Queers in the Classroom - Essay Example

The teasing experienced from the other students did not stop with the separation, but instead took on greater intensity and frequency, as the girls had not been teased previously to this incident but were teased incessantly following. To gain greater understanding of the motivations of the girls and the impact such actions have had on them in their personal lives, as well as to achieve more effective classroom management techniques for the teacher, it is necessary to understand the perspectives of each girl as well as the reasoning behind the teacher’s actions.

Megan Simmons is a girl of 13 years old, just beginning her physical development and confused about her sexuality. Despite this, she claims her motivations in holding Brandi’s hand was simply an act of friendly affection. The other girl had been telling her during lunch of a fight she had witnessed between her parents the evening before that had ended in her mother’s gaining a black eye and her father’s slamming the front door on his way out. As far as Brandi knew, he had not returned before she left for school the next morning, but her mother had been talking about changing the locks.

Brandi had confessed she was terrified both by her father’s actions and the very real possibility of her family breaking apart. The story had frightened Megan as well, bringing back memories from when she had been a very small child and similar events had taken place in her household. The bell to return to class sounded before the girls had had a chance to talk through everything. Naturally solitary and doubtful of her own feelings for her friend, Megan claims she had taken the other girl’s hand just before entering the classroom as a way of sending her a silent message that she was still her friend and as a show of support, but is now even more concerned and confused regarding her feelings and preferences.

She finds the absence from Brandi