Your Custom Text Here
Striped Dolphins
Striped dolphins have three types of bodies we say look like girl bodies, like boy bodies, and bodies that look like both!
The same is true of Bowhead Whales and Fin Whales.
Updated from: “All Genders Are Perfectly Natural” (K-5) poster by Reflection Press, from the Gender Now Coloring Book © 2011.
When I switched to science teaching, I worried we weren’t preparing students for the diverse professional work environments I had left. Peers from different backgrounds often struggle to work together, and some curriculum can limit, not expand, the student conversation.
“You need a mom and dad to make a baby.”
“Same-sex pairings or transgender behavior is unnatural because they don’t produce babies.”
“My textbook says a characteristic ‘goal’ of life is to mate and have biological children.”
“But I was taught that everyone is XX or XY. Is that wrong?”
Even in San Francisco, more experienced teachers asked me, a nonbinary immigrant biology teacher, whether science had any unbiased resources for talking to students in a gender-inclusive way. I’m passionate about creating a classroom where students can stay curious about new experiences and identities, but I still want to keep science at the center.
To get you started, I’m sharing four ways teachers at any level or subject can respond to common gender-related questions using the evidence-based model of actual scientific research. Click through to read the article on WeAreTeachers, which includes the infographic below. Feel free to print and/or share!
–RXS
Caption: Photograph of a wall with many tools assembled, including chisels and saws mounted on the walls.
Check out this selection of teacher responses to possible put-downs or questions about gender. The main rule of thumb is to be affirming and respectful of a preference or viewpoint while maintaining a safe space for emotional and intellectual challenge. Easy, right? /sarcasm
Link: http://www.welcomingschools.org/pages/be-prepared-for-questions-and-put-downs-about-gender/
Excerpt:
Question: “But he’s a boy, why does he dress like a girl?”
Response(s): “There are lots of different ways that boys can dress and lots of different ways that girls can dress. There are lots of ways that people of any gender can dress. All of these things are OK in our school. Those are the kinds of clothes that he likes to wear? What kinds of clothes do you like to wear?”
Question: “You overhear a student call another student who identifies as a boy, a “girl” in an insulting way.
Response(s): “That’s not OK at our school to call someone a “girl” to insult them or make them feel bad. We don’t use gender as a put-down.”