Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/27719
Students speak out What teachers need to know The question was simple: What do you wish every teacher knew about the GLBT experience in school? Eight years ago, high school teacher Kurt Dearie started collecting the answers from the students he advised in the Carlsbad High School Gay- Straight Alliance. Dearie and his students believed the best way to create a more tolerant culture would be to encourage teachers to respond to GLBT bullying. To reach teachers, the students wrote pieces — excerpted on these pages — that told teachers about their lives and the help they needed. These pieces have been read by students at teacher trainings, and have helped change the school culture. We’re publishing them without using student names, to protect the privacy of minors. Many of the pieces were originally written anonymously. 14 California Educator | MARCH 2011