It Is Not Rocket Science: Are Teachers Given the Tools in Their Teaching Programs to Create Culturally Relevant Classrooms for QTSOC (Queer Transgender Students of Color)?

• In Event: Research in Progress Roundtable Session 3
  In Invited Roundtable: Culturally Responsive Teaching and Teacher Education (Table 6)

Abstract

Pre-service teachers (PST) may then leave their teaching program with an inaccurate or limited base of knowledge about LGBTQIA+ history and biographies, who then might rely on misinformed online resources and continue to uphold heteronormative and heterosexual norms constructed within curricula, policies, and teaching practices. PSTs must be taught in their teaching programs how to critically evaluate resources to create inclusive learning experiences affirming QTSOC students(Gorski et al., 2013).
This paper expands on my work around new teachers and their preparedness to create and uphold LGBTQIA+ inclusion and affirming spaces after leaving their teaching educator programs. I will examine teachers’ preparedness and attitudes toward culturally relevant educational practices and explore the limited focus of QTSOC students in current teaching programs.

Author

• Denise Villarrial Nealon, San Diego State University