Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Sex Ed in a Church?
I am a co-leader for grade 8 & 9 students in a sexuality education program called Our Whole Lives (OWL) at our church. We had a parent meeting tonight for the second term (it's a 9 month program) as we gave an update to the parents and showed them the slides that the kids will get to see in the next few weeks. The kids have to have their parents permission to participate in the program and to see these slides as they are pretty explicit. They are realistic line drawings of lovemaking, including a wide range of people (ie. diverse races, disabilities, ages, body types, sexual orientation). Of course, the kids see these slides after having had about 14 classes on values, basic anatomy, personal concerns about puberty, gender roles, disabilities, glbt issues, issues in friendships, relationships, communication, the meaning of consent, dating, etc. Later we will talk about abuse, violence, std's, pregnancy and childbirth, parenting.
This curriculum was developed in the US by the Unitarian Church and the United Church of Christ over the past 20 years, and there is a course curriculum for grades K-1, 4-5, 8-9, 10-12 as well as an adult program.
We found out this week that our program has been chosen to be featured on a National television news program (CBC) and our class will be filmed and interviewed this Sunday! Yikes. I am teaching this Sunday, and they want to interview the participants, parents and teachers. Crap. That means me, as the other woman teacher is out of town right now.
