Who Are You? is just one of the many great resources for kids on gender. Here is a simple lesson plan to go with the book. You’ll find recommendations below for other books and activities that can lay the foundation or be used alongside Who Are You?.
Laying the Foundation
These are some of our favorite resources for helping kids understand and celebrate diversity and individuality (click on the images for links to songs, video, lessons, and more!):
Once you have laid this foundation, there are some terrific lessons on stereotyping and the boxes that exist for boys and girls, now and in the past. Welcoming Schools, Gender Spectrum and Teaching Tolerance have excellent resources for the classroom.
After You Read Who Are You?
Personal stories are a great way to help little people understand the diversity of experience. You may like to use The Interactive Wheel alongside these stories, mapping different ways people experience gender. This is only a starting point–there are so many new stories being shared each day!
Story Books
Here are three extensive book lists from Welcoming Schools, Gender Spectrum and Rainbow Day Camp and below are a few of our favorite books that explore gender diversity. Contact us for more detailed discussion questions.
Documentaries and Films
These documentaries and films and videos highlight some of the brave youth who are telling their stories. Here are a few of our favorite short videos (all under 8 minutes):
If you have time for short films, here are a few great options. A Place in the Middle is just 24 minutes and includes a free discussion guide. Tomgirl, I’m Just Anneke and Becoming Johanna are also under 30 minutes.
And here are a few full-length documentaries and films worth watching:
Role Models
You might also like to share with your little ones the stories of young role models such as…
Tyler Ford: “I am a queer, agender, person of color in New York.”
Maria Munir (to President Obama): “I’m coming out to you as a non-binary person.”
Brendan Jordan: “I just identify with both genders, so I go by the pronouns he or she, and it’s just what I’m happy with.”
Amandla Stenberg: “They/them makes me feel more comfortable.”
Jazz Jennings: “Ever since I could form coherent thoughts, I knew I was a girl trapped inside a boy’s body.”
Janet Mock, Nicole Maines and Laverne Cox Nicole: “I knew that I was trans when I was three years old… I just knew that in my head and in my heart that I was supposed to be a girl.”
Miley Cyrus: “I’m just equal… I’m just even. It has nothing to do with any parts of me or how I dress or how I look. It’s literally just how I feel.”
Jaden and Willow Smith Willow: “Males and females are put into boxes of expectation when we are born. As we grow we start to raise the damages that those expectations cause to our spiritual and emotional understanding of ourselves and life. The more we start to realise that we are all the same and infinitely different at the same time, the more we begin to shed those expectations and live free…”
…and there are so many more!
More Teacher Resources!
And if you just can’t get enough, here is another terrific teacher resource:
Who Are You? 