Stop Homophobic Bullying in Schools

Our project has successfully impacted over 2,500 classrooms this academic year!

Excellent news! Our project team and student actors are happy to announce that we have officially met our current goal of impacting over 2,500 classrooms during the 2010-11 academic year with our Creating Bias-Free Classrooms teacher training program.
 
Your donation helped ENCOMPASS reach this important milestone and we want to share the great news with you!
 
Of the estimated 2,522 classrooms we have served thus far during the 2010-11 academic year…
 
·     7% are Elementary School classrooms instructed by a teacher we trained

·     12% are Middle School classrooms instructed by a teacher we trained

·     50% are High School classrooms instructed by a teacher we trained

·     31% are classrooms in schools run by an administrator we trained

If you want to help us stop homophobic bullying within the schools that need us the most, please consider re-affirming your support by making donation at one of the following giving levels in celebration of our recent success.
 
·      $25 will provide training materials for 10 teachers

·      $50 will provide one teacher with follow-up training

·      $100 will train one teacher

·     $1,000 will train a group of 10 administrators

Thank you for your continued support. To learn more about our work to reduce prejudice and conflict among teens, please visit the ENCOMPASS website at www.encompass.org.

Links:

• Program Webpage
• Organization Website

Our strategy for stopping homophobic bullying in schools is to equip educators to intervene effectively.  To do this, we need to offer a training experience that is engaging, relevant and memorable.  Otherwise, we are just wasting everyone’s time.

Educating educators is not easy work.  They spend a lot of time in various types of compulsory training and have high standards. 

Because you are our partners in this project, we want you to know what teachers and administrators think about us.

• 98% of teachers found Creating Bias-Free Classrooms an effective way to learn new teacher strategies for challenging homophobia.
• 100% of administrators found Creating Bias-Free Classrooms an engaging way to learn about homophobia in the classroom.
• 97% of teachers recommend Creating Bias-Free Classrooms to other educators.

Some representative comments from teachers

“I have to say, I was not looking forward to the class and left very fulfilled. The scenarios really shed light on possible real time situations that have or could occur in any class, any age group, any gender, or any creed. The session made me look introspectively into what makes an effective teaching environment in regards to safety, fun, and teaching."

“I honestly was not sure what to expect going into this session but can strongly say that I was pleasantly surprised. The instructor did a fantastic job of drawing my attention into the program by offering a great amount of information, supported by thorough yet simple explanations, which made the intentions of the program crystal clear. Needless to say, I look forward to attending my next ENCOMPASS session!"

 "I was pleasantly surprised by the theater element of the training. Seeing a classroom acted out in front of me illustrated issues better than a lecture could ever have. It made the material so much more interesting and alive. Then having the actor/teacher implement our suggestions where all actors had to improv made it real since it was unscripted. I think the theater format is the best way to deal with this material, and I can now see the reason for it. It is easier for me to remember biases I should be looking for since I can remember scenes and not just words."

“I was SUPER impressed by this training! I thought all the presenters and young actors did an amazing job. I wish all teachers had an opportunity to attend these trainings, they are so valuable."

“One thing I will take from the class is the focus on making your classroom safe for all students. I always knew it was important to do so, but watching the play made it easier to be able to detect when it may happen in your classroom. I want to make sure my students know that they are safe in the room and can feel like they can participate at any time."