There is a clear distinction between sex vs. gender which society often confuses or forgets. Sex refers to the biological differences in males vs. females, i.e. chromosomes and internal and external sex organs, while gender describes the characteristics of males and females that have been created by society and cultures (Monash University, 2004). Throughout history in education, the topic of sex vs. gender has been a controversial issue. Until recently, schools had separated sports teams, locker rooms and bathrooms based on sex. As society is evolving, more and more students are comfortable coming out as either gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning their sexual orientation. The term “LGBTQ community” has evolved as an outcome of this. Yet, lots of schools are fearful of this transition of becoming more accepting. Factors that contribute to this fear of change are parental reactions, lack of administrative support, religious values, overall awkwardness of the situation, and social and cultural attitudes such as homophobia or heterosexism (EDPY 304 Topic 7 Slides, 2016). While this transition will not easily happen overnight, we as teachers can implement strategies to address these issues and create a safe and welcoming environment for all students, regardless of their sexual orientation and sexual identity.

 

This week we were asked in what ways we could develop an inclusive classroom for gender-nonconforming youth. As I mentioned previously, feeling safe needs to start as soon as the student enters the classroom and the school. Getting to know your students and respecting their privacy is imperative. For example, if a student confides in you and tells you their sexual orientation, the best practice is to keep that information confidential in order to keep their trust. Implementing an anti-bullying policy in my classroom would also benefit an inclusive environment, knowing that any form of bullying is not tolerated. Below I have gathered some resources that would also help me when developing my own inclusive classroom for gender-nonconforming youth.

 

I think the most important resource I discovered is the latest document produced by Alberta Education which is the Guidelines for Best Practices: Creating Learning Environments that Respect Diverse Sexual Orientations, Gender Identities and Gender Expressions. This document is highly informative and provides guidelines that all schools in Alberta should be following and implementing in their schools. Some of the topics discussed are gender neutral washrooms/changerooms, minimizing gender-segregated activities, anti-bullying, and much more. It is definitely a document that could support us as teachers if our administration was against us implementing such practices. Another resource is the Genderbread Person which is an infographic that helps to explain the meaning of gender over biological sex. It is also an interactive tool where you can build your own Genderbread Person to determine where you stand amongst gender. Another resource I came across were documents about Gay-Straight Alliances presented by the Alberta Teachers Association. The page provides a number of resources to help teachers create and foster gay-straight alliances in their classrooms. For example, there is a guide for teachers, along with ten steps to creating a GSA in your school. There is also an example of a school in Nova Scotia that participated in a GSA project. Camp Fyrefly is a leadership retreat offered by the University of Alberta for LGBTQ youth. It is designed to help build leadership skills and personal resiliency. The website provides information on the types of activities the camp entails, photos, other events, videos, and much more. This is definitely a camp that should be advertised in junior and senior high schools. The last resource I looked at is a website by the name of Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN). There are so many artefacts on the website from personal stories, lesson plans, inclusive curriculum ideas, pride month guide, and so on. You can spend a large amount of time exploring the website!