The Promise of Anonymity: An Investigation of the Practices of ELA Teachers Facilitating Discourse about LGBTQ Topics

Autor/in	Kavanagh, Sarah Schneider
Titel	The Promise of Anonymity: An Investigation of the Practices of ELA Teachers Facilitating Discourse about LGBTQ Topics
Quelle	In: Teachers College Record, 118 (2016) 12Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0161-4681
Schlagwörter	English Teachers; Language Arts; Educational Practices; Secondary School Teachers; Homosexuality; Inclusion; Data Analysis; Decision Making; Teaching Methods; Advocacy; Social Bias; Comparative Analysis; Case Studies; Interviews; Observation; Journal Writing; Questionnaires; Privacy + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? English language lessons; Teacher; Teachers; Englischunterricht; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Sprachkultur; Bildungspraxis; Homosexualität; Inklusion; Auswertung; Decision-making; Entscheidungsfindung; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Sozialanwaltschaft; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Beobachtung; Zeitschriftenaufsatz; Fragebogen; Privatsphäre
Abstract	Background/Context: As states and districts have begun adopting texts inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people, debates about how LGBTQ issues should be represented in the curricular canon have emerged. While existing research investigates curricular questions that are arising as a result of LGBTQ curricular inclusion, scholarship has been slow to address the instructional questions presented by the introduction of inclusive curricula. Purpose: This study explored how seven secondary English Language Arts teachers facilitated student engagement with LGBTQ-related topics. Analysis of data on teachers' instructional practice and related decision-making sought to (a) determine what instructional dilemmas arose for teachers as they taught LGBTQ-inclusive content and (b) analyze the instructional decisions that teachers made to address these dilemmas. Participants: Participants in this study were seven secondary English Language Arts teachers who (a) held strong reputations in their professional communities for supporting LGBTQ students and (b) had strong intentions to support LGBTQ students through LGBTQ curricular inclusion, reducing student prejudice, and advocating for and with LGBTQ students. Research Design: This comparative case study was embedded in a larger qualitative study that investigated the instructional practice of LGBTQ-supportive teachers. This article reports on findings from an analysis of all data from this project that pertained to how teachers engaged students when teaching LGBTQ content. Data was collected over a six-month period and includes 22 teacher interviews, 28 observations of classroom instruction, 70 teacher log entries, and 25 teacher questionnaires. Findings/Results: Analysis showed that participants felt a tension between a desire to make LGBTQ identity visible and a desire to offer LGBTQ students privacy. Participants employed two different approaches to navigating the visibility-privacy tension. Some created parallel engagement strategies for students, some public and some private, while others simultaneously allowed for privacy and visibility through the use of anonymity. Conclusions/Recommendations: As conceptions of diversity expand to include sexual diversity, this study has implications for teacher preparation and professional development aimed at supporting teachers to attend to the unique needs of LGBTQ students within instructional practice. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Teachers College, Columbia University. P.O. Box 103, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. Tel: 212-678-3774; Fax: 212-678-6619; e-mail: tcr@tc.edu; Web site: http://www.tcrecord.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01