Lesson Rationale: The students will learn about key concepts and ideas related to LGBTQ issues and concerns by participating in a class brainstorming session. The ideas and concepts resulting from the brainstorming session will be organized in a concept map. The purpose of the brainstorming session and concept map design is to create essential questions that confront misinformation, prejudice/discrimination, and violence against LGBTQ youth. This unit of study is significant insofar as it will help students understand and support anti-bias and anti-violence curriculum as a means to promote respect and embrace a gender inclusive and safe school environment for all students.
Brainstorming for Essential Questions
Write the acronym “LGBTQ” on the white/black board. Most undergraduate preservice art educators and high school students will be familiar with the term. Begin the brainstorming session by asking the students: “What does the LGBTQ acronym mean? What does it stand for?" Most student responses will be based on what they have heard from family and friends as well as what they have seen on the media.
Keep in mind that some of the student responses surrounding LGBTQ issues might be based on stereotypes and misinformation. Accordingly, it is important to establish guidelines at the beginning of the unit of study. Encourage students to create a classroom culture that is respectful and sensitive to the types of comments and questions that are acceptable in school and social settings.
It is also significant to acknowledge that students are attempting to answer question and come up with ideas based on what they know and on the socio-political discourses that surround LGBTQ issues and concerns. This is an opportunity for educators to identify discourses that are problematic, for example, the notion of “choice.” How might educators address ideas about “choice” and “lifestyle” in ways that are complex? How does the notion that LGBTQ youth have a “choice,” help deny or affirm civil rights? (Wishman, 2010).
In what follows, we list some of the ideas, categories, and concepts that preservice art education students offered in participating in the brainstorming session. Their ideas were plotted in the form of a concept map on the white board. Students used the brainstorming session and organization of ideas into concepts as a springboard for group discussion, which resulted in the concept map (Fig. 1) and essential questions listed below.
Potential Essential Questions Resulting from Brainstorming Session:
How do LGTBQ Right(s) happen and /or are enacted? Could LGBTQ be a choice/lifestyle? What does it mean to say this? How is LGBTQ representation created and maintained (e.g., through visual culture)? What does it mean to be an Ally? What does it mean to form Alliances? How are judgments made? How do we create inclusive/ethical policy in education in order to enact protective measures for LGBTQ youth in schools (Denton Schools)? How is anti-violence education implemented in schools? What impact does anti-violence education, e.g., anti-bullying policy have on LGBTQ students and overall school climate?
The example offered in the unit of study can be used as a teacher resource to think through some of the main questions and essential knowledge surrounding nonconforming gender identity. It is also our hope that educators will use the introduction in this unit of study as a means to create dialogic spaces of teaching and learning with their (our) students. Each group is unique and the ideas and essential questions that you and your students create will most likely be different than ours, which is an exciting opportunity to engage in critical inquiry-based approaches to learning. (Click this link to see the complete Lesson Plan for the Introduction.)