"Boys Can Be Mermaids?" Disrupting Gender Norms and Heteronormativity in Early-Years Classrooms Through Literature

• In Event: Volcanic Disruptions: Breaking the Mold Through Teacher Research

Abstract

Early years classrooms are sites where children (re)create normative gender and heteronormative discourses. Research demonstrates teachers can disrupt and broaden children’s understanding of these discourses through children’s literature shared during read-aloud sessions. As a teacher-researcher, I conducted a four-week case study in my grade two classroom using poststructural feminism and queer theory as theoretical lenses to explore the ways in which the children experienced and understood literature that challenged the dominant discourses of gender and/or heterosexuality. The children’s experiences highlight their need for teacher explicit teaching to attend to and interpret the discursive disruptions. Further, teachers need criticality in choosing and approaching disruptive texts. I have compiled a list of 14 indicators to support teachers’ disruptive text selection.

Author

• Nicole Ellen Trottier, Seven Oaks School Division
  Presenting Author