The Loft/ Blackburn 2003

OK, am I the only person who thought "queer" was a derogatory term? Looked up queer theory and I'm still not clear on what exactly it means except that we should look at people as having individual sets of traits instead of grouping them together into classifications. Isn't that what we all want? Anyway, I thought almost three years was a fantastic amount of time to collect data at the Loft. As an employee and member of the decision making body she unquestionably lost some objectivity. I find it interesting that the same people who are marginalized in the schools are able to be powerful at the loft. It would seem to me that trans-gender individuals would have more difficulty hiding their identities at school or finding acceptance at schools than the gay/lesbian people. Therefore, they would be lower in the pecking order at schools. Maybe it is this unspoken marginalized order that surfaces at the Loft. With straight people out of the mix the order is still maintained. I admire the group (Speakers Bureau) that was able to question their behavior and disrupt the dynamics.

I work with a 3rd grade African American boy in my daughter's classroom. He has been identified as one of those kids who might not pass the test. After a rough start I enjoyed my time with him. It is clear that plays a role in the classroom of a a kid who wastes time, is very disorganized, and angers quickly. Because I like him so much I felt that I viewed him differently and could appreciate his strengths. However, one Friday night his basketball team was playing my daughter's team. This kid was great! He was obviously the star of the team. He had wonderful skills and instincts. He handled his success with grace and often encouraged his teammates when they messed up. He was the kind of player that even the parents and passers-by noticed. I felt such joy that this kid had a setting in which he was the star. Nobody there knew or cared about whether or not he passed the test. I wanted to go back to school and tell everybody "YOU DON'T KNOW HIM, HE'S REALLY REALLY GREAT!" I guess it was then that I realized how much I had bought into the kid who may not pass the test and all that the role implies. So, to tie this all together, he wasn't gay or trans-sexual but he was marginalized in a place that he spends so much time. He was marginalized by peers and teachers and people who ought to know better (me). Blackburn talks in the discussion section how important it was to conduct this study at the Loft as opposed to the school so she could see them as powerful people working against the homophobia instead of victims. I wish we could view all our students with such a well rounded view instead of through this lens of test success.When I read about the Loft I thought of how we are marginalizing people for a characteristic that we have arbitrarily designated as extremely important. It made me think about Amy's comment in class (I'm paraphrasing) when she talked about an invisible type of behavior that we no longer examine as to whether it is good or bad it is just how we do it (and how damaging that can be). I feel this high stakes testing is so damaging to students and such a powerful tool to unempower otherwise smart, funny, successful kids.