when to teach human sexuality

Effective planning to teach the human sexuality curriculum helps to create a successful experience for students and teachers. The timing of the curriculum will be different for each school. However, there are some factors to consider that will enable you to make the most of the resources available to you.

Consider how well you know your students before teaching human sexuality. The sensitive nature of the topic requires some trust and rapport with your group. However, leaving the topic until the end of the year in June may mean that you are rushing and that students are thinking more about summer field trips than school!
If you would like to use community resources such as guest speakers or kits, plan ahead. Traditionally these resources are heavily utilized in the spring. School nurses have reported that they have many requests at this time of year that they are not always able to accommodate. Consider teaching the curriculum in the late fall or winter.
Students need time to process the information they are learning so try to plan for a couple of days in between each session. Some of the website lesson plans include a take home component that will need a few days to complete. If practical you may want to think about giving students access to a question box for the duration of the teaching to capture questions students think of in between sessions.
Send home the letters of consent for students to take part in human sexuality sessions early. In Alberta it is mandatory that all students receive permission to join in these classes.

Here are some questions to ask in the planning stages:

What resources do you already have access to e.g., puberty kit, audio visual resources?
Where can you access resources? – Public Health Office, School nurse, websites, school/public library, community agencies.
Have your students taken part in sexuality classes in previous grades? If not, they may have gaps in information and skills that they need to catch up on. You may need to do some review of the material from earlier grades.
What about split grades? If you are combining grades it is common practice to teach to the lower grade curriculum content.
What will those students who are not taking part in the sexuality curriculum do? Who will supervise them? Think about organizing a meaningful activity, health related such as a task around nutrition or active living.
Prepare yourself – become familiar with the lesson plans and have fun!