235: Making School Better for Gender-Expansive Kids

The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

Jennifer Gonzalez

Education, Teaching, Instruction, Classroommanagement, Educationreform

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If our students are going to thrive, they all need to feel safe, accepted, and loved while under our care. This week, we're focusing on what that looks like when it comes to gender-expansive students — kids whose gender expression or identity is different from what they were assigned at birth. For these students, creating a school that feels safe and accepting isn't simply a matter of being nice to them; there are some specific do's and don'ts that can make a huge difference in how they experience school. My guest is Dave Edwards, an educator who teaches these principles through his website, Gender Inclusive Schools, and his brand-new book of the same name. As the parent of a transgender daughter who has experienced discrimination, Dave's mission is a personal one. In this episode, he shares specific things schools can do to proactively create safe learning environments for these students.

Thanks to The Wired Classroom and Listenwise for sponsoring this episode.

For links to Dave's book and a full transcript of our conversation, visit cultofpedagogy.com/gender-inclusive-school.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 235 of the cult of pedagogy podcast.
0:06.6	In this episode we're going to talk about the things educators can do to build a gender-inclusive
0:11.6	school. According to recent studies, the number of people who identify as non-binary or
0:29.0	transgender has risen steadily in recent years.
0:33.0	Your opinion on this is likely to fall into one of several camps.
0:38.0	Maybe you see this as a reflection of society's growing acceptance of gender fluidity. maybe you see it as a bandwagon young people
0:46.1	are jumping on just to be like their peers.
0:49.3	Maybe you believe gender fluidity has always been a part of human existence and that those
0:54.2	statistics only exist because we're just now getting around to naming and
0:58.8	measuring it. Maybe you're not sure what to make of it.
1:02.0	Regardless of where you're not sure what to make of it.
1:03.0	Regardless of where your understanding of gender fluidity lies,
1:08.0	what you probably have in common with your fellow educators
1:11.0	is that you want all of your students to feel safe, accepted, and loved
1:15.1	while they are under your care. You know that if this doesn't happen, they won't be
1:20.3	able to learn and grow.
1:22.7	And for students whose gender identity lies outside what has traditionally been considered
1:27.3	mainstream, creating that safety and acceptance isn't just a simple matter of being nice to them. There are some very
1:35.4	specific do's and don'ts that once we learn them can make a huge difference in
1:40.1	how these kids experience school.
1:43.0	In today's episode, we're going to review some of those do's and don'ts.
1:47.0	My guest is Dave Edwards, an educator who works to teach these principals
	...

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