1st Edition

Stepping Up! Teachers Advocating for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Schools

    216 Pages
    by Routledge

    216 Pages
    by Routledge

    Stepping Up! offers inspiring suggestions for ways teachers and teacher educators can stand up and speak out for students to create welcoming classroom climates for LGBTQ and gender diverse youth. Building from ten years of collaborative longitudinal inquiry, including interviews with parents, students, teachers, and administrators, the authors share stories from different perspectives to support teachers with concrete examples of advocacy. The authors show teachers how to ‘step up’ by working with students, through and beyond curriculum, and by working with families and administrators to improve school culture for LGBTQ and gender diverse students. Additionally, they explore the potential constraints involved in such social justice work, and share strategies and resources for transforming schools to be more queer-friendly.

    Contents

    Acknowledgments

    1. Stepping up for LGBTQ and Gender Diverse Students

    2. Stepping Up as Teachers: Seeing Possibilities in Teaching and Activism

    3. Stepping up as Teachers: Understanding Impact, Knowledge, and Vulnerability

    4. Stepping Up with Parents of Queer Families in Schools

    5. Queer High School Students on Stepping Up: Layered Lives and Layered Advocacy

    6. Stepping up through Curriculum that is Inclusive of Sexual and Gender Diversity

    7. Stepping up with School Leaders

    8. Stepping Up: What it Takes and Why it Matters

    List of Contributors

    References

    Index

    Biography

    Mollie V. Blackburn is Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education and Human Ecology at the Ohio State University.

    Caroline T. Clark is Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education and Human Ecology at the Ohio State University.

    Ryan Schey is a doctoral candidate in Adolescent, Postsecondary, and Community Literacies in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the Ohio State University. He will begin his academic career as faculty at Auburn University in the fall of 2018.

    "I read Stepping Up as an invested educator and researcher—and as a straight ally parent to two queer-identified children. Through each of those lenses, this eagerly awaited book shimmers with impactful stories. Stepping Up provides hope, inspiration, and an indispensable model of how to build coalitions of educators, parents, youth, and communities toward justice, advocacy, and support for LGBTQIA youth."

    —Elizabeth Dutro, Professor of Literacy Studies, School of Education, University of Colorado Boulder, USA