This week I read the novel, George, by Alex Gino. The novel is about a young girl whose biological sex is male, but she identifies as a trans woman. The main character, George - or per her request, Melissa - grapples with the overwhelming and undermining actions and transphobia of those around her, simply because of her gender identity. Melissa is a victim of bullying from those in school and at home, but she also has an incredibly compassionate and empathetic friend and ally to the LGBTQ community. The novel beautifully and realistically tells the story of Melissa coming out to herself, her closest friend, and her family, all while beginning to understand how gender attribution can and does affect her daily. Please see the end of this blog post to find definitions for the bolded words in the post. All definitions were directly retrieved from the website listed below (Jorgenson & Collins). For more information and resources regarding gender, please visit the website below. https://sites.google.com/view/gendermultimodaltextset/home?authuser=0 Another additional resource that was incredibly helpful for me is Alex Gino's Q&A at the end of George (Gino, 2015). The author very clearly and throughly answers various questions related to the LGBTQ community and how they related to their novel, George. Contemporary Topics Around the LGBTQ CommunityThe LGBTQ community has a strong voice for advocacy and rights in America. Unfortunately, many rights for this community are still being fought for today. One area that does not have a loud voice is education for children of or in the LGBTQ community. Suzanne Evans, Susan Gilbert, and Thomas Doyle (2017) noted that children typically establish gender identity by the age of 5. What is so shocking is not this fact, but the idea that classrooms today are not breaking the stereotypical norms around gender which convey that gender merely means "boy" or "girl" often only in terms of biological sex (Stachowiak, 2018). Dana Stachowiak (2018) also noted that merely learning appropriate terms and definitions is "incredibly important in cultivating gender inclusivity because it provides context and clarity and opens a space in hearts and minds for all genders." This idea is vital for educators and students; however, many educators have trouble identifying just how to do this in their own classrooms. Children's literature dedicated to breaking stereotypes and norms around the LGBTQ community needs to have a place in every classroom. Books provide vehicle by which children can build accurate and respectful representations of this community. This is drastically important right now because "research indicates that schools remain unsafe and unwelcoming for the majority of LGBT students" (Hermann-Wilmarth & Ryan, 2015). So many classrooms today lack quality inclusive books, and the quality books they have often "affirm stereotypical gender roles" (Evans, Gilbert, & Doyle, 2017). Additionally, certain school systems and teachers make it much harder to include and implement this type of curriculum in the classroom (Hermann-Wilmarth & Ryan, 2015). However, by ensuring these children have access to quality, critical books, we as educators are providing mirros, windows, and sliding glass doors for our students (Bishop, 1990). Fostering Inclusivity in Your ClassroomI would like to propose three main ideas for teaching LGBTQ-inclusive ELA in a classroom. These three approaches come from Jill Hermann-Willmart and Caitlin Ryan (2015). They proposed that teachers can choose to address LGBTQ topics by 1) including books with LGBTQ characters, 2) reading "straight" books through a "queer lens, or 3) queering LGBTQ-inclusive books. The first choice is simply to ensure books in your library feature characters who are part of the LGBTQ community. These books can disrupt single story narratives that may exist for LGBTQ characters and provide this community with a newer, stronger voice. The second option invites teachers to encourage children to critically analyze books that lack characters from this community in order to form opinions around the current normalized system of gender. The last approach essentially combines the first two approaches into one, and, in my opinion, is incredibly important to consider. This approach brings light to privilege among some LGBTQ individuals and states this: "People who claim both an LGBT identity and other typically privileged identities are able to rely on their privilege to be culturally accepted, to the detriment of other queer people who don't share those identities. That is, they might use their privileged to be "acceptable" gay people, maintaining access to benefits other are still denied rather than changing the overall system." All of these approaches push students to think critically while they read and offer opportunities that can lead to meaningful classroom discussions. Other ideas for classroom discussions are discussion questions and extension activities. The Anti-Defamation League published George as the book of the month in June 2016, and they offered various ideas for including George in your own classroom. Here are some of my favorite discussion questions they proposed: 1. Why do you think it upset George when her teacher said, "I know you'll turn into a fine young man?" 2. Why was George so hesitant to tell her mom that she is a girl? 3. What was George and Kelly's friendship like? 4. What did George mean when she said, "Sometimes transgender people don't get rights."