Jennifer Bryan has significantly helped increase the sensitivity and sophistication of our school’s approach to gender and sexuality diversity. I especially appreciate the way Jennifer tailored presentations and guided discussions in the manner most relevant to different groups. Thanks to Jennifer’s wise counsel, our school continues to make heartening progress toward the goal of every single member of our community feeling respected and affirmed for every aspect of their identity.
Jennifer Bryan presented to our Shady Hill School Pre-K-8 community today. First she visited classes that included our youngest lower school children and then facilitated appropriate activities in middle school classes. At the evening family presentation Jennifer poignantly integrated student schema, queries and depth of discussion from each grade. She carefully flipped behavioral realities (usually thought of as abnormal) with a sense of humor that awakened us to actual normal human behavior.
With graduation just weeks away, I shift the focus to a different kind of “college readiness,” one that will help my students distill the potent, sensitive and nuanced ideas surrounding gender and sexuality diversity…. I invite my former teaching colleague Jennifer Bryan in to talk with the class because I know that even if she can’t answer all of their questions, she will give them tools and language with which to think about these complex issues…. [Her] blend of theory, film clips and personal anecdotes offers students a compelling experience, confirming what they already suspect to be the truth about gender and sexuality diversity but may not yet have been able to articulate.