Teaching, Affirming, and Recognizing Trans and Gender Creative Youth

Winner of the 2018 Outstanding Book by the Michigan Council Teachers of English

Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2018

Winner of the 2017 AERA Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education) Exemplary Research Award

This book draws upon a queer literacy framework to map out examples for teaching literacy across pre-K-12 schooling. To date, there are no comprehensive Pre-K-12 texts for literacy teacher educators and theorists to use to show successful models of how practicing classroom teachers affirm differential (a)gender bodied realities across curriculum and schooling practices. This book aims to highlight how these enactments can be made readily conscious to teachers as a reminder that gender normativity has established violent and unstable social and educational climates for the millennial generation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, (a)gender/(a)sexual, gender creative, and questioning youth. 

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)

“The authors of this book have given us a precious gift.  To be sure, this collection of well- researched essays offers literacy scholars approaches to problematize gender in the classroom.  More important, though, is that this book illustrates that many of us have a great deal to learn from the trans* community about teaching and learning and about our humanity. The exquisitely written chapters in this much needed, and timely book offer the best aspects of research that bridges the methodological and theoretical with the empirical and the personal.  It is a remarkable and courageous achievement.” (David Lee Carlson, Associate Professor, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, USA)

“So many educators across K-12 and other educational contexts—including those designated as safe for and responsive to LGBTQ youth—struggle to envision pedagogical strategies and spaces that meaningfully address trans* and gender creative youth’s lived experiences.  sj Miller has carefully curated actual examples of how a Queer Literacy Framework can enable pedagogical encounters that disrupt gender normativity, empower trans* and gender creative youth, and generate transformative learning experiences for all students.  After reading Miller’s edited collection, educators will no longer be able to say that this important work cannot be done.” (Ed Brockenbrough, Associate Professor, Department of Teaching and Curriculum, and Director, Urban Teaching and Leadership Program, University of Rochester, USA)

“The field of education is in dire need of this collection, and sj Miller is a trailblazer! The idea of a queer literacy framework that centers trans* and gender creative youth is breathtaking, needed, and confirms what queer educators know: when we talk about equitable classroom for all, trans* and gender creative youth must not only be included but centered to speak truth to power about social justice. This collection breatheslife and love into the spirit of social justice work and the creativity of these amazing youth.” (Bettina L. Love, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Theory and Practice, University of Georgia, USA)

“This collection is an invitation. It invites literacy and language teachers of secondary and elementary students into the work of making schools better places for trans* and gender creative youth. It does so by offering studies, lessons, unit plans, and a framework designed to bring to trans* and gender creative students what all students deserve: recognition, respect, affirmation, kindness, and compassion. As such, this collection is an invitation that demands acceptance.” (Mollie V. Blackburn, Professor, School of Teaching and Learning, College of Education and Human Ecology, Ohio State University, USA)

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.