Who's thinking of the children? I know I am!!

Ladies and gentlemen,
Buckle your seat belts and hold the phone because this is so exciting even YOU might raise an eyebrow. Yours truly has just received her very own copy of Our Schools Our Selves the Spring 2011 edition. Cool.

Yes, it's cool. What's COOLER is that on page 71, my article on student-centred sexual health education is shining beneath a picture of me looking QUITE academic!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know. Seriously.
So I'll give you a brief synopsis of what I argue and then leave you in SUSPENSE!!!

First of all, this is an incredibly awesome and progressive journal about policy change in Canada. Beautiful read. I read the sex education edition and kind of fell in love. Twice.

So my article is called "Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children? Promoting student-centred sexual health education". *sigh* Take a moment to love that... there.

Here's a picture of it:

Isn't that gorgeous? Oh yes. I can't even handle it.
There's another picture above. Oh it's so awesome.

So I'm essentially advocating FOR comprehensive sexual health education BECAUSE it is student-centred and focuses on the learners (the students) instead of other biases. The students need to know information relevant to them, so I argue that let's LISTEN to them and feed off of their questions in order to sculpt a better curriculum. I suggest a couple of ways to do so by pointing to some research that has worked well; for example, anonymous question boxes. Do this.

Anyway, I'm excited. I will talk about this article (and reference myself like a cocky narcissus) later. I will also post about my trip to England where I again advocated for STUDENT-CENTRED LEARNING through collaboration! Yaaaaaaay.

Stay safe, sexually speaking.
Yours,
the published sarah

SWEET JESUS Ontario 7-8 Health and Phys Ed curriculum!

Hisssssssssss!

Alright, so I have been debating whether or not to analyze Ontario's sexual health education curriculum along with British Columbia's. I now know it MUST be done.

Ontario recently revised the Elementary Health and Phys Ed curriculum in 2010. Well done my home sweet home!

According to the overall and specific outcomes of the Healthy Living portion of Health education, By the end of Grade 7 students will:

• identify the methods of transmission and the symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and ways to prevent them;
Sarah's commentary: Alright. Necessary. I approve.

• use effective communication skills (e.g., refusal skills, active listening) to deal with various relationships and situations;
Sarah's commentary: Okay... such as "Don't touch my vagina right now" and "I hear what you are saying, but I must abstain as the curriculum tells me to..." Right? Nevertheless, I still agree with effective communication. Okay.

• explain the term abstinence as it applies to healthy sexuality;
Sarah's commentary: .... AND?!?!?!?! What ELSE? Birth control? These children are 12. Some of them have developed breasts! Some of them are on their period RIGHT now... Explain abstinence? That's IT?!

• identify sources of support with regard to issues related to healthy sexuality (e.g., parents/guardians, doctors).
Sarah's commentary: Because teachers are scared to say so? Or because policy states teachers shouldn't say so? Should we get nurses in the class telling kids what a penis is and how it works? Why is it this all has to be left up to doctors... it's SO clinical. Parents, YES! But some won't... so what then?

These are not the only outcomes, but the ones which I thought were important and/or curious.

Under grade 8 (alright... we are 13 years old now... or approaching this age. TEENS! Has anything changed?), it states

By the end of Grade 8, students will:

• explain the importance of abstinence as a positive choice for adolescents;
Sarah's commentary: Among others? This is limiting! *hiss*

• identify symptoms, methods of transmission, prevention, and high-risk behaviours related to common STDs, HIV, and AIDS;

• identify methods used to prevent pregnancy;
Sarah's commentary: Such as?

• apply living skills (e.g., decision-making, assertiveness, and refusal skills) in making informed decisions, and analyse the consequences of engaging in sexual activities and using drugs;
Sarah's commentary: LOL! Living skills. HOLD THE PHONE!!! Here is my issue: Ladies and gentlemen and people who create policy and curriculum, PLEASE do not lump sex and drugs into the same bullet. Drugs are horrid things. No one should do cocaine ever. Sex is not a horrid bad thing... so don't you DARE put them under the same thing. Yes, they both have consequences, but so does swimming after you eat, and you sure as hell wouldn't say swimming and drugs are related, WOULD YOU?!?!?! Drugs. WHOLE other story. Give it a new bullet, a new topic/subject area, hell... even a new lesson, please!!

• identify sources of support (e.g., parents/guardians, doctors) related to healthy sexuality issues.

Dear Ontario,
Don't be vague and give sex some positivity. Students are afraid of negative things... More commentary to come.

Dear Ontario again,
I am not scowling at you because you are doing something wrong. I commend anyone who writes curriculum; however, there are a couple of things that are too vague and will be left up to teacher discretion, causing misinformation, misguidance, and an overall inconsistent teaching and learning. Love you. <3

Yours capable,
the newest policy analyst to your team? I'll let you know when I publish my Master's thesis, then we'll talk?

Don't shy away from things that exist... here's some food for thought!

I have an excellent idea. Beyond excellent idea.

So I was recently encouraged to read a lovely journal entitled Our Schools Our Selves "Sex Ed and Youth". Not only do I adore this journal, but I adore every author in it! It's a journal about sexuality and minority communities. A beautiful read, if I do say so myself. I am currently reading Volume 18, Number 2 and I'm excited to get my hands on the other volumes!

So I was reading an article by Alexandra Looky who speaks about the differences in the sex education curricula of North America and Togo. So as I'm reading her article, I keep thinking about ways to improve current sex education (as is my usual train of thought). THEN, my new best friend Alexandra Looky (2009) lists her thoughts on how to approach sexual education. I enjoy them all and I agree wholeheartedly with the general theme, which is a positive vs. negative approach. Also, the inclusion of other aspects of sex rather than the consequence of pregnancy. <-- THANK YOU! What about STIs? Hmm?? What about Susie's broken heart when Jared gets up and says "Alright, I gotta peace. Thanks for the sex"? OR.... what about the satisfaction Molly gets from making the decision to express her love towards her boyfriend? OR... what about Billy confronting his boyfriend about wearing a condom, which shows his self worth in wanting to keep himself healthy and safe? Anyway... Looky's article (2009) raised a lot of interesting points for me, as did almost every article in this journal! One of the things Looky (2009) states is that "the average Canadian is still ignorant when it comes to sexual and reproductive health but is living in a country where countless resources are readily available..." (p. 95).



Absolutely. There are pamphlets about everything under the sun these days, and SO.... get ready:

Sarah's words of wisdom:
TEACHERS. Why not craft an assignment that encourages students to pick from a variety of pamphlets about sexually related subjects (anal sex, rape, sexual harassment, orientation and harassment, sexual dysfunction, sexual diversity, etc) and ask them to do a presentation/other form of critical assignment on one issue of their choice. THIS WAY the students who are like "aaahhh, I don't need to know about HIV" can present on something else. It sounds to me like this would be a value friendly assignment. Maybe? Also, have all these pamphlets (hopefully one day crafted by me or another superior mind) readily available in the school. ALL of these issues are important. If a student wants to shy away from COMPLETELY knowing everything about anal sex... fine. Don't present on it. Yes? Thoughts?

ALSO!!!!! by having each student present on something different, it allows you as a teacher to get through more material and thus, be a more comprehensive sex educator. AND!!! since the students are teaching each other, hopefully there will be more accessible language used, trust, less embarrassment, and an opportunity for students to talk to other students about sex! Whoa. Yes.

So, read this journal. Do it. It is filled with many educated voices from SO many perspectives. These are the people in our communities, in our schools, bravely speaking about something soooooo important. LISTEN. Aka, read. :)