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Note: This study guide is still in DRAFT/TEST form. We are still hard at work improving, expanding, formatting and distilling these materials. Daily updates, edits and changes will occur. Feedback, comments and questions can be sent to education@roseneath.ca. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Objectives
Minds On
Revisit the scene where Fin begins grade four (scene six) - could print this section of the script and have students volunteer to read the lines out loud
Ask:
What happened in this scene?
How do you think Fin was feeling? What caused Fin to feel this way?
What did you learn about Felix? Why do you think Felix didn’t want people to know he was a dancer?
What did the teacher do in this scene? Have your teachers done similar things on the first day of school?
Activity
Divide the class into three groups. One group will be assigned “classmates”, another group “teachers,” and the third group “schools”. Explain that, individually and silently, each person in each group will write (approximately) 50 words about what they think (classmates, teachers, or schools) could do differently so that students like Fin and Felix (who are transgender, or who like things associated with a different gender than what they are) would feel welcome and comfortable on the first day of school.
After students have done this, they will share with other members of their group what they have come up with. Instruct students to collectively decide on their best ideas and write them on chart paper.
Each group will present their ideas to the class. It could be a scene, a script, a list with steps, or another way of presenting ideas.
Consolidation
Discussion: As you’ve learned, there are different ways to make schools better for students who are transgender, like Fin, or gender non-conforming, like Felix. Some make things better for one person, and some make things better for many people. What are some of the ways that characters in Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls make it easier for Fin to be himself? What are other ways they could support Fin?
Teachers: Consider how you can take your students’ suggestions and implement them in your classroom or school. You may want to:
Use them to make/add to classroom guidelines for conduct
Have the Principal visit to listen to your students’ suggestions
Ask if your students are interested in forming a GSA or Rainbow Club / other inclusive group in your school (if this was a suggestion from the students)
Have students design a poster campaign for the school, decorate a bulletin board or display, or design a mural
Have your students write a message or poem for the school announcements about gender inclusivity