Catching up day

I worked a 2-9 yesterday at Staples so I spent much of today getting caught up on homework. I did it! I managed to read 6 chapters for American texts and contexts before class, then I wrote a 2-3 page essay for my Poetry class for tomorrow and did about 60-70 pages of reading for that class. I read a packet for my Content Lit class tomorrow. I'm telling you this in order to explain why I haven't posted until now. I was busy trying to get everything done.

Anyway, onto my random thought for the day. In my Special Education class that I am taking we talked about labels and how labels affect how students feel about themselves and how teachers view their students. Through all of it I didn't say anything. For the most part I did agree that as a teacher I am afraid of stereotyping a student based on a disability or special need. I also agreed that labels can be hurtful and down right mean. But I also see something many people overlook. Labels can be powerful when we embrace them. I have been called many things before in my life and by embracing those things (when they were true) as parts of myself I owned them and was able to stop others from using them against me.

In school I was called "The Walking Encyclopedia" and instead of letting it hurt me I embraced it. Yeah, I was smart. Yeah, I knew a lot of random stuff about a lot of different random things. When I was being particularly nasty to my mom and brother my mom would call me on it and say I was a bitch. I own this two. Yeah, I can be mean and spiteful sometimes. Yeah, I can say hurtful things sometimes. Later, in high school, I was told that I was an angry feminist because I wrote about men in all aspects of my life who had done me wrong and I denounced them for it. I own this too. I admit that I believe in the empowerment of women, in equality and yes I am angry for being treated like less than equal.

By claiming these labels, hurtful or not, as my own I take all power of them away from the people who wish me harm and instead place all power in myself but recognizing the many different parts of me. As a teacher I do not want to encourage students to label each other but as humans we naturally place people and things into neat little categories. Therefore, I want my students to embrace every true aspect of themselves and recognize that they are many things, many labels. Labels don't need to be confining or hurtful. Labels, like all words, are powerful.