By Lori Nelson | Project Leader
We just completed another successful school year helping teachers learn to confront harassment and make class safer for students effected by homphobia.
We trained teachers from more than 50 schools and 99% said they are more likely to notice this form of bias and 98% feel more confident in intervening as a result of the training!
We added a new component this year - in addition to playing characters, four of the cast members who are effected by homophobic bias in real life spoke to the teachers about their experiences in school. This seemed to inspire the teachers to be more decisive in their efforts to make class safer for all their students. After the presentation, one high school teacher wrote: "Thanks for opening my eyes. I have always thought that LGBT students would just trust me and tell me if they needed support. I was wrong. Wow, was I wrong. I can see now that I need to be much more overt in creating safety and even more deliberate in being inclusive. Sadly, it makes me wonder how many students I have overlooked who really could have used some support."
Another commented: "I applaud all of the students, especially those who spoke at the end and shared their own experiences - this was truthfully the best piece of professional development I have ever been part of."
We had a great year and will soon select our next cast and plan for the fall.
Thanks again for making this project possible!
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