Lines in the Sand: Evaluating Teacher Responses to Divisive Content Legislation in Oklahoma

• In Event: Curricular Policy Agents: Critical Frictions and Transformative Disruptions

Abstract

In a political atmosphere in which state legislation deprofessionalizes teaching, this paper evaluates the ways in which Oklahoma teacher’s express resistance and/or acquiescence to divisive concept laws as well as how these teachers realize that resistance. Drawing on a study of seventeen K12 teachers in Oklahoma, researchers evaluate teacher statements and actions as they relate to one of four categories: social justice activism, passive resistance, status quo teaching, and support for the laws. This study contributes to the literature that explores how teachers conceptualize resistance and how they make this resistance evident in their curricular and pedagogical approaches.

Authors

• Erin A. Bronstein, University of Michigan - Dearborn

• Don C. Murray, Oklahoma State University