In this episode of The Wired Educator Podcast, I interview Christy Whittlesey, author of the Dave Burgess Publishing book, It’s Ok to Say “They”: Tips for Educator Allies of Transgender and Non-Binary Students. This is a powerful conversation between two educators about doing whatever you can to teach, care and help every student.

What is a gender-friendly school? What changes should school districts make? What should school districts be thinking about and considering? 

Christy Whittlesey, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) has been an educator in settings ranging from PreK-higher education for the past 17 years, and is currently a PreK-12 Fine and Performing Arts Administrator and a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Arts Ambassador in Massachusetts. In addition to her work in the arts, Dr. Whittlesey regularly collaborates with school districts and organizations to update policy and lead professional development to create gender-friendly schools where all students can thrive, regardless of gender.

Christy received an undergraduate degree from Berklee College of Music (2004), a master’s degree in Music Education from Boston University (2009), and a Ph.D. with a focus on  Educational Research and Evaluation from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (2019), where she was awarded the Education Department’s “Outstanding Dissertation Award” for her work researching the educational experiences of transgender and non-binary students. She has presented her work at many national and international conferences, has co-authored work presented at the American Educational Research Association, and is a 2020 Boston Ed Talk Fellow.

Her book, It’s Ok to Say “They”: Tips for Educator Allies of Transgender and Non-Binary Students, is published by Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc., and is available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Christy's book: It’s Ok to Say “They”: Tips for Educator Allies of Transgender and Non-Binary Students, is published by Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.

Christy's Website: www.christywhittlesey.com

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