ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the authors begin with student reflections on identity and acceptance at school. They discuss the high school environment, exploring ideas and practices that imagine campus spaces as an "open text" through which a variety or repertoire of meanings and belongings may emerge. The authors look at how a reframing of school climate and environment as an emergent space where students and educators share in responsibility for its values, practices, and aims can work to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students, and all students, thrive and develop to their greatest possible potential. The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning identifies five competencies the educators can explicitly teach to prevent bias-based bullying, both in person and online, with high school youth. These include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. The authors can embrace the environment as both shaped by, and shaping, the practices and policies of school.