“We should tell students they were gay?”: Pre-service teachers reckon with authenticity and truthful narratives in teaching the American Revolution.

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 3:45 pm - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Teaching Truth in Turbulent Times: Navigating Controversy, Civic Courage, and Historical Reckoning in Education

Abstract

A multi-case study, this research project surfaces and centers the thinking and theorizing of pre-service social studies teachers on the inclusion of personal information identifying two members of the Founding Fathers generation (Baron von Steuben and Casimir Pulaski) as queer during instruction on the American Revolution. This research project also asks participants to consider when and how to include this information, if not during the teaching of the American Revolution. Using classroom observation, participant writing, focus group, and individual interviews, this article seeks to surface pre-service teachers’ thinking and theorizing on the teaching of truthful and authentic narratives of historical people who are queer.

Author

• Brian C. Gibbs, Georgia College & State University