1). Write down your responses to some of the following...What is the appearance/ aesthetic for most persons considered "most beautiful"? Also, to consider: body type, gender norms, skin color, and hair texture? Media images of persons who are the most powerful and successful in society What do most of those persons tend to look like? Their gender? "Normative" behaviors? How is powerful defined in society? Success? Famous figures who represent the most "normal" or "all-American" person Consider traits of those persons. Statements that imply what or who is "normal." Here are some examples: "She's as American as apple pie." "She's the girl next door." "He's an all-American guy." "They're a traditional family." "This is great/ classical "These works of art/ literature are by the 'greats' (who is largely considered a 'great' in literature?)." "I wish she had a 'normal' name; hers is so hard to pronounce!"

2) Case Examples of Dominant Cultural Norms

Case #1: Mrs. Myers, 10th-grade math teacher, casually notes to the counselor one day during lunch that she "has issues" with the group of African American students who have recently enrolled at the school (their own school had been closed, and they were being bused to this school). She described them as "Rude refusing to look me in the eye when I talk to them, and disrespectful, they are so loud, they talk over their peers as well as me. I sent one out of the room yesterday for the second time. As the counselor working with these children, what is your next step...

Case #2: Mr. Lyons, new 6th-grade teacher, noted that he finds his Asian and Latino students (who are all recent immigrants) in his class to be "apathetic," explaining that when he asks a question, they refuse to speak up or offer an answer, and even when he calls on them, they often refuse to answer. He notes their grades, based on class participation, are being affected, and he asks you to call his parents to let them know of this problem. What is your next step?

Case #3: Mrs. Smith, a 10th-grade teacher, asked students to create family genograms. She noted that she is getting student "attitude" and refusals to complete genograms. When you look at the assignment, you see that she has given them a genogram chart that asks them to specifically identify a nuclear family for example, a mom, a dad, and siblings only. You know several kids in the class do not know who their father is, one is from an adoptive family, one has had limited contact with family throughout his life (he lives in a foster home), while others have several parents and extended family members they would want to name as family. What is your next step?