Abstract
This chapter explores integrating LGTIQ themes and content into teacher education through three perspectives. First, the chapter offers the auto-ethnographic reflections of a queer teacher educator and some of the ways that they have grappled with their identity and being out and visible in the higher education setting. Next this chapter explores efforts made by this teacher educator to help pre-service teachers think about integrating LGTIQ history into their future classrooms. The chapter offers a framework for teachers to think about learning objectives as they plan and implement LGTIQ history lessons, including lessons that are considered as ‘queer representation lessons', ‘queer content lessons', and ‘queer lens lessons'. Finally, this chapter discusses efforts to create space on the program level to help pre-service teachers be prepared to work with and support LGTIQ students, colleagues, and families.
TopComing Out
I came out later in life. Coming out is a deeply personal experience, individual for each person. Each person will approach coming out differently, given their circumstances and experiences. And many people navigate coming out without guidance. Coleman (1982) presents one model of the coming out process for gay men, which he considers as a series of stages. Coleman’s first stage is pre-coming out. In the pre-coming out stage, one gradually comes to recognize awareness of their same-sex interest. This is typically accompanied by negative conceptions of oneself and feelings of rejection from society. Coleman (1982) suggests that in the pre-coming out stage individuals may adopt an air of secrecy and avoid opening up about anything, including things that have nothing to do with sexual orientation, for fear that opening up will lead to their sexuality being discovered by others.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Pre-Service: Teacher: Someone who is learning to become a teacher and is enrolled in a teacher certification program.
Queer Lens Lesson: A type of lesson aimed at applying queer ideas to problematize and question heteronormative structures in society.
Coming Out: The process that queer individuals go through to accept their sexual orientation or gender identity and share their identity openly with others.
Queer: An umbrella term for members of the LGTIQ community, can also be used to denote queer as a verb.
Queer Representation Lesson: A type of lesson aimed at increasing visibility of the lives and stories of members of the queer community.
In-Service Teacher: Someone who has completed a teacher certification program and is employed as a teacher.
Queer Content Lesson: A type of lesson aimed at increasing understanding of the perspectives and experiences of members of the queer community.