Triangle: Home

QUEER CURRICULUM IDEAS:

A sample four quarter credit unit Language Arts/English Unit:

The Triangle Program, part of Oasis Alternative S.S. is Canada's only classroom for lesbigaytransgender youth. Our youth come to us from all over Metro and beyond, and, as in most inner city classrooms, from a variety of personal circumstances. However students all share the experience of homophobia in mainstream schools: from name calling, graffetti and systemic indifference to actual physical violence. We at the Program have developed a Language Arts/English curriculum designed to help these students find their voice -- voices that have in most cases been stifled and censored in traditional settings.

The Coming Out Unit:

As lesbigaytransgender persons, we all share a life passage unique to our group: "coming out". In a unit of the same name, we examine various coming out selections/collections, do an approapriate novel study and write our own stories. The sharing, comparing, criticism, kudos and tears of our writing circle is an affirming process for students and even the exsistence of the program. And the results are wonderful stories on a continuum of fiction to autobiographical.

The Storytelling Unit:

We built on this with a more traditional storytelling unit that this year coincided with the Toronto Storytelling Festival and the Queer in Your Ear program. The class went to two storytelling events and we workshopped ideas with 'professional' storyteller Clare Nobbs.

The MOO/computer Unit @ UofT:

The final two L.A./English units take us out of the classroom and into the community: first to a computer lab at UofT to the MOO, an academic-based text driven cyber environment, part of schoolnet, which is extremely difficult to explain.

A Video Unit with videographer:

We are ending the year with a video unit. Experienced video artist will act as a catalyst with the students -- both at the conceptual level and as a technical consultant. Writing for film reenforces the prewriting, first/second etc draft, and editting process that was laid down 9 months ago in September. If past year's results are anything to go by, look for our shorts in a non-Blockbuster store near you soon.