Gender Diversity in the Modern High School Classroom

Before school started this year the staff received an email from the president our our GSA Club offering concrete actions teachers can take to be allies to our LGBTQ students.  I must say first that this was SO helpful.  Note to Students:  If you want people to do a certain thing, support a particular cause, etc, give them concrete and specific actions to take.  While I have long been an ally, I can't say I have been really clear on the HOW of supporting these students in the day to day workings of class.

One of our president's suggestions was to give students an opportunity to select their own gender pronoun.  My first reaction was surprisingly intense and immediate.  I scoffed!  Seriously, I thought, I do not want to worry about pronouns!  My second reaction of course was to feel really old.  When I actually took a moment to think about it, my only objection to alternate pronouns comes from my binary He/She upbringing.  There is nothing inherently virtuous in only two choices.  Heck, other languages incorporate more options without the downfall of their social order.  So, I took a deep breath, was grateful that I have come to realize strong reactions are a good time to investigate where the emotion is coming from, and reevaluated.

At the end of the day, what do I care about most?  I care that students feel safe in my classroom so they can take risks academically and otherwise, so they can learn and grow.  As the Alpha in my classes, I have a great deal of power.  If I say, or even imply something is ok, I give it the full force of my authority.  The same thing goes for anything I frown on, both explicitly and subtly.  Simply avoiding a topic tells my students that it isn't acceptable.  And students pick up on these cues very quickly.  They are experts at reading them in fact.  So it is not enough to simply SAY I am an Ally.  My actions, my very language will be the basis for whether I really am or not.

I ended up acknowledging my own discomfort with the concept of gender identity and then letting that all go.  After all, our students who identify outside of the typical binary system are uncomfortable every day and I, with experience and confidence am better able to deal with that discomfort.  I put a gender pronoun preference question on my Introductory Survey.  I added the bi-line "This classroom supports all gender identities."  I specifically discussed it in class when introducing the survey and by the end of the day I wasn't uncomfortable any more.

But the best part was an overheard conversation between students in my 3rd period, where an extremely articulate 10th grader explained gender fluidity to a group of her peers who were unfamiliar with the topic.  While at the start of my career 20 years ago, this would have resulted in a fierce uproar, these students simply responded with curiosity and a refreshing lack of judgement.

For those of you who are interested, here is the list of concrete things teachers can do to be active allies to the LGBTQ community, according to our GSQ president, who is a senior this year:

Six Easy Ways Teachers Can Be Allies to LGBTQ Students

1. Put a safe space sticker in the classroom

2. When you go over the classroom rules at the beginning of the year, make it clear you won't tolerate discrimination/disrespect towards LGBTQ students

3. Instead of addressing the class as "ladies and gentlemen" or "boys and girls" use a more inclusive phrase like "class" or "students" or "everybody"

4. Many teachers have students fill out index cards at the beginning of the year with things like what the students are excited for or what they did the past summer. On these cards, include preferred name and pronouns, and explain to the class what preferred pronouns are. (Ex. My name is Mrs. Teacher, and my pronouns are she/her/hers, so when people talk about me, they would say "this is her classroom, she is a teacher, that book is hers.)

5. Don't assume anyone in the class is straight or cisgender 

6. When doing activities that require groups or teams, don't split the class up by gender (i.e. no boys v.s. girls)