For Educators
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Frames for Talking about Gender, Sexual, and Family Diversity - Inclusive Education
Kids and families aren’t controversial
It’s a matter of respect
We are reflecting and affirming the diversity that already exists in our community
Identity trumps beliefs
Creating safe, inclusive, respectful learning environments: it’s the law
LGBTQ+ Terminology 101 Video
It’s through language that we name and identify ourselves and one another, that we make sense of the world, and that we make each other feel valued and included.
Video created by A Queer Endeavor.
A Queer Endeavor’s Queer-Inclusive Instruction Resource Hub
Below are tools developed by A Queer Endeavor for designing queer-inclusive, standards-based instruction.
Queer(ed) Teaching Practices Snapshots
A Queer Endeavor has synthesized the work of queer pedagogy scholars and their own lived experiences as educators to craft a framework of four queer(ed) teaching practices. Incorporating these practices can better enable educators in supporting all their students to interrogate normativity, power, and oppression.
The snapshots below provide an overview of each teaching practice, along with some tangible starting places for enacting these practices in different contexts. If you’d like more targeted or intensive support in these practices, consider requesting professional development with us.
Introduction: What is Queering?
Practice 1: Include
Practice 2: Questioning What’s Normal
Practice 3: Implicating the Self
Practice 4: Create Conditions to Feel Discomfort & Joy
Other resources for supporting queer-inclusive instruction
The law is on the side of public school educators when it comes to supporting ALL students and creating schools that are a safe place for everyone to learn and to grow. Click here for more information on these laws on policies.
- Boulder Valley School District (BVSD): Gender Support Plan
- Boulder Valley School District (BVSD): Gender Transition Plan
- Boulder Valley School District (BVSD): Gender Name Change Form
If you are looking for LGBTQ+-inclusive texts to include in your classroom, these are great places to start. Remember to look carefully into a text and take stock of your particular context before deciding if a particular text is appropriate for your students.
- LGBTQ+ Inclusive Book Recommendations from Dr. Kaplan, BVSD Librarian
- Lee Wind’s “I’m Here, I’m Queer, Now What the Hell do I Read?”
- The Rainbow Book List for children & teens (created by Rainbow Book List Committee of the American Library Association)
- Goodread’s Best GLBT books for teens
- “Queer Books for Teens” (provides as comprehensive a list as possible of LGBTQ YA published between 2000-2020)
- Penguin’s “Ultimate LGBT Pride Book List”
With this political moment in mind and in the spirit of collective liberation, this list is meant to highlight other organizations doing amazing work with youth, educators, and justice in education more generally.
Please help us grow this list as a resource by filling out this form.
- PFLAG - Denver, Boulder, Find Another Local Chapter
- OASOS (Open and Affirming Sexual Orientation and gender identity Support)
- Inside Out Youth Services (CO Springs & El Paso County)
- SoCo Quiltbag (Fremont County)
- Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Youth - The Trevor Project
- Best Practices for Serving LGBTQ Students - Learning for Justice
- In Other Words: This short documentary explores homophobic language and its consequences among teenagers
- De Colores: “A 28-minute bilingual documentary about how Latino families are replacing the deep roots of homophobia with the even deeper roots of love and tolerance.”
- Voices on gender queerism YouTube video.
- Andrea Gibson: Poet & activist. Their website is a gem, especially their poems “Letter to a Playground Bully from Andrea, age 8 ½” and “The Jewelry Store“
- “Growing Up Queer: A Brief Lesson On Hetero- And Homonormativity” blog post written by a young Black, gay man pushing back on what society thinks a “Black” male should be.
- “How You Can Be A Better Ally To Transgender Teens Like Me”: Huffington Post blog on how to be a better ally to trans* teens.
- “Profound Portraits Of Young Agender Individuals Challenge The Male/Female Identity” Huffington Post article on Chloe Aftel’s portrait project “Agender”–a photo series showcasing embodiments of genderqueer identities.
- “Ash Beckham at Ignite Boulder 20”: Ash Beckham’s talk at Ignite Boulder on eliminating the word ‘gay’ as a pejorative from our lexicon. (a great video to use with students to start a discussion about the use of “that’s so gay.”)
- “Hey Dad — I'm Here, I'm Queer, Deal With It” Kai Wright’s coming out story, featured as part of NPR’s “Tell Me More” project.
- “When the Gender Boxes Don’t Fit,” Ericka Sokolower-Shain shares her experience struggling to fit into the gender binary, and Jody Sokolower shares her struggle to confront her own biases and assumptions and support her daughter, who struggles to define her own gender identity.