Pride Parade in Whitehorse, Yukon. My twins were just babies (one slept on the back, and one slept on the front) but I still believe it is important to teach them about diversity at this young age and to start having these conversations young.
Learning about and implementing Queer Pedagogy is a necessary part of Education work.
For our class learning process, we read several articles. We also had some really important discussions.
Our class asked: “At what age should we start teaching about using pronouns?”
The class had various thoughts about this. “The sooner in life the better.” “We learn pronouns so early in life.” “We should introduce them in later elementary years.”
It occurred to me that these concepts are not clear-cut to teach. They can be controversial, messy, complicated. Something that should not be hard somehow becomes so hard. Ultimately, this is just a quest to help people feel seen, heard, loved – and that comes from a place of such pure motivation. I ask myself “why does it have to be this hard?” “Why do these conversations have to be so difficult?”
But this is how life is. Not always simple. Not always straightforward, or clear-cut. Learn to embrace the complex. Learn how to love it if you are going to be successful in helping others to rise up.
One of the teaching moments that stood out to me, was the realization that both current and future educators may truly wish to have open discussions but struggle to know how. This fear can contribute to more silence.
Our ECS 203 teacher Corey said, “Better to take a chance and have a conversation than saying nothing at all.”
This statement hit me – I realized that as a future educator, I feel afraid to speak out of fear of misstepping or saying the wrong thing because I know how sensitive of a topic it can be. At the same time, I know how important it is for these discussions to be had. I want to create a warm, encouraging, open space for my students. Corey’s encouragement made me think about wanting to take more risks – and that perhaps having what I call stumbly, imperfect conversations.
At the same time, becoming increasingly educated, reading current articles and research related to the 2LSGBTQ experience will give me the background knowledge and confidence I need to move forward as an educator.
Additionally, on a more personal level, we may have our own work cut out for us – in our reflections and understandings of our own sexuality – sexual gender, identity, and expression. Our own uncomfortable feelings may be brought up. We may find this painful, difficult. As educators, we need to make sure we can access the support we need to do our personal work. The more clear we are – and the more healthy and balanced we feel inside – the more we will have to give others.
Resource:
A Document I learned about was published by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education in 2015.
Deepening the Discussion: Gender and Sexual Diversity
It asks the question: Why do we need to understand gender and sexual diversity in schools and communities? It emphasizes size key categories.
- Student Safety
- School Culture
- Student Physical and Emotional Health
- Student Engagement and Academic Success
- Diversity and Equity
And the intention for all students is to develop:
-a strong, positive sense of identity – caring disposition -respect for human and biological diversity -a commitment to the well-being of others -a desire to engage in social action for the common good
Hey Dani, I really enjoy your piece on we as individuals having to reflect and understandings of gender, sexual identity, and expression as a support. It is crucial to be able to support all students and it does require hard work on our part!!
Hi Dani,
I enjoyed reading this post! I thought it was very thought-provoking as I agree with what you’re saying about this topic being something that seems like it would be an easy thing to talk about when the reality is, it is such a difficult topic to discuss. There are so many factors that we need to think about before having these discussions with our children or students. This is a very sensitive topic as we have to think about everything we say to figure out the right way to go about this discussion as there may be people in our classes who identify as 2LGBTQIA+. We want to make sure nobody feels singled out and everyone in our class is seen equally. I also agree with what you had said Corey mentioned “Better to take a chance and have a conversation than nothing at all” because yeah this is a super hard topic to discuss, educators often have fear in teaching it because they don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable so I can only imagine how students feel as well. It is a difficult topic, however, if we avoid these discussions we are creating room for oppression, and students who are transgender, transitioning, gay, bisexual, etc. may continue to feel different or singled out from everyone else which must be avoided. We as educators are going to make mistakes, but that is okay, we are learning and trying our best. At least we are making the effort to create a safe space for all our students and help them to understand these difficult topics. I feel as though a good start to creating a safe space for all students is what we have discussed in Riley’s seminar about just doing little things so that our students know it’s a safe place. Whether it’s having a black lives matter poster or a pride flag on the walls. Have a pride pin or coffee mug on our desks and introduce the class using pronouns and encouraging everyone to use them as well. Having books on our shelves about LGBTQ2IA+ and normalizing these things in our classrooms. That way students see that and recognize it is a safe place which will make talking about these topics with our students a lot easier! Thank you for your thoughtful post and for sharing you and your kids at the pride parade and the tattoo you have. I really enjoyed reading your post and wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors as an educator!