I have heard 2 words from students this school year more than any other; gay and faggot. At least ten times a day I hear a student say to another student or students that they're gay or they come straight out and call each other faggots. Over the past couple of months I have done some things in an attempt to stop this from happening. I now wish to share those with my slowly growing legion of loyal followers. Some of you may find this amusing. Some of you may find it sad, and some of you may find it completely disturbing.
#1 I informed all of my students that they will realize as they get older that the ones who say that others are gay or a faggot the most are usually gay themselves. I let them know that they call others gay and faggot because they're so insecure about their true feelings. That really helped to reduce the number of times I heard it.
#2 I gave students a strike everytime I heard it. A few learned rather quickly to quit saying it after suffering through silent lunch and/or ISS (In School Suspension).
#3 I told my students about the many different meanings the word gay and faggot have such as...gay means happy, a faggot is a bundle of sticks in England, and a fag is a cigarette in Australia.
Unfortunately, the last attempt backfired slightly because now I often hear the following, "Hey man, you ah bundle of sticks!" or "Man... you ah cigarette!"
This blog pretty much explains what teaching middle school is all about! :)
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