EmpoWord - A Student-Centered Anthology & Handbook for College Writers, 2018a

Part Two: Text Wrestling 180
documentation and update documentation at the request of the student to avoid
misrepresentation and mislabeling. When you use the student’s preferred name and
pronoun in and out of the classroom you are showing the student you sincerely care for
their well-being and the respect of their identity.
The second and other most common recommendation is to make “trans-safe”
(single-use, unisex or trans-inclusive) bathrooms widely available to students. Often
these facilities either do not exist at all or are few-and-far-between, usually
inconveniently located, and may not even meet ADA standards. This is crucial to
insuring safety for trans-identified
students.
Teacher Takeaways
Other recommendations are
“The author maintains focus on key
that schools engage in continual
arguments and their own understanding of
professional development training to the text’s claims. By the end of the summary,
I have a clear sense of the recommendations
insure that teachers are the best
the authors make for supporting transgender
advocates for their students. Defend students. However, this piece could use more
context at the beginning of each paragraph:
and protect students from physical
the student could clarify the logical
and verbal abuse. Create a visibly progression that builds from one paragraph
welcoming and supportive
to the next. (The current structure reads
more like a list.) Similarly, context is missing
environment for trans-identified
in the form of citations, and no author is ever
students by creating support groups, mentioned. Overall this author relies a bit too
much on summary and would benefit from
curriculum and being vocal about your
using a couple direct quotations to give the
ally status.
reader a sense of the author’s language and
The last piece of the article tells
key ideas. In revision, this author should
blend summaries, paraphrases, and quotes to
us a person who is trans simply wants develop this missing context.”
to be viewed as human—a fully
– Professor Dannemiller
actualized human. I agree wholeheartedly.
I believe that everyone has this desire. I agree with the recommendations of
the participants that these exhibitions of advocacy are indeed intrinsic to the role of
gender-expansive ally-ship,
While they may not be the most salient of actions of advocacy, they are the most
foundational parts. These actions are the tip of the iceberg, but they must be respected.