Teaching, Affirming, and Recognizing Trans and Gender Creative Youth

sj Miller is a trans*+disciplinary award-winning teacher/writer/activist/scholar and an expert in secondary literacy across disciplines. sj’s research is framed around trans*+disciplinary perspectives on social justice and links across socio-spatial justice, urban education, preservice and inservice secondary language arts teacher dispositions, and marginalized/undervalued student literacies and identities, with a particular emphasis on gender identity. sj has written nine books, over twenty-five book chapters, over fifty articles, and is a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post, BBC Radio, CBS News, GLSEN, Vice, and PBS. In 2019, sj received the AERA Distinguished Contributions to Gender Equity in Education Research Award.

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2018“This timely book is a splendid addition to the literature aimed at informing and guiding educators in supporting trans* individuals … . The editor … has gathered a talented group of knowledgeable contributors who collectively provide a rich mix of theory and practice.  … the book would be of great benefit within any teacher education program, especially now when trans* rights and safety are under fire in so many quarters.” (H. M. Miller, Choice, Vol. 55 (5), January, 2018)“This edited collection is a great resource for pre-service and in-service teachers, as well as teacher educators and community activists that work with youth. … the authors also do a good job at addressing possible scenarios and providing concrete implications for practitioners making it an important and novel contribution to the field of LGBT youth studies.” (Mario I. Suárez, Journal of LGBT Youth, Vol. 15, February, 2018)

• 1. Introduction: The Role of Recognition.- 2. Why a Queer Literacy Framework Matters: Models for Sustaining (A)Gender Self-Determination and Justice in Today's Schooling Practices.- 3. Teaching Our Teachers: Trans* and Gender Education in Teacher Preparation and Professional Development.- 4. Kindergartners Studying Trans* Issues Through I Am Jazz.- 5. Beyond This or That: Challenging the Limits of Binary Language in Elementary Education Through Poetry, Word Art, and Creative Bookmarking.- 6. The Teacher as a Text: Un-centering Normative Gender Identities in the Secondary English Language Arts Classroom.- 7. The T* in LGBT*: Disrupting Gender Normative School Culture Through Young Adult Literature.- 8. Risks and Resiliency: Trans* Students in the Rural South.- 9. Introducing (A)gender into Foreign/Second Language Education.- 10. Exploring Gender Through Ash in the Secondary English Classroom.- 11. Transitional Memories: Reading Using a Queer Cultural Capital Model.- 12. Trans* Young Adult Literature for Secondary English Classrooms: Authors Speak Out.- 13. Puncturing the Silence: Teaching The Laramie Project in the Secondary English Classroom.- 14. Making Space for Unsanctioned Texts: Teachers and Students Collaborate to Trans*form Writing Assignments.- 15. Using Queer Pedagogy and Theory to Teach Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.- 16. The Nonconclusion: Trans*ing Education in the Future- This Cannot Wait.-