Event Description

A critical guide on creating inclusive classrooms for transgender students

Including a foreword from Dr. Peggy Brookins, President of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, The Advocate Educator’s Handbook offers a tested framework for educators to use in their journeys to create inclusive classrooms for transgender and non-binary students. Centered on a framework of four principles – educate, affirm, include, and disrupt – this book provides a new way of thinking about inclusivity in the classroom, as well as practical ways to foster students’ sense of belonging. The authors bring rich understanding to the topic – Kling as a transgender educator & advocate, Ford as a teacher & parent of a transgender child, and both authors being educators themselves. You’ll also read stories from transgender and non-binary students, teachers, researchers, parents, and more, providing unique and important perspectives.

Inside the book, you’ll find tools that you can start using on day one of being in the classroom. You’ll also find model policies for teachers, schools administrators, and public policymakers, so you can begin the important work of advocating for and with trans and non-binary students. By engaging with trans youth and allies, we can build inclusivity in and beyond the classroom.

• Understand what it means to be transgender or non-binary and learn about the experiences of trans youth
• Learn how to support trans and non-binary students with dozens of firsthand accounts from experts serving the communities
• Find resources you can use as an educator in your journey toward inclusivity in education
• Recognize and respond to anti-trans policies and laws targeting trans students
• Identify important actions unique to your situation with personal reflection questions and scenarios

This book was created especially for K-12 educators, administrators, and others looking to enact change and create safe spaces for transgender and non-binary youth. From daily life in the classroom to policy at the highest levels, The Advocate Educator’s Handbook will help educators & their community work toward meaningful change.

Rebecca Kling (she/her)  is an educator, performer, community organizer, storyteller, and advocate for social change. Rebecca’s art and advocacy work is rooted in a multidisciplinary approach to changing the world, with the understanding that there’s no one ‘right way to communicate’ that will land with everyone.

In 2024, Rebecca received a Lambda Literary Award for her inclusion in the anthology 2 Trans 2 Furious: An extremely serious journal of Transgender Street Racing Studies. She is also the co-founder of the social impact consultancy Better World Collaborative.

For more than a decade, Rebecca has worked with hundreds of community organizations, civil rights groups, and elected representatives to elevate the experiences of transgender people, and to bring transgender issues into discussions of public education and policy.

Rebecca firmly believes that understanding combats bigotry, and that everyone has the ability to push for a more just and equitable world. Learn more about Rebecca’s work at betterworldcollaborative.com.