Creating Affirming and Just Schools: The Gender Spectrum and Best Practices for Serving LGBTQ Youth

Date: March 15 & 16, 2021

Time: 8:30 to 10:30 AM HST - Hawaii Standard Time

(11:30 AM to 1:30 PM Pacific / 1:30 to 3:30 PM Central / 2:30-4:30 PM Eastern)

Location: Online Via Zoom

Cost: $80

To feel safe and to feel seen. To feel valued and to feel capable of growth. These are simple concepts—basic pillars of student achievement and the results of good pedagogy. For many students who don’t conform to narrow gender norms and LGBTQ students, these rights remain out of reach. - Teaching Tolerance

Students who don’t conform to narrow gender norms and LGBTQ students deserve to have their identities affirmed by educators across grades, subject areas, and schools. This workshop will engage participants in thinking about how we can improve curriculum, pedagogy, and policies to better support the experience of LGBTQ students in our schools. Participants will gain a conceptual understanding of heteronormativity and cisnormativity before applying those concepts to their own contexts. They will learn about the gender spectrum in an effort to move beyond the pink/blue binary to support students who don’t conform to narrow gender norms. They will be introduced to readings, participate in discussions, and review a number of powerful resources designed to support educators and school leaders on their journey to create just schools for LGBTQ youth. They will learn how the pervasiveness of heteronormativity and cisnormativity requires challenging them at all educational levels, from elementary school to graduate education. By naming and challenging systems of harm, they will explore how educators can work together to create teaching and learning spaces where LGBTQ students have their identities affirmed.

This workshop is designed for educators across the elementary, secondary, and collegial spectrum.