Gender, Sexuality, and the Family
in Early Childhood Education

Workshops for Educators and Families

When and how do children develop an understanding of gender?

How can we encourage children's comfort and respect for their own body and other people's bodies?

How can we include and celebrate the diversity of families and family structures in our programs?

During the preschool years, children begin to develop a conception of gender, sexuality, and family. However, there is often little space to for teachers to talk about the questions and behaviors that come up in their classrooms, or how to explore these concepts with children in their curriculum and pedagogy. Parents and family members often feel in the dark as well, with little opportunity to discuss and collaboratively develop strategies for working with their children or young people.

To open up this conversation, the New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute is offering a series of workshops – one set for educators and one set for families – designed to spark discussion, facilitate the creation of shared language, and provide educators and families the resources they need to make their classrooms and homes safe spaces for the development and expansive exploration of identity. By running workshops both for families and educators we hope to engage all members of an early childhood community in supporting each other and the children they care for.

About the Workshops

Sessions are available in Spanish and English.

Introduction to Gender in Early Childhood

In this workshop, we will learn about and discuss gender development in young children. Through discussions of how rigid gender roles and stereotypes can limit children's growth and self-expression, we will collectively develop strategies to facilitate expansive gender performances and to create inclusive classrooms which support a variety of gender expressions. We will also discuss a variety of ways to resist the perpetuation of harmful gender stereotypes and strategies for working with family members who are struggling with their children's gender non-conforming dress or behavior.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the session, participants will...

Reflect on their own gender identity and socialization
Deepen understanding of gender and bias (e.g. gender binary and patriarchy)
Identifying tools and strategies to teach with a gender justice lens (curriculum, environment, family engagement, responding to children’s questions, addressing children’s biased behavior)

Curiosity & Consent: Introduction to Early Childhood Sexuality

Young children often have questions about and want to explore their body parts and the bodies of others. In this interactive workshop, participants will develop strategies for fostering children's feelings of comfort about their bodies while setting limits to help children develop a sense of boundaries. Participants will explore what it means to help children develop healthy relationships and will learn strategies for teaching consent, respect, and encouraging children's sense of bodily autonomy.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the session, participants will...

Learn strategies for teaching consent, respect, and encouraging children’s sense of bodily autonomy
Building a culture of consent in the classroom, connecting this to dismantling the patriarchy
Develop strategies for fostering children’s feelings of comfort about setting limits with their bodies
Facilitate children’s ability to name and describe their own bodies and choose how they want to use them

Fabulous Families: Engaging and Including LGBTQ+ Families

In this workshop, we will discuss the importance of supporting children by representing and including all families in the social and cultural community of the program. Focusing specifically on LGBTQ+ families, this workshop will help educators consider both deliberate and inadvertent messages about belonging contained in their programs' written material, environment, teaching, and educational practices. To create a more inclusive environment in their classrooms and schools, we will introduce concepts and language to talk with families and our staffs about sexual and gender identities, the legal structures that are involved in defining families, and discrimination targeted at people who do not conform to gender or sexual norms. We will also identify curricular opportunities to teach about family diversity and develop strategies and activities to teach children a more expansive understanding of family.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the session, participants will...

Discuss the importance of representing and including all families in the social and cultural community of early childhood programs
Learn the language to use when talking with families and colleagues about different sexual and gender identities
Identify curricular opportunities to teach about family diversity and develop strategies for teaching a more expansive understanding of family

To schedule the workshop series or for more information: Fill out the inquiry form

or contact us:

info@earlychildhoodny.org

Schedule the Workshop Series for Your Program

We'd be happy to offer these workshops to the educators and families in your early childhood program! fill out the inquiry form, or contact us for more information.

Meet the Trainers

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Megan Madison

Megan Pamela Ruth Madison (she, her) is an author and educator based in New York City. You can find her books - Our Skin, Being You, and Yes! No! - at your local bookstore. She began her career as an early childhood educator in the midwest, where she grew up. Now, as a doctoral candidate, she works part-time as a trainer facilitating Zoom workshops on race, gender, and sexuality for teachers. Megan recently completed a term on the governing board of the National Association for the Education of Young Children after several years serving as a co-facilitator of the association's Diversity & Equity Interest Forum. She holds a master's degree in early childhood education from Dominican University. Megan lives in Harlem (unceded land of the Lenape people), walking distance from her best friend, ex-husband, and fellow educator, Ruben Brosbe. Together with their chosen family, they love reading, eating ice cream, and organizing to defund the NYPD with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. You can find her on instagram @meganmadison

Kate Engle

Kate Engle brings her experiences as a preschool teacher, lifelong introvert, and anti-racism educator to her facilitation practice. Kate taught 3-year-olds for 11 years in New York City and has an MSEd in Early Childhood Education from Hunter College. She currently works with educators and parents as a trainer with organizations including the Center for Racial Justice in Education, the Human Root, and the New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute. As an equity consultant, she partners with schools and educational leaders to explore how racial and gender identity impact educators, students, and communities. Kate was born in Oregon and lives in Brooklyn, NY. She loves the ocean, dancing, and big rocks.

