Activities
The activities on this page have been separated into programming plans and lesson plans.
Programming plans will focus more on school-wide programming and community building that can be done without regard to specific curriculum.
Lesson plans will be designed for use with individual classes or grade levels, and will correlate with academic standards and other core subject areas.
Programming Plans
Pride and PLNs
Pride and PLNs is designed to increase young people’s awareness of and involvement with the various aspects of the queer community, and to help them develop personal learning networks (PLNs) among the community in a way that is safe, supportive, and educational. Focusing on virtual communities can also help students be more open-minded and tolerant by providing them with the opportunity to learn about others’ experiences in the LGBT+ community that they may not have had access to before. Furthermore, the technology integration within the program helps teach students valuable digital citizenship skills as well as information and media literacies.
Self-Care
Self-care is a growing topic in our national discourse where people are encouraged to pursue mindfulness and set boundaries in order to improve their overall quality of life. For youth, this can be especially difficult as they navigate the pressures of school, family, and social lives. Implementing a self-care program can help students learn safe and healthy ways to cope with stress. This program can be tied to literacy through books like The Good Egg by Jory John.
SAGA and Mermaids
Every June in Coney Island, NY, mermaids gather to parade up and down the boardwalk and celebrate the arrival of the summer season. The Mermaid Parade is a celebration of art, community, and self expression. June is also Pride Month, which is also when people celebrate identity and self-expression. Hosting a mermaid parade at the end of the school year could be a good way to bring the entire learning community to celebrate the beginning of summer vacation while also bringing attention to marginalized groups.
Lesson Plans
Elementary School
Buddy Boxes
Digital citizenship skills are some of the most important skills we can teach our students. These skills go beyond rules for how to behave in online spaces, helping students become active participants and leaders in their online communities.
This lesson, aimed at elementary students grades 3-5, seeks to help students learn their roles as citizens of digital communities and provide them with a framework for future success. They will be able to identify the qualities of good digital citizens, as well as some resources they can use to report negative behaviors. Ideally, students will be able to use this framework to help make the internet a safe space for themselves and their peers.
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Lessons by Matilda Morrison
These lesson plans were created by Matilda Morrison of Sheridan Way Elementary School in Ventura Unified School District, California. She developed resources and a series of lesson plans to help support LGBTQ+ youth in elementary schools. Morrison has permitted sharing of the content she created and any use of her lessons or materials should contain proper attribution.
The majority of her lessons center around a picture book, and can easily be adapted for a story hour or read-aloud lesson.
Secondary School
Accepting Differences
Having an accepting and supportive community can make all the difference in the lives of queer people and youth. Promoting a culture of tolerance begins with the students. This lesson seeks to provide students with a frame of reference and allow them to make suggestions for how the school can become more tolerant. This will not only help the students feel more invested in school, the exercise can also help the students feel more empowered in their agency and ability to change the school community.
Mental Health First Aid
Mental health is a serious issue that can affect anyone, but LGBT+ youth are at a higher risk than most. This mental health lesson that was inspired by Mental Health First Aid will allow all students to become more familiar with and aware of the mental health issues that commonly affect teens, as well as the resources to support themselves and their friends.
Though created with grades 9-12 in mind, the lesson can also be adapted for grades 7-8. For younger grades, I would recommend focusing on the group research and possibly the interview panel, and allow the students to create brochures instead of infographics using whichever tools they prefer, like paper and marker or a word processor.
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