When appropriate, I like to share anecdotes from my own life. One, it lets the kids know I am human (and not just a paper grading machine) and two, it lets my students know these issues have real-life application. So I briefly shared my own need to demonstrate love, patience, and grace when it became evident several years ago that one of Julie’s adult nephews was gay.I was two sentences into my little monologue when I saw twenty-four sets of eyes swing toward the center of the classroom and come to rest on a certain fourteen-year-old blonde. She was frozen in her seat. Suddenly, in the middle of my lesson I remembered that there was something that I had been meaning to do. What was it? Change the oil in the car? Get those pants hemmed? Oh yeah, now I remember: bring Annika up to speed on her cousin’s sexual orientation.
Yup, I had just outed my nephew to my daughter in front of twenty-four of her nearest and dearest friends.
It was just a teensy bit awkward. While I was busy looking for the rewind button, Annika was looking for that elusive hole in the ground.
I realized that I hadn’t referred to my nephew by name and I could see that Annika was mentally scrolling through her long list of cousins. So across the crowded classroom I stage whispered my nephew’s name. It didn’t appear to clear up any of her confusion and bewilderment.
Her fellow classmates starting “oh”-ing as they watched this little mini-family drama unfold in the middle of first period on a Thursday morning.
This was a conversation that I had been meaning to have with Annika. I just never imagined it unfolding quite like this.
I’m pretty sure she didn’t either.
Oops.
That’s what I get for trying to function on five hours sleep.
-Jack
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