Queer Voices From The Classroom

This inaugural volume of the new book series, Research in Queer Studies is a collection of memoirs or short narrative essays in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex or queer PK-12 teachers and/or administrators (either “out” or “not out”) recount their personal experiences as a queer teachers. The authors of these stores write about significant experiences that describe how their sexual identity has shaped who they are today as teachers/administrators, by answering the following questions: • In light of your sexual identity, how did you become who you are today? • Why did you decide to become a teacher? What role did your sexual identity play in that decision? • What kinds of significant moments, including queer issues (e.g., bullying) regarding students and/or yourself, have you experience in your teaching? • In light of who you are as an individual, what do you hope to achieve and become as a queer teacher in the future?

LGBTQ Voices in Education: Changing the Culture of Schooling addresses the ways in which teachers can meet the needs of LGBTQ students and improve the culture surrounding gender, sexuality, and identity issues in formal learning environments. Written by experts from a variety of backgrounds including educational foundations, leadership, cultural studies, literacy, criminology, theology, media assessment, and more, these chapters are designed to help educators find the inspiration and support they need to become allies and advocates of queer students, whose safety, well-being, and academic performance are regularly and often systemically threatened. Emphasizing socially just curricula, supportive school climates, and transformative educational practices, this innovative book is applicable to K-12, college-level, and graduate settings, and beyond.

The editors intended for this volume to provide queer and ally athletes a space to have a voice and share the experiences that have been significant in their identity as an athletic member of the LGBT+ community. To that end, this book is a collection of autobiographical short stories of LGBT+ athletes and their experiences in sports and athletics, some who are publicly out and some who are not. Based on the narratives collected, the book is organized around themes that illustrate various perspectives and the power that sport can play in 1) finding one’s true identity, 2) bridging communities, and 3) challenging gender norm stereotypes. The goal of this book is to help change the expectations of what it means to be a successful athlete and promote greater inclusivity of LGBT athletes. Providing the space for these voices to be heard will help to pave the way for a non?discriminating sporting environment, allow LGBT+ athletes to focus on their given sport without any distractions, and enable these athletes to live an authentic life without having to hide their true identity.

"This book provides recommendations on how to make the classroom more inclusive by discussing strategies for selecting inclusive curricular content, and also contains advice to teachers on how to handle student and institutional resistance to creating queer inclusive spaces"--

What pedagogic challenges and opportunities arise as gay, lesbian, and queer themes and perspectives become an increasingly visible part of English language classes within a variety of language learning contexts and levels? What sorts of teaching practices are needed in order to productively explore the sociosexual aspects of language, identity, culture, and communication? How can English language teachers promote language learning through the development of teaching approaches that do not presume an exclusively heterosexual world? Drawing on the experiences of over 100 language teachers and learners, and using a wide range of research and theory, especially queer education research, this innovative, cutting-edge book skillfully interweaves classroom voices and theoretical analysis to provide informed guidance and a practical framework of macrostrategies English language teachers (of any sexual identification) can use to engage with lesbian/gay themes in the classroom. In so doing, it illuminates broader questions about how to address social diversity, social inequity, and social inquiry in a classroom context.

In this beautiful children’s picture book by Vivek Shraya, author of the acclaimed God Loves Hair, a five-year-old South Asian boy becomes fascinated with his mother’s bindi, the red dot commonly worn by Hindu women to indicate the point at which creation begins, and wishes to have one of his own. Rather than chastise her son, she agrees to it, and teaches him about its cultural significance, allowing the boy to discover the magic of the bindi, which in turn gives him permission to be more fully himself. Beautifully illustrated by Rajni Perera, The Boy & the Bindi is a joyful celebration of gender and cultural difference. Ages 3 to 6. Vivek Shraya is a performer, musician, and filmmaker, and the authors of God Loves Hair and She of the Mountains. This publication meets the EPUB Accessibility requirements and it also meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG-AA). It is screen-reader friendly and is accessible to persons with disabilities. A book with many images, which is defined with accessible structural markup. This book contains various accessibility features such as alternative text for images, table of contents, page-list, landmark, reading order and semantic structure.

This book brings together leading academics and practitioners working in the area of language, gender, sexuality and education, consolidating recent developments and moving the field forward in a contemporary context. This unique and timely volume captures current themes, debates, theories and methods in the field, and will be of interest to scholars and practitioners working around the world in the areas of Applied Linguistics, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Education, Sociology and Discourse Studies.

Lori Horvit'z short stories, poetry, and creative nonfiction have appeared in a variety of literary journals and anthologies. Horvitz, the recipient of an M.F.A. in creative writing from Brooklyn College, and a Ph.D. in English from SUNY Albany, she has been awarded writing fellowships from Yaddo, Ragdale, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Blue Mountain Center, Cottages at Hedgebrook, and Fundaci=n Valparaiso. She is Associate Professor of Literature and Language at UNC-Asheville, where she teaches courses in creative writing, literature, and women's studies. --Book Jacket.