From Preservice to Professional Teaching: A Longitudinal Study of Two LGBTQI First-Year Elementary Teachers' Experiences

• In Event: 18.072 - Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: 18.072-18 - Expanding Understandings of Genders and Sexualities in Early Childhood and Elementary Education

Abstract

Being an LGBTQI-identifying teacher presents particular challenges and marginalizing experiences (DeJean, 2008; Donahue, 2008). This longitudinal, qualitative study is a follow-up to a year-long endeavor focused on the experiences of two LGBTQI-identifying pre-service teachers as they navigated public school contexts, university contexts, and began a job search for a teaching position. In this study, we followed these same two teachers as they entered their first year teaching and we present the experiences and perspectives of these two LGTBQI-identifying elementary teachers. This study offers implications for charter and public school systems about how to support, recognize, and advocate for LGBTQI-identifying teachers.

Authors

• Bridget Leigh Maher, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• William Toledo, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor