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Special Populations Resources
LGBT
Back-To-School Guide for Creating LGBT Inclusive Environments, from the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) provides seven ideas for lesson plans and programs to kick off the school year. www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/educator/index.html
Changing the Game: The GLSEN Sports Project's mission is to assist K-12 schools in creating and maintaining an athletic and physical education climate that is based on the core principles of respect, safety and equal access for all students, teachers and coaches regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. http://sports.glsen.org/
Free curricula and lesson plans from GLSEN help facilitate classroom discussion and engage students in creating safer schools for all. www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/2461.html?state=tools&type=educator
President Obama's video for the It Gets Better Project is just one of thousands of videos submitted by people across the country to inspire and encourage LGBT youth who are struggling. www.itgetsbetter.org/
Ready, Set, Respect! GLSEN's Elementary School Toolkit provides a set of resources to help elementary school educators ensure that all students feel safe and respected and develop respectful attitudes and behaviors. The toolkit is designed to help educators prepare themselves for creating inclusive classrooms and schools and teaching about respect. www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/2833.html?state=tools&type=educator
NASP and the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues Workgroup are now offering the Safe Schools/Respect Our Differences classroom poster series. They are available in English and Spanish. Any educator may download these 8x10 color posters free of charge from the NASP website for display in your classrooms and/or schools. These posters will serve as a visible reminder of educators' commitment to a fair and welcoming learning environment for all students and families. Enjoy and visit the NASP website for other exciting projects and promotions to come. www.nasponline.org/advocacy/glbtposters.aspx
The Safe Space Kit from the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) features the Guide to Being an Ally, which provides concrete strategies for supporting LGBT students, educating about anti-LGBT bias and advocating for changes in your school. www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/educator/index.html
Talking About Suicide & LGBT Populations from the Human Rights Campaign provides detailed recommendations for more safely discussing suicide in public conversations and social media, while at the same time expanding public conversations about the well-being of LGBT people, promoting the need for family support and acceptance, and encouraging help-seeking by LGBT people who may be contemplating suicide. www.hrc.org/documents/talking-about-suicide-and-lgbt-populations.pdf
Teaching Tolerance is a website that seeks to advance and support the creation of inclusive and equitable K-12 school communities. This website is committed to engaging educators with professional development resources, which include classroom activities and teaching kits that help leaders create the kind of school environment where all students can flourish. Teaching Tolerance is offering educators free copies of the documentary film, Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case That Made History. Order your copy here. www.tolerance.org
The Trevor Project is determined to end suicide among LBGTQ youth by providing resources and a nationwide, 24-hour hotline. www.thetrevorproject.org/organization
Welcoming Schools Initiative, from the Human Rights Campaign, offers tools and resources to stop harmful bullying and make elementary schools a more welcoming and accepting environment for all. www.welcomingschools.org/
Students with Disabilities
AFT is a partner of PACER's National Bullying Prevention Month. In addition to activities during Bullying Prevention Month (October), this site includes resources, tools, and materials for teachers to use throughout the year to help raise awareness of bullying prevention. www.pacer.org/bullying/bpam/index.asp
Special Olympics Project UNIFY provides resources to educators of students with disabilities to combat bullying. Resources that have been developed to aid in this fight. www.specialolympics.org/project_unify.aspx
The article Vulnerable Targets: Students with Disabilities and Bullying from the Federation for Children with Special needs states that the disproportionate targeting of students with disabilities shows that, in addition to school wide approaches, many schools should include specific strategies for dealing with bullying in the IEPs of students with disabilities. http://fcsn.org/newsline/v30n3/bullying.php
Cultural and Linguistically Diverse (CLD)
Anti-Defamation League Curriculum Connections is comprised of anti-bias lesson plans and resources for K-12 educators. www.adl.org/education/curriculum_connections/cyberbullying/
Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services (BRYCS) is the Office of Refugee Resettlement's national technical assistance provider on refugee child welfare. BRYCS assists service providers from refugee resettlement agencies, mainstream service agencies, such as child welfare and schools, and ethnic community based organizations. www.brycs.org/clearinghouse/Highlighted-Resources-Bullying.cfm
Global Battleground or School Playground: The Bullying of America’s Muslim Children, from the
Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, provides context and supporting data on how bullying impacts Muslim students in American communities. What makes bullying of Muslim students particularly disturbing centers around the blatant discrimination and fears of many adults, signaling the green light to non-Muslim peers that it may be okay—if not patriotic—to target Muslim students. http://ispu.org/pdfs/ISPU_Policy%20Brief_Britto_WEB.pdf