I'm a teacher as well and was the only out gay kid in the history of my high school back in the early 2000's. The teachers didn't know what to do with me, allowed constant bullying/rape threats, and knew I was kicked out of my home at 15/16 and did nothing. It was a very traumatic time for me. One teacher showing a little extra concern or just being a decent role model for my peers would have made a world of difference. Please if you have a student who is a girl, don't say "we need to call him by this female name". I'm sure you didn't want to have this pointed out & most don't want corrective feedback from a stranger, but it's a big deal.
May I suggest a Netflix show that demonstrates how a grandmother and mom learn about respecting people's pronouns? One Day at a Time, season 2, episode 3.
You can use gender neutral terminology when addressing your students. Why do we need to say "boys and girls"? How about something like "friends", "students", "folks", anything?
As far as the survey, if it wouldn't let me move on to the next question without selecting one or the other, I'd select whichever one and then write in the separate notes section that goes to the MSC (as someone else suggested) "gender not determined".
I hope you have a great day
@Niner wrote:
I think we have talked about this at some point. Tonight, we went out to eat for a shop. There was an individual whose gender I could not determine. I had no idea. It could have been 50/50. And, of course, they had a gender neutral name like Jaime. On the report, it asked if the person was male or female. I said I could not tell.
Last year, as a teacher, I had a girl I was convinced was a boy, and two boys who I absolutely thought were girls. This was in one class. Then, I had a student who appeared male, did not try to look feminine, but said he identified as a girl and was told by administration that we needed to call him by this female name.
Anyway, how do you handle this on a mystery shop that requires a male/female decision?