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I'm really enjoying this thread, thanks all! To add a further consideration, I know many trans students experience structural formations in academia (ironically esp in gender/sexuality studies) that start with the assumption that they don't exist in the classroom except perhaps as exceptions; any exercise that asks students to "imagine themselves as the opposite sex" or uses drag or binary gay/lesbian as an introductory framework can unnecessarily push trans students to the margins by sending a clear message that the class is not being designed for them (& creates a cis-centric environment for all the students). A great way to incorporate everyone, I find, is to ask them to come up with anonymous answers to questions based on where they're starting from, like "one thing I'm nervous about coming up in this class is..." and "one thing I think I'll contribute to this class is..." etc. I explicitly make it a point to value and recognize the contributions of students who are conservative, "beginners," etc. To encourage broad engagement. Depending on the class, I sometimes collect their answers on index cards and read some out, or invite them to read their own out if they want (though only certain students will do this), or I warn them in advance I'm going to collect and redistribute their answers and get students to share someone else's (this increases the likelihood of getting things out that wouldn't otherwise be shared). I really like the time capsule exercise, btw! Best, Nick Matte
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