’ well-being

Sarah Harkin (Shanghai, China)

Self-care isn’t just a buzzword; it’s critical. So much is asked of teachers. I hope to find real ways to help build teacher capacity and systemic support within schools in order to better prioritize teacher well-being, specifically mental health and work-life balance.

“Self-care isn’t just a buzzword; it’s critical.”

Sharon Hadar (Raanana, Israel)

During the pandemic, most things have become accelerated – emotions, thoughts, worries, health issues, financial difficulties, and more. On top of this, education systems and educators have been put under the microscope. We get so much criticism from parents, the media, politicians, our administrators, and more.

We, the educators, are the foundation and base for our communities. Our well-being is essential for our communities; teachers have to support each other, be strong, and stay united. It is also making sure there is a way to release and vent, while at the same time find the strength to continue doing our job the best way we can. I want to find the right way to do this, together with the rest of the TIEs, as a part of a strong and cohesive group that can change people’s viewpoint about teachers. It’s time for us to take care and support each other. I am sure that with this project we will find the best way to achieve this!

Introducing the launch of the TED-Ed Innovative Educator Alumni Innovation Projects published first on https://premiumedusite.tumblr.com/rss

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butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway · 6 years

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Hello! How are you? I was just wondering if you have an book recs? I want to try read more next year :)

YES. YES I DO FRIEND. I HAVE MANY BOOK RECS THANK YOU FOR ASKING.

I was literally just talking to someone the other day about how much I love giving book recommendations because I just love the idea of getting to show people the books that I have enjoyed.

Now, you didn’t specify, and I could ask, or just take a guess at what genre you’re thinking about, but WHERE WOULD THE FUCKING FUN BE IN THAT.

For the Fiction genre:

Maria Lu’s Legend series is really enjoyable. It’s about a sort of pseudo-fantasy Roman society with magic and intrigue and spies and warriors and a pretty great twist on the tired old love-triangle trope.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is the fantasy Heist novel you never knew you needed. It’s got criminals and bad boys and best friends, old gods and the fall of empires, magic and mystery, betrayal, all sorts of good stuff.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin is my favorite series of all time by my favorite author of all time. It’s a story where there is no good guys, only the heroism and monstrousness of deeply complex human beings who are struggling to survive in a world they themselves have created and destroyed. It’s about the evils of imperialsim, bigotry, and abuse. It’s about the extraordinary way humanity has of surviving a thousand apocalypses throughout our existance. It’s about a mother and her children and her past and her future. It’s about a traumatized girl with the world at her fingertips. It’s about rage and love and beauty and death and failure and survival.

The Diviners by Libba Bray is a Historic Fiction Mystery novel with queer kids, ghosts, murderers, cults, occultism, girls’ friendships, vice and virtue and coming of age in the era of Prohibition. It tells stories of kids getting caught up in more than they can handle and doing what little they can to protect each other, no matter what the world has to say about their worth or their place in it.

Now, if you’re in the mood for Non-fiction, I’m still here for you friend! Bear in mind, that when I recommend non-fiction books and think pieces, it’s not because I agree with everything put forward by them or think they’re right about what they’re talking on, but because I think that the persepctive from which they are discussing a topic is fascinating, or because I think that there is a great starting point for a fascinating debate or conversation within their suggestions.

Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber is a fascinating perspective on the development of economic systems over the years. It talks about how the notion of debt as an economic force is both incredibly new and hilariously old. It demonstrates the different ways that debt appears throughout history, how the advent of paper currency and credit changed the entire economic layout despite the idea of one person owing something to another being a formative part of societal cohesion for millenia.

Sexual Features, Queer Gestures, and Other Latina Longings by Maria Rodriguez is a excellent book that touches on not just the history and cultural development of queerness within the context of Latinx culture, but also the part that disidentification plays in any queer person’s social development, let alone in the development of QPOC.

Travesti: Sex and Gender among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes by Don Kulick is an incredibly challenging opportunity to expose yourself to the critical truth that while queerness as a broader concept has the potential to unite people across infinite cultures and contexts, the reality is that every society has its own queer culture, its own history, it’s own definitions, its own reactions, its own needs. Travesti is the documentation of many lifetimes of stories, tradtitions, and experiences of a group of transgender women in Brazil whose lives are a complicated blend of issues from their gender, to their sexuality, to their profession, to their local communities, to the imperialism of the west over their homelands, to their own personal desires. Reading Travesti gave me the chance to see both the similarities and the differences in the way I grew up understanding my and my family’s queerness as opposed to how these women experience their gender and sexuality. It was a beautiful exploration of the ways in which many of us US queers take our perspective on these issues for granted, and the infinite diversity which we so often forget or intentionally hide from view.

And lastly, Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection by Anna Tsing is the first book I read on the subject of the man-made nature of environmental disaster. It talks about how blatantly racist, classist, and imperialist the natural disasters of the modern century really have been, from towns primarily made up of POC being the homes of environmentally disasterous resource production, to the way that climate change so often affects the impoverished and colonized more devastatingly than it affects the imperial west. If I’m recalling correctly, it even goes into some discussion of the way in which capitalism, classism, and colonization have turned the fires that used to burn across my home state as a natural part of the life cycle of the region have now grown out of control as a direct result of the man made abuses that the powerful have made against the land and the less powerful people who live on it.

When I opened this ask, I giggled for so long that Hubby looked over and said “oh no, I wonder if they realize what they’ve just created” and I have to say, this question has tickled me pink and I am thrilled to have the chance to refer ya’ll to some of the most interesting reads I’ve had in the last five years or so. Please let me know if you end up liking any of these, as I always have more books like them to recommend, and also let me know if you have any specific kinds of books you want me to recommend to you as well. There are so many genres I didn’t get the chance to mention here!

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