School of Education Scholarship

Masculinities on The O.C.: A Critical Analysis of Representations of Gender

Elizabeth J. Meyer — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:38:44 PDT

Critical Ontology and Teacher Agency: Postformal Autobiography and its Impacts on Research and Practice

Elizabeth J. Meyer — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:38:40 PDT

Creating Schools That Value Sexual Diversity

Elizabeth J. Meyer — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:10:45 PDT

I am (not) a Feminist: Unplugging from the heterosexual matrix

Elizabeth J. Meyer — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:10:39 PDT

"But I'm Not Gay": What Straight Teachers Need to Know about Queer Theory

Elizabeth J. Meyer — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:10:31 PDT

Using Electronic Portfolios to Foster Communication in K-12 Classrooms

Elizabeth J. Meyer et al. — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:21:57 PDT

Coming Out to Care: Caregivers of Gay and Lesbian Seniors in Canada

Shari Brotman et al. — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:21:54 PDT

Purpose: This article reports on the findings of a study whose purpose was to explore the experiences of caregivers of gay and lesbian seniors living in the community and to identify issues that emerged from an exploration of access to and equity in health care services for these populations. Design and Methods: The study used a qualitative methodology based upon principles of grounded theory in which open-ended interviews were undertaken with 17 caregivers living in three different cities across Canada. Results: Findings indicated several critical themes, including the impact of felt and anticipated discrimination, complex processes of coming out, the role of caregivers, self-identification as a caregiver, and support. Implications: We consider several recommendations for change in light of emerging themes, including expanding the definition of caregivers to be more inclusive of gay and lesbian realities, developing specialized services, and advocating to eliminate discrimination faced by these populations.

A Feminist Reframing of Bullying and Harassment: Transforming Schools Through Critical Pedagogy

Elizabeth J. Meyer — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:21:51 PDT

This article aims to reformulate existing understandings of bullying behaviours in secondary schools, by applying a critical feminist lens to patterns of verbal and psychological harassment among students. Through this understanding, educators may better understand the causes of (hetero)sexist, transphobic, and homophobic behaviours. With a more complex awareness of these power relations, teachers, teacher educators, and educational leadership scholars will be offered critical approaches to help them transform the oppressive cultures of schools.

Gendered harassment in secondary schools: understanding teachers’ (non) interventions

Elizabeth J. Meyer — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:21:48 PDT

This article provides an analysis of teachers’ perceptions of and responses to gendered harassment in Canadian secondary schools based on in‐depth interviews with six teachers in one urban school district. Gendered harassment includes any behaviour that polices and reinforces traditional heterosexual gender norms such as (hetero)sexual harassment, homophobic harassment, and harassment for gender non‐conformity. This study shows that educators experience a combination of external and internal influences that act as either barriers or motivators for intervention. Some of the external barriers include: lack of institutional support from administrators; lack of formal education on the issue; inconsistent response from colleagues; fear of parent backlash; and negative community response. By gaining a better understanding of the complex factors that shape how teachers view and respond to gendered harassment, we can work towards more effective solutions to reduce these behaviours in schools.

Queer Youth and the Culture Wars: From Classroom to Courtroom in Australia, Canada and the United States

Elizabeth J. Meyer et al. — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:21:45 PDT

This article builds on Lugg's (2006) discussion of surveillance in public schools and how queer youth are resisting schools' current efforts to regulate sexual orientation and gender expression in the U.S. and internationally. Legal complaints initiated by queer youth against their schools for harassment and access to extra-curricular activities are discussed. The number of cases in the past five years has increased significantly and the courts are siding with the youth and their allies, demonstrating that queer youth are significantly impacting the dismantling of heteronormative regulatory regimes and improving the school experiences for themselves and queer adults.

Improving literacy and metacognition with electronic portfolios: Teaching and learning with ePEARL

Elizabeth J. Meyer et al. — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:21:42 PDT

Can an electronic portfolio that is both a multimedia container for student work and a tool to support key learning processes have a positive impact on the literacy practices and self-regulated learning skills of students? This article presents the findings of a yearlong study conducted in three Canadian provinces during the 2007–2008 school year initially involving 32 teachers and 388 students. Due to varying levels of implementation our final data set included 14 teachers and 296 students. Using a non-equivalent pre-test/post-test design, we found that grade 4–6 students who were in classrooms where the teacher provided regular and appropriate use of the electronic portfolio tool ePEARL (i.e., medium–high implementation condition, n = 7 classrooms and 121 students), compared to control students (n = 7 classrooms and 175 students) who did not use ePEARL, showed significant improvements (p < .05) in their writing skills on a standardized literacy measure (i.e., the constructed response subtest of the Canadian Achievement Test-4th ed.) and certain metacognitive skills measured via student self-report. The results of this study indicate that teaching with ePEARL has positive impacts on students’ literacy and self-regulated learning skills when the tool is used regularly and integrated into classroom instruction.

