Professor __________, I am a student in your [insert class] for this semester. I am reaching out to you in regards to name and gender pronoun usage throughout our time together. I am [insert identity] and the name on record, which will appear as [insert legal/dead name], is not what I have chose...
For students headed back to school over the next couple of weeks, this is a great example of a template email that could be sent before things begin to help alleviate some concerns in advance of new courses with new professors who may not yet know your correct pronouns and name. It’s one of the few templates I found that doesn’t fall back on the language of “preferred” name/pronouns. And while it may seem simplistic, the inclusion of space for a few example sentences is great, especially for those who may be using pronouns like they or ze that can seem less familiar to some faculty members.
As for including the sentences about offering to answer questions, that’s up to you--what you’re comfortable with and what you feel you have the emotional energy to do. As faculty, even down to the level of grad student faculty, we often receive plenty of information and/or training from campus centers, including any LGBTQ resource centers, about how best to serve our students. And even for those of us at more conservative institutions or underfunded universities? The great thing about the internet is that we have the ability to look things up to make sure we’re taking on responsibility for keeping ourselves educated. Part of teaching is making sure we’re doing right by our students, and that means creating a classroom atmosphere that enables them to thrive.