Teachers' Attitudes Towards Introducing
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations Department of Middle and Secondary Education 5-2002 Yes, I Should but No I Wouldn’t’: Teachers’ Attitudes towards Introducing Lesbian/Gay Issues in the Literature Classroom Randall Lawrence Fair Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mse_diss Recommended Citation Fair, Randall Lawrence, "Yes, I Should but No I Wouldn’t’: Teachers’ Attitudes towards Introducing Lesbian/ Gay Issues in the Literature Classroom." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2002. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mse_diss/49 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Middle and Secondary Education at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ACCEPTANCE This dissertation, “YES, I SHOULD BUT NO I WOULDN’T’: TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS INTRODUCING LESBIAN/GAY ISSUES IN THE LITERATURE CLASSROOM, by RANDALL LAWRENCE FAIR, was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s Dissertation Advisory Committee. It is accepted by the committee members in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education, Georgia State University. The Dissertation Advisory Committee and the student’s Department Chair, as representatives of the faculty, certify that this dissertation has met all standards of excellence and scholarship as determined by the faculty. The Dean of the College of Education concurs. ________________________ ______________________ Peggy Albers, Ph.D. Joyce E. Many, Ph.D. Committee Chair Committee Member ________________________ _______________________ Kathryn A. Kozaitis, Ph.D. Joan Wynne, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member ________________________ Date ________________________ Ruth Hough, Ph.D. Acting Chair, Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology ________________________ Ronald P. Colarusso, Ed.D. Dean AUTHOR’S STATEMENT By presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the library of Georgia State University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote, to copy from, or to publish this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose direction it was written, by the College of Education’s director of graduate studies and research, or by me. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and will not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential financial gain will not be allowed without my written permission. ____________________________________ Signature of Author NOTICE TO BORROWERS All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University library must be used in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this dissertation is: Randall Lawrence Fair 400 Village Parkway #148 Atlanta, Georgia 30306 The director of this dissertation is: Dr. Peggy Albers Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology College of Education Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia 30303 VITA Randall Lawrence Fair 400 Village Parkway #148 Atlanta, Georgia 30306 404-872-4249 EDUCATION: Ph.D. 2002 Georgia State University Language, and Literacy Education Ed.S. 1996 Georgia State University English Education M.Ed. 1991 Georgia State University English Education B.S. 1986 Jacksonville State University Education/Language Arts PROFSSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 1987 – Present English Teacher Fulton County Schools PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND HONORS: Peachtree Urban Writing Poject Recipient of the 2001 Departmental Doctoral Award PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS: Fair, R. (2001). Supporting Lesbian/Gay Youth. Presentation to undergraduate educational diversity class, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia. Fair, R. (March 12, 2001). Supporting Lesbian/Gay Youth. Presentation to undergraduate educational diversity class, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia. Fair, R. (September 30, 2000). Supporting Lesbian/Gay Youth. Presentation to undergraduate educational diversity class, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia. Fair, R. (September 16, 2000). Respect for All Students. Presentation to faculty. Centennial High School, Roswell Georgia. Fair, R. (August 14, 2000). Respect for All Students. Presentation to faculty. Milton High School, Alpharetta, Georgia. Fair, R. (July 20, 2000). Integrating Lesbian/Gay Issues in Literature Instuction. Presentation to English methods and management class, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia. Fair, R. (March 12, 2000). Supporting Lesbian/Gay Youth. Presentation to undergraduate educational diversity class, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia. Fair, R. (November 12, 1999). Supporting Lesbian/Gay Youth. Presentation to undergraduate educational diversity class, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia. Fair, R. (1998). Revisiting curriculum: Children deserve diversity and inclusivity in their lessons. In K. Jennings (Ed.) Safe Schools Update – GLSEN Newsletter Fair, R. (1996). Unexpected allies in Alabama. In K. Jennings (Ed.) Telling tales out of school. Boston: Alyson Publications. ABSTRACT “YES, I SHOULD BUT NO I WOULDN’T’: TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS INTRODUCING LESBIAN/GAY ISSUES IN THE LITERATURE CLASSROOM by Randall Lawrence Fair Many studies have demonstrated that lesbian and gay students are often more likely to suffer from high risk factors. These students often have higher rates of suicide, are more likely to drop out, use drugs and alcohol, etc. Often schools do not provide this invisible minority with appropriate support. One natural place to address lesbian/gay issues in the high school curriculum is the literature classroom. Literature textbooks often include statistically high numbers of lesbian/gay authors. However, often literature teachers are reluctant to identify the sexuality of these authors, and rarely do these teachers introduce issues of sexuality in any other way. In this study, I examine why some teachers avoid discussions of lesbian/gay issues and why others include them. The overarching theory that I use in my research is that of lesbian/gay/queer theory. While the term lesbian/gay/queer theory might seem to be an unnecessarily long and awkward title, I use it here to make it clear that I will be combining elements of lesbian/gay theory with elements of queer theory. My purpose in doing this is to craft a study that will embrace both the practical aspects and the academic rigor required to meet the changing needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (queer) people. Since this study examines attitudes, the design is a qualitative one. I gather data from many sources including informal observations, classroom observations, interviews, and focus groups. Rigor is provided through prolonged engagement, member checking, and triangulation of data through multiple sources. My results shed light on why individuals in this group of literature teachers often approach the study of lesbian/gay issues in a multitude of ways and have a number of different reasons for their various approaches. “YES, I SHOULD BUT NO I WOULDN’T’: TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS INTRODUCING LESBIAN/GAY ISSUES IN THE LITERATURE CLASSROOM by Randall Lawrence Fair A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education in the Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology the College of Education Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia 2001 Copyright by Randall Lawrence Fair 2001 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people in my life that are deserving of thanks and acknowledgment for helping me through this process. I certainly cannot thank all of these people in this short space, but there are some people I would like to recognize in detail. These people are as much responsible for this document as I am. First I would like to thank the dedicated participants of this study. They went out of their way to share an amazing amount of knowledge from many years or practice in the field of English education. Not only did they allow me into their classrooms, they also allowed me into their lives. They shared their philosophy of education with me even when doing so forced them to grapple with difficult questions about their pedagogy. Moreover, they shared their personal histories, views and philosophy of life with me. I thank them for giving me so much. I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Peggy Albers, Dr. Joyce Many, Dr. Kathryn A. Kozaitis, and Dr. Wynne for their time and wisdom. Each of these women have given me more than just an education. They have been nurturing and supportive and have shown me what it means to truly be an educator and mentor. Dr. Many has encouraged me even before I became a doctoral candidate. She made me believe that I had something important to say, and that my ideas could be worthy of publication. Dr. Kozaitis has been an inspiration for me. She has given me an incredible amount of her time and has pushed me to keep moving forward. Dr. Wynne