Getting Real about Sex Ed Book Talk
ABOUT THIS VIRTUAL BOOK TALK
Join author Shafia Zaloom and Tanya Lemmon for a conversation about Getting Real about Sex Ed. Together they'll explore a clear, practical approach for K–12 educators to teach crucial life skills, concepts essential to healthy sexuality, and the capacity for meaningful relationships.
In this hour, Tanya and Shafia will dig into the ideas at the heart of the book:
- Students are constantly navigating messages around gender and sexuality throughout the school day, making comprehensive sexuality education a vital mission for every learning space, not just the classroom
- Critical teaching opportunities occur during daily transitions and fluid social interactions, requiring staff to confidently offer guidance when students need it most
- The reality that many school staff lack formal sex education backgrounds themselves, highlighting the need for practical frameworks to help them navigate these topics successfully
- Clear guidance on maintaining appropriate student-teacher boundaries, ensuring educators can support students safely while protecting their professional roles
- Equipping staff with a better understanding of pushback and resistance, providing actionable strategies to balance personal security with essential advocacy for students
ABOUT THE BOOK
In Getting Real About Sex Ed, Shafia Zaloom offers educators, administrators, and caregiving adults concrete language and strategies for integrating sexuality education into daily practice, beginning with students in kindergarten and carrying through to high school graduation. Zaloom advocates Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), a holistic framework for K–12 classrooms that addresses the cognitive, emotional, social, and physical aspects of sexuality. The book highlights how CSE scaffolds the sexual development of students as it gradually layers in age-appropriate information, skills, and positive values to practice and prepare for safe and fulfilling relationships, as well as how students can take responsibility for their own sexual health and well-being.
Zaloom draws on the latest research and presents real-world scenarios from classrooms across the country that all educators face in developing students’ personal citizenship. With warmth, empathy, and insight, she guides teachers beyond the classroom to the in-between moments of educational spaces: the lunchroom, playground, hallways, and transition periods. She models how educators can deliver developmentally appropriate lessons across grades to inspire personal reflection, integrity, and the capacity to connect with others in community.
In this vital, actionable work, Zaloom ultimately shows how a comprehensive approach to teaching sexuality education equips young people with life skills they need to cultivate mutual respect, care, dignity, and joy in sustained relationships, whether sexual or not, and contribute to a compassionate and just society.
AUDIENCE
This book talk is for all caretaking adults—especially K–12 teachers and administrators—who want to guide students through issues of gender and sexuality from a place of care and affirmation rather than avoidance and fear. It is designed for educators who want to: Enrich their daily practice using real-world case studies from school staff across the United States. Navigate complex challenges like managing pushback and maintaining clear professional boundaries, and transform everyday transition moments into meaningful opportunities to support and teach their students to be more resilient and socially connected as individuals as well as in communities.
This event is exclusively for CATDC Member Schools only. The first 5 people to register for and attend this Book Talk will receive a free copy of the book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shafia Zaloom is a health educator, consultant, author, and parent whose work centers on human development, community building, ethics and social justice. She has worked with thousands of children and their families in her role as teacher, coach, administrator, board member, and outdoor educator. Shafia has contributed articles to The New York Times, The Washington Post and numerous parenting blogs. Her first book, Sex, Teens, and Everything in Between has been reviewed as “the ultimate relationship guide for teens of all orientations and identities.” It has been described as a book that “every teen, and every parent and educator - and every other adult who interacts with teens - should read.” Shafia develops curricula and teaches kindergarten through graduate students in schools across the country; provides workshops for parenting adults, facilitates professional development for educators and consults for the film industry, hospitals and government organizations.
IN CONVERSATION WITH
Tanya Lemmon holds a B.A. in Sociology from UCLA and a Master’s in Education from UCLA’s Graduate School of Education (Center X). She began her career in public education before teaching internationally at the American School Foundation in Mexico City and Guadalajara, where she developed a strong foundation in culturally responsive teaching, community building, and curriculum design.
After returning to the Bay Area, Tanya taught upper elementary and middle school language arts while re-envisioning curriculum through a critical and identity-conscious lens. She later served as a K–6 Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, leading professional development for faculty across K–12 divisions and partnering with leadership teams to advance belonging-centered school culture.
Tanya has guided entire professional communities through identity-conscious reflection, adult social-emotional development, and curriculum transformation aligned with Learning for Justice standards. Her facilitation style is Socratic, discussion-driven, and grounded in lived experience—creating space for honest dialogue, growth without shame, and practical application.
She currently serves as DIESEL at Mount Tamalpais School, continuing her work at the intersection of identity, belonging, and educator development.
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