Dr. Lee Airton, assistant professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education at Queen's University, will lecture on the theme, Toward a Gender-Expansive Teacher Education: The Implications of Gender Identity and Gender Expression for Professional Practice.
Welcoming gender diversity
Speaker to address creating welcoming spaces
The 2018 Ed Talk Series kicks off Monday, Jan. 8, with Dr. Lee Airton, assistant professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education at Queen’s University.
Speaking on the theme, Toward a Gender-Expansive Teacher Education: The Implications of Gender Identity and Gender Expression for Professional Practice, Airton’s lecture draws on work over 10 years involving hundreds of teacher candidates to increase a sense of belonging and to encourage participation of students of all genders and sexualities.
Airton’s work as a researcher, blogger, advocate and speaker, focusing on developing welcoming environments for gender and sexual diversity in everyday life. Airton founded They Is My Pronoun blog where the audience reads responses to questions posed about gender-neutral pronoun usage. In recognition of No Big Deal Campaign, a social-media initiative supporting transgender peoples’ pronoun-usage rights, Airton received a 2017 Youth Role Model of the Year Award from the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity.
Among the journals publishing Airton’s scholarly work, include Sex Education, Curriculum Inquiry, and Teachers College Record. Partnering with Dr. Susan Woolley, they are currently editing a collection of lesson plans on gender diversity for K-12 teachers.
The event includes a panel discussion, organized in collaboration with Manitoba Education and Training, Manitoba Teachers’ Society, and Rainbow Resource Centre. Panel speakers include:
- Muhammed Ahsan, education program coordinator, Rainbow Resource Centre;
- Greg Daniels, assistant superintendent of schools, River East Transcona School Division;
- Jackie Swirsky, speech-language pathologist, author, public speaker and parent of a gender-diverse child, and
- Beck Watt, Teacher Candidate, LGBTQ Representative, Education Student Council.
The lecture marks the first of Ed Talk Series 2018, themed “Sustain the Dialogue: Supporting Transgender & Gender Diverse Students in Schools.”
Toward a Gender-Expansive Teacher Education: The Implications of Gender Identity and Gender Expression for Professional Practice
Monday, Jan. 8
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Room 224 Education Building
University of Manitoba, Faculty of Education (Fort Garry Campus)
The event is funded by the Faculty of Education Endowment Fund and Project Q.