Teach lesbian

Not communicating something still communicates something.

5. SUBMIT TODAY!

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Arts, skills, relational lessons, backpacking trips; what is something new that your body or mind has learned to do or taught someone else to do? A pet? For example, “How might someone feel if their family isn’t included in a class activity?” These discussions build both emotional awareness and allyship.
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They also continue to exist if we don’t speak up to challenge them otherwise.”
I told him how grateful I was for his question and for the entire class. Guest editor, LB Johnston invites creative responses to Lesbian Learning in the form of stories, poems, essays, creative non-fiction, visual art (one or two pieces of art for the cover will be selected as well as works in black and white for the interior).

Small shifts in language like these signal safety, inclusion, and belonging to LGBTQ students and their peers.
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Social-emotional learning (SEL) equips children with empathy, self-awareness, and the ability to navigate difference with compassion. Things they enjoy? There’s a fine line between awareness and hypervigilance, and this isn’t about making youth hypervigilant about differences; it’s about instilling in them a sense of awareness and helping all kids feel affirmed for who they are.
What educators and parents can do
One of the classes I taught was called Who Am I.

Students participated in an exercise where we asked them to tell us what they believed about things like boys, girls, school, life, family, money, and so on. I also led SEL workshops for LGBTQ youth shelters, after-school programs, and organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters and Penny Lane Centers. What do lesbians learn? They decided to create a scene where a girl bravely asked her father why he didn’t come to her games and expressed how it made her feel.

Inside and outside of academia? Choosing not to share something with a child because we don’t think it’s necessary versus avoiding the conversation because of fear, shame, bias, or privilege are two distinctly different reasons. For this issue of Sinister Wisdom we invite positive representation of lesbians of all abilities teaching, learning, and developing new skills.

“What made you say that?” or “Have you thought about how that might feel to someone else?” These are SEL-informed ways to turn harm into learning opportunities.
Toward a culture of belonging
We often talk about creating safe classrooms—but what if we aimed even higher? So I gently asked, “Then how did you learn money was the root of all evil?” He replied, “It’s something my mom says a lot.”
That’s the thing about beliefs: Most of them aren’t originally ours.

I saw young children asking powerful questions, challenging norms, and thinking critically. These early wounds don’t disappear with age; they surface in adulthood as shame, anxiety, and disconnection.
This work, often in under-resourced communities, taught me that SEL is not just curriculum—it’s connection.
SEL is built on five core competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.