Don a pair of headphones and take a journey around the school you know, hearing stories that might surprise you, from young trans-kids, their parents, and older members of the community reflecting on their memories of primary grades. What does it feel like as a gender-fluid child to hear, “Girls, go get a drink of water’? What is it like as an agender Grade 4 student to see the washroom signs? How do you draw a self-portrait when gender dysphoria is at play? What does it take to pass through the front doors, or to find someone who wants to play on the playground?
The sound design places the story in a layer on top of your own – you can feel the children, walking beside you, or swinging on the squeaky swing. They are with you and yet unseen, slurping from the water fountain, or tossing you basketballs in the gym. It is the school you know, but from a perspective that might surprise you. These stories are given to you, so that you might "Learn by Heart" what it is to attend a school that feels like it will never belong to you, nor you to it. Though inspired by trans and GNC young children, it speaks to the bigger notion of inclusion. And a better environment for all of us to be ourselves.
Learn By Heart concludes with a hands-on activity of design, where the participants get to imagine a school that supports all students. What would it look like? What would it be built of? What would it have in its classrooms, hallways, washrooms, libraries? What is something we can do today to construct this reality? We imagine that it is not just a discussion, but a building session, with tools and materials for putting ideas into form, individually and then collectively as a model for a heart-full home for learning. For all kids.