Teachers, Sexual Orientation, and the Law in Canada: A Human Rights Perspective

Elizabeth J. Meyer — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:21:39 PDT

Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.\n Conclusion As the previous cases demonstrate, Canada's human rights protections at both the provincial and federal levels have gone a long way in working to combat discriminatory behaviors toward sexual minorities in school settings. By carefully weighing the actual and potential harms to gay, lesbian, and bisexual students and teachers, which are well-documented (Kosciw, Diaz, and Gretytak 2008; Taylor et al. 2008; Williams et al. 2003; Ferfolja 1998), against the legally justified minimal impairment of some individuals' antihomosexual religious beliefs, educators can develop approaches for talking about sexual orientation in schools that promote school safety, while allowing space for diverging religious views.

Subverting the Ivory Tower: Teaching and Learning Through Critical Dialogues

Elizabeth Meyer et al. — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:21:36 PDT

Joe Kincheloe was our teacher, our mentor, and our friend. In our experiences in higher education, we had learned that it was virtually impossible to have these three different kinds of relationships with one person; particularly with an established, respected scholar who was as prolific as he was. He wasn’t arrogant or inaccessible or a diva or blinded by the hubris that can come with being deemed an “expert in the field.” He was Joe, the Vols fan and blues musician from Tennessee who proudly told anyone who would listen about his honorary membership in the Lesbian Avengers. When we first met him, he was also Dr. Joe L. Kincheloe, the Canada Research Chair in critical pedagogy at McGill University and renowned scholar and author or editor of more than 40 books. However, the mere presence of Joe and his work in cultural studies, social theory, and critical pedagogy existing in the Ivory Towers of top-tier research universities was an act of subversion. He preferred T-shirts and jeans to jackets and ties. He befriended the custodial staff before getting to know the department chairs, and he never made it to a meeting on time because he was busy listening to someone. Even more than his presence, his teaching subverted the expectations and the unwritten rules of these elite institutions.

Electronic Portfolios in the Classroom: Factors Impacting Teachers’ Integration of New Technologies and New Pedagogies

Elizabeth Meyer et al. — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:21:33 PDT

This article presents the findings of a study on the use of an electronic portfolio (EP) in 16 elementary classrooms across Canada. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected to understand how teachers used EPs in their classrooms, to what extent they integrated the EP into their practice, and the factors influencing their use. Using expectancy theory, findings indicate that low implementers experienced significant technical obstacles and/or were reluctant to change their established practices, whereas high implementers reported feeling supported by their administration, experiencing growth in their teaching practice, and using more pedagogical practices that support self-regulated learning as a result of the scaffolding provided by the software.

Student Engagement in the Teaching and Learning of Grammar

Peter Smagorinsky et al. — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:23:03 PDT

This article reports a study of coauthor Laura Wright as she learned to teach secondary school grammar in four settings: university teacher education program, student teaching, her first job, and second job. Data for her university program came from Laura’s journals and projects from her course work. Data from student teaching and her first job included interviews and field notes from observations and interviews and self-reports by Laura of teaching conducted on other occasions. Information from her second job came from self-reports by Laura. The data were analyzed using a system that identified the pedagogical tools Laura employed and the attributions she made for learning how to use them. The data suggest that Laura sought to teach in ways that students found engaging, meaningful, enjoyable, and relevant. How she was able to make grammar instruction fit this goal varied according to the setting in which her instruction took place.

Problems in Developing a Constructivist Approach to Teaching: One Teacher's Transition from Teacher Preparation to Teaching

Leslie Susan Cook et al. — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:23:00 PDT

This article reports a case study of an elementary school teacher moving from her university teacher education program into her first full-time job teaching a K/first-grade class. Using activity theory, we analyzed her conceptualization of teaching as she moved through the key settings of her university program, student teaching, and first job. This conceptualization began with the university's emphasis on constructivism, a notion that diffused as she moved from the formal environment of the university to the practical environment of the schools. Data for the study included preteaching interviews, classroom observations, pre- and postobservation interviews, group concept map activities, interviews with supervisors and administrators, and artifacts from schools and teaching. Data analysis sought to identify tools for teaching and the ways in which those tools were supported by the environments of teaching. Results center on 2 aspects of constructivist teaching: the teacher's use of integrations and the decentering of the classroom. The analysis showed that the teacher, rather than developing and sustaining a concept of constructivist teaching, instead developed what Vygotsky calls a complex, that is, a less unified understanding and application of the abstraction. Implications of the study concern ways of thinking about the common pedagogical problem teacher educators face when students of their programs abandon the theoretical principles stressed in university programs.

Preservice and Inservice Secondary Teachers' Orientations Toward Content Area Reading

Bonnie C. Konopak et al. — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:22:58 PDT

This study examined preservice and inservice secondary teachers' orientations toward content area reading and instruction. Instruments included two sets of belief statements and three sets of lesson plans; for comparison, each instrument incorporated three explanations of the reading process. Based on their selection of statements and plans, preservice teachers favored an interactive model of reading but a reader-based instructional approach, whereas inservice teachers held reader-based beliefs in both areas. In addition, both groups selected primarily reader-based vocabulary and comprehension lessons but varied in their choices of decoding lessons. Further, only teachers holding reader-based beliefs consistently chose corresponding vocabulary and comprehension plans.