? What do you know about the rights of transgender people? 5. How do you think it felt to George that everyone thought she was a boy but she knows she's a girl? Here some other ideas the authors proposed: 1. Discuss Transgender Identity This would be a great way to integrate vocabulary instruction and multimodal texts to show students that the LGBTQ community is under-represented. 2. Reading Response Writing Activities a) Write the Next Chapter of the Book b) Diary Entry of Character c) Book Review or Book Talk All of these options allow students to do that key identity work and allow themselves to deeply empathize with a character that they may have never understood before, or even never wanted to understand. 3. Being an Ally Discussion I think this may be one of the most important activities. Not all your students will be a part of the LGBTQ community, but they will all interact with someone who is at one point in their life. Having a discussion around being an ally can slowly build empathy and encourage advocacy and activism in students. This discussion can also easily lend itself to George, as students could use example from the book to find examples and nonexampls of allies. Gender Terminology (Jorgenson & Collins)"Biological Sex – – (noun) a medical term used to refer to the chromosomal, hormonal and anatomical characteristics that are used to classify an individual as female or male or intersex. Often referred to as simply “sex,” “physical sex,” “anatomical sex,” or specifically as “sex assigned [or designated] at birth.” "Gender Identity – (noun) the internal perception of an one’s gender, and how they label themselves, based on how much they align or don’t align with what they understand their options for gender to be. Common identity labels include man, woman, genderqueer, trans, and more." "Trans*/Transgender – (adj) (1) An umbrella term covering a range of identities that transgress socially defined gender norms. Trans with an * is often used to indicate that you are referring to the larger group nature of the term. (2) A person who lives as a member of a gender other than that expected based on anatomical sex." "Ally – (noun) a (typically straight‐ or cis‐identified) person who supports, and respects for members of the LGBTQ community. While the word doesn’t necessitate action, we consider people to be active allies who take action upon this support and respect, this also indicates to others that you are an ally." "Coming Out – (1) the process by which one accepts and/or comes to identify one’s own sexuality or gender identity (to “come out” to oneself). (2) The process by which one shares one’s sexuality or gender identity with others (to “come out” to friends, etc.)." "Transphobia – (noun) the fear of, discrimination against, or hatred of trans* people, the trans* community, or gender ambiguity. Transphobia can be seen within the queer community, as well as in general society. Transphobia is often manifested in violent and deadly means. While the exact numbers and percentages aren't incredibly solid on this, it's safe to say that trans* people are far more likely than their cisgender peers (including LGB people) to be the victims of violent crimes and murder." "Gender Attribution - (noun) how your gender is perceived by others. This can change depending on the people you’re around, the country you’re in, or even the time period. For example, although we might consider dresses to be stereotypically feminine, ancient Romans wore dresses or “togas” regardless of their gender, and a man wearing one at that time would be perceived as masculine." SourcesAnti-Defamation League (2016). Book of the Month. Retrieved from www.adl.org/education.
Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, Windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives, 6, ix-xi. Evans, S., Gilbert, S., & Doyle, T. (2017). Discovering their identity: Using gender nonconforming picture books in early education classrooms. Literacy Today, 20-21. Gino, A. (2015). George. New York, NY: Scholastic. Herman-Wilmarth, J. M., & Ryan, C. L. (2015). Doing what you can: Considering ways to address LGBT topics in language arts curricula. Language Arts, 92(6), 436-443. Jorgenson, E., & Collins, A. (N/A). Gender: Identity, expression, roles, & stereotypes. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/view/gendermultimodaltextset/home?authuser=0. Stachowiak, D. (2018). The power to include: A starting place for creating gender-inclusive literacy classrooms. Literacy Today, 28-30.
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