Laleña Garcia

Laleña Garcia (she/her) is a kindergarten teacher living in Brooklyn. A graduate of Yale University (BA, History) and Bank Street College of Education (MS, Early Childhood and Elementary Education), she's been teaching in NYC since 2000. Laleña also works for the New York State Early Childhood Professional Development Institute as a Gender and Sexuality Trainer, helping early childhood professionals and families to create expansive and supportive understandings of gender, sexuality, relationships, and family structure. A member of the NYC Black Lives Matter at School steering committee since 2018, Laleña also provides professional development for schools and other institutions seeking to deepen their anti racist work. Her online course for adults, Rooted, offers contextual background and concrete strategies for anti bias work in early childhood and elementary settings. Laleña's first children's book, What We Believe, was published by Lee and Low in 2020.

Catalina Schliebener

Catalina Schliebener (They/Them) is a visual artist and bilingual educator from Santiago de Chile. They received a Bachelor of Philosophy and a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the Universidad de Arte y Ciencias Sociales ARCIS, in Santiago. As an artist their work has been exhibited individually and collectively in galleries and museums in Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, S�o Paulo, Lima, Belfast, London, Miami, Ontario, Boston and New York. They has received grants and fellowships from the Development of Culture and the Arts Fund of the Government of Chile, the Board of Cultural Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Chile, as well as the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. In 2018 they participated in the Queer Artist Fellowship program at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art and the Artist in the Marketplace (AIM) program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. In their work as an educator, Schliebener taught undergraduate Art Theory and Philosophy courses for many years in universities in Chile. They has also led collage and multimedia workshops for both teens and adults in museums and institutions in Chile, Argentina, and New York, such as the Noguchi Museum and the Queens Museum, among others. Currently, they is a trainer with the New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute, a Workshop Facilitator and Guide at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, and also a Lead Teacher at One World Project, where they leads the afterschool Spanish immersion program for children ranging in age from 3-7. In 2018 they co-founded Little Rainbows: Storytime at the Lesbian Herstory Archives, focused on sharing stories that affirm differences of all kinds and building a space to welcome LGBTIQ+ families and/or children.

James Clay

Jim Clay (he/him) has been an early childhood educator for over 40 years, starting out as a teacher�s aide in Head Start, and later becoming an assistant teacher and then finally a lead teacher in a community-based program. The birth of his son and parenting responsibilities took him out of the classroom and eventually to becoming a center director. He quickly learned he did not have the skills for program administration so completed an MS in Early Childhood Leadership from Bank Street. Along the way, he provided plenty of training for the teachers at his school. Almost all his years in early childhood education have been in Friends education, and currently he serves on the board of the Friends Council on Education. Throughout he has been a founding member and active facilitator of the LGBTQ Interest Forum (Caucus) of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, writing articles for Young Children and leading workshops at the annual national conference - all to promote a good working environment for LGBT educators, support the parents of LGBT children, and help to create the right educational environment for children who will later identify as LGBTQ.

Milo Giovanniello

Milo Shifra Giovanniello is an educator and organizer working for racial and gender justice. As an educator and facilitator for the past 5 years, they have gained experience facilitating conversations with young people and adults about racial and gender justice, identity and gender exploration, sexuality, and consent. They hold a BA in education and sociology/anthropology from Swarthmore College and will begin their graduate degree this fall at Sarah Lawrence and NYU studying child development and social work.

Megan Madison

Kate Engle

Laleña Garcia

Catalina Schliebener

James Clay

Milo Giovanniello

Refund/Cancellation Policy

If you are unable to attend the session you have registered for, we invite you to send a colleague in your place. Please notify Alyssa Estremo Alyssa.Estremo@cuny.edu of any changes to your registration or if someone else will be attending in your place.

Registration fees are nonrefundable five business days before the event. Requests for refunds must be received in writing and submitted to Alyssa Estremo Alyssa.Estremo@cuny.edu. Please note that credit card payment processing fees are nonrefundable.

If a session has to be cancelled for any reason, every effort will be made to reschedule the session for a later date. If the attendee cannot attend the rescheduled date, a refund (not including credit card payment processing fees) will be issued.

Gender, Sexuality, and the Family in Early Childhood Education

Workshops for Educators and Families

About the Workshops

Schedule the Workshop Series for Your Program

Meet the Trainers

Refund/Cancellation Policy

Gender, Sexuality, and the Family
in Early Childhood Education