Training

This foundational workshop builds knowledge of key identities, experiences, and terminology within the broad LGBTQIA+ community. Through interactive discussions, storytelling, and activities, participants will develop core cultural competency skills for engaging respectfully with LGBTQIA+ students. The interactive workshop provides a judgement-free space to ask questions, share perspectives, correct misconceptions and gain actionable tools to support LGBTQIA+ students. Participants will leave better prepared to be allies and advocates within their school communities.

Learning Objectives: 

• Defining essential terms related to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.
• Understanding the nuances of identities within the LGBTQIA+ umbrella.
• Counter stereotypes about LGBTQIA+ people.
• Outline simple practices to create an inclusive environment.
• Develophow wo skills for respectful engagement with LGBTQIA+ students/families.

Unexamined societal and cultural biases often give rise to damaging anti-LGBTQIA+ prejudices in school environments. These explicit and implicit biases lead to harmful behaviors like bullying, exclusion, and discrimination that deeply affect LGBTQIA+ student wellbeing and success. The workshop aims to provide schools with the insights and tools to recognize bias, implement supportive policies, and engage staff and students in building more inclusive environments where all LGBTQIA+ students can thrive without fear of discrimination or alienation. 

Learning Objectives

• Analyze what bias is, its causes, and how it manifests in different forms. 
• Recognize individual and systemic biases that victimize LGBTQIA+ people.
• Identify best practices for addressing individual biases and bias-based bullying.
• Perform the application of best practices through case examples.

What does it look like to create a learning environment that is not only safe, but supportive and inclusive of LGBTQIA+ identified students? How can we help LGBTQIA+ students thrive and break free of the chains of discrimination, prejudice and exclusive practices? It is all about the culture that we build, the policies that shape them, and every individual that is responsible for modeling, enforcing, and supporting the systems that we put in place. It is about restructuring our spaces to include and reflect every individual that walks through our doors.  This presentation will:

• Demonstrate factors that promote resilience and positive outcomes for LGBTQIA+ students.
• Review state/district policy guidance that provide protections to LGBTQIA+ youth, families, and staff.
• Identify best practices for creating inclusive environments.  
• Analyze current practices and plan action steps that can be taken on an individual and systemic level to further safety, inclusion, and opportunities for LGBTQIA+ students, families and staff.

This interactive workshop builds understanding, knowledge and empathy surrounding transgender and gender diverse identities.The workshop aims to build empathy, expand mindsets, and provide actionable tools to create school environments where trans students feel safe, included, and empowered to thrive as their authentic selves. Activities will enable participants to ask questions, share perspectives, and gain practical skills to support gender diverse students.

Learning Objectives:

• Define key terms and concepts related to TGD identities.
• Exploring health, social, and legal issues impacting transgender youth.
• Identify transphobic assumptions, language and behavior.
• Learn strategies to become an effective, sensitive ally to trans students.

Gender is not a stagnant thing; it is malleable.  It moves and reshapes itself within the context of our society and the time period we live in. It is something that we manifest and create together as a society, yet our understanding of gender is often rigid and binary to the detriment of those who fall outside of the expected social norms. These gender norms when essentialized and enforced inevitably lead to harmful gender roles, repression, genderism, pathologization, and discrimination. To challenge our constructed ideas around gender, we need to deconstruct them and analyze their pervasiveness in our daily lives. In this presentation, we will:

• Examine the meaning of social constructionism and its application to gender
• Analyze gender through time and cross culturally.
• Review the history of the pathologization of non-normative gender behaviors and TGD people. 
• Break down genderism and identifying methods to address transphobia, and intolerance of gender non-conformity.

This session will provide a thorough overview of the laws, policies, resources, and best practices related to supporting transgender students. Through interactive discussion and activities, administrators will explore key issues impacting students and staff. Participants will leave with ideas for institutional policies that they can implement (like Gender Support Plans), as well as skills to navigate conversations with students, educators, and families. 

• Understand the factors that promote resilience and positive outcomes for TGD youth.
• Review state/district policy guidance that provide protections to TGD students.
• Identify best practices for creating inclusive environments for TGD students.
• Plan action steps you can take to support TGD students and families and identify current barriers.