Scrolling Through Politics: Examining Teachers' Reactions to Black Lives Matter Posts Online

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Sixteen
  In Roundtable Session: Social Studies Teachers' Decisions, Disclosures, and Dilemmas (Table 10)

Abstract

Social media is an increasingly prevalent, yet currently underexplored site of political formation and civic engagement. This paper presents findings from a Q-methodology study in which pre-service and in-service social studies teachers engaged with and sorted a collection of social media posts about Black Lives Matter. I present various subject positions available to teachers and explore the relationships between their reactions to these posts and how they imagine teaching about BLM. In my analysis, I trace the ways these teachers’ political views functioned to inform their reactions despite often contradictory articulated perceptions of how and why they reacted in particular ways.

Author

• Joe McAnulty, Abilene Christian University
  Presenting Author