Teacher Education and the Fight for LGBTQ+ Justice: Talking about Gender and Sexuality in Schools
Join us for our Dean’s Special Lecture Series featuring Carol Brochin, Ph.D., as she discusses the power of stories in transforming classrooms and communities that cultivate a sense of belonging.
While young people are talking about gender and sex with each other and on social media, those same conversations rarely enter classrooms. In fact, how teachers talk about sex and gender has always been over-legislated and grounded in cisnormative and heterosexual assumptions. As the regulation over curriculum becomes more politicized, how do educators prioritize conversations central to the well-being of our youth?
Brochin argues that we need schools that are not just inclusive for LGBTQ+ students but are sites of critical transformation where everyone can experience joy in learning about each other and their communities. Drawing from community engaged scholarship, Brochin will examine practices that foster a deep commitment to social justice and a collective sense of care and understanding of all LGBTQ+ people. She will share stories from students, teachers and books that cultivate a sense of belonging urgently needed during these trying times.
About the Speaker
Carol Brochin is an associate professor in Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies in the College of Education at The University of Arizona and the incoming director of the Southern Arizona Writing Project. Her professional and scholarly work is rooted in her experiences as a public-school teacher and literacy educator along the U.S./Mexico border. Brochin’s work is interdisciplinary, crossing and challenging disciplinary and theoretical borders while grounded in qualitative inquiry and literacy research methods. Her teaching and research push the boundaries of what it means to do equity work, both in literacy and bilingual education. Brochin researches and writes about teacher education, LGBTQ+ and bilingual literature for youth and crossing borders through books.
