Connecting to prior knowledge
Jessica Walton wrote Introducing Teddy to help explain the gender diversity in their own family to their children. You can read and discuss the story on multiple levels, depending on which themes you wish to explore:
- the importance of being yourself
- being a good friend
- diversity
- gender identity
Regardless of whether/how deeply you delve into the last theme, the book will introduce it in a gentle way and some discussion may ensue. See More Resources for a list of texts that may support children in understanding gender diversity, both personally and within their families.
To get students talking about the theme(s), share a selection of the following books prior to reading Introducing Teddy:
- My Shadow is Pink by Scott Stuart (CBCA Notables 2021)
- With an animated short film based on the book
- Who’s Your Real Mum? by Bernadette Green, illus. Anna Zobel (CBCA Shortlist 2021)
- With a read-aloud by the author and illustrator
- Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall
- It’s Okay to be Different by Todd Parr
- With a read-aloud by the author
Guide students to make connections with their own families, friends and experiences by asking such questions as:
- Do any of the characters in the story remind you of anyone you know? Who? (text-to-self connection)
- What is similar, or different, in this story compared to the book we read yesterday? (text-to-text connection)
- What did this story make you think about? (text-to-world)
Before reading
Show students the front cover of Introducing Teddy and encourage them to talk about what they notice. Ask:
- Who is Teddy?
- What is the same and different about the Teddy in the reflection? Why might the illustrator have drawn Teddy like this? If needed, direct students to the facial expressions as well as the location of the bow.
Point out the title and ask:
- What does it mean when you introduce someone?
- Why is Teddy being introduced?
Point out the subtitle and discuss its purpose. Ask:
- What does ‘being yourself’ mean?
Using a round robin or rally robin, have students discuss what they think Introducing Teddy is going to be about. Following the discussion, regroup and ask students to share their ideas. Then read the blurb on the back of the book to the class.
Lead students to participate in a ‘physical’ anticipation guide to bring together their thoughts from the previous discussions:
- Prepare some statements based on the themes you will be exploring (e.g. being yourself, friendship, inclusivity, gender).
- Explain to students that, as you read out each statement, they will need to decide whether they agree or disagree. Emphasise that there are no right or wrong responses, but that discussion will be important.
- Allocate ‘I agree’ and ‘I disagree’ spaces in the classroom.
- Read each statement aloud, one at a time, and ask students to move to the relevant space. Optionally, ask students to share why they have moved to this space, allowing them to change their minds and move based on discussion.
- Keep a visual record of students’ responses by taking a photo to turn into a display.
Statements for this activity may include:
- People are the same inside even if they change on the outside.
- There are boys’ clothes and girls’ clothes.
- There are boys’ activities and girls’ activities.
- Boys and girls can be friends.
- It is important to share secrets with your friends.
Exploring the text in context of our community, school and ‘me’
During reading
Being a friend
Point out that Errol and Thomas (as Tilly is known at the start of the book) do lots of things together. Ask students if they do similar things with their friends. Also ask them to think about the things Errol and his friends do to make each other happy, and compare this to what they do to make their own friends happy.
After reading
Accepting our friends
Ask students to list the main characters in the story. Guide discussion around ‘Thomas the teddy’ and ‘Tilly the teddy’, asking students to compare and contrast the ‘two’ characters using a Venn diagram or table. Remind students to consider actions, appearance/clothing, feelings, behaviours and friendships.
Once the diagram/table is complete, ask students to discuss:
- Who is Thomas?
- Who is Tilly?
- Did Errol and Ava think Thomas and Tilly were the same friend or a different friend? How do we know?
- Why would the author create a book about these characters?
Our inclusive class, school and community
NOTE: For the purpose of tracking page numbers, the first page of the story is considered p. 2.
Introduce the word ‘inclusion’ to students (or, alternatively, ‘acceptance’) in the context of Errol and Ava’s response to Thomas becoming Tilly.
Reread the story, making lists of words, phrases or images that show what inclusion:
- looks like (e.g. playing together; Errol hugging Tilly on pp. 14)
- feels like (e.g. a smile)
- sounds like (e.g. Errol telling Tilly he will always be her friend on p. 12).
Model how to add these elements to a Y-chart.
Continue exploring by brainstorming other instances where students have noticed inclusive behaviour/actions in the classroom, on the playground, and outside of school. Have them create Y-charts (individually or in pairs) using written or drawn examples from the text, as well as those from their own experiences.
Rich assessment task
To explore the concept of ‘being yourself’, give each student a pair of paper chain people (PDF, 196KB) to cut out. Ask them to decorate one person in their own image: the one that everyone sees at school (e.g. in uniform). Then ask them to imagine that they are looking in the mirror on the front cover of Introducing Teddy. They will decorate the other person in a way that reflects ‘being themselves’. This may include clothing that they wear (or really want to wear) on the weekend, their preferred hair colour/length, or accessories to show what they really want to do or be.
Once students have finished decorating their paper chains, encourage them to use some of the phrases from the Y-chart to write a sentence or paragraph responding to the following prompt:
When I am being myself, I …