1. Stephanie Anne Shelton stepshel@uga.edu
Rites of Passage or Teacher Bullying?: The Experiences of New Teachers Who Advocate for LGBTQ Students
Stephanie Anne Shelton

2. Brief intro. to my study
Ongoing qualitative study in its 3rd year of data collection
10 participants who began the study as pre-service teachers and are now either 1st or 2nd year in-service teachers
Southeastern United States; three states
Data includes individual interviews, focus group interviews, written correspondence with participants, and document analysis (e.g., lesson plans, curriculum maps)

3. Methodology & Theories
Qualitative Research
Narrative Interview Methodology
Phenomenological Questions
Queer Theory
Feminist Theory
Longitudinal Study
Preservice (student) teachers
Focus Groups
Individual In-depth Interviews
First-year teachers

4. What the research says about teachers and LGBTQ issues
Over 80% of U.S. LGBT students still reported being harassed in school, and the issue is amplified in the Southeastern U.S. (GLSEN, 2012a-c)
A 2013 study reported that the educators did not feel that LGBTQ-related issues were their concern, because concepts related to sexuality did not belong in the classroom and school settings (Haertling Thein).
Most sources imply that lack of teaching resources are the primary problem. E.g., the bullying themed issue of English Journal (July 2012) and similar publications.

5. Individual- and Cross-Case Analysis, in combination with Conversation Analysis: Themes
“People on my hallway”
“Resistant Students”
“Community values”
“I was scared”

6. Findings

7. Fear & Standardized Curriculum

8. “Lulu”
They tricked me! I specifically asked, “Are the classrooms scripted?” Like, do they give me my, um, lessons, my units, or is there any type of collaborative planning, or how does it work? And they said, “Well, you work, you work with other teachers on your hall to create your units and to plan. They lied to me. Or, like, the first day that I got to the school, they’re like, “Here’re the plans.” I’m so scared about being fired, ‘cause they’ll just show up randomly, um, if I like, try to do something, and then, maybe like, segway to what require that I do, or I’m scared to completely eliminate something that they don’t have, stuff about gender and sexuality that I did last year [student teaching], or do something they don’t have at all. Because they might be like, where did this come from, Lulu? I did that one day [deviated from mandated lesson plans] and they came in my room! And my heart was beating fast!

9. Administrators

10. “Bailey”
Bailey said, “I’ve heard my principal say, ‘That’s so gay.’ I’ve heard him joke about one of our students practicing football, ‘Man, his stance just looks so gay.’ So, do they take the same stance I do? Hell no.” Bailey indicated her fear of some of her school colleagues with her repetition during the interview that she was “almost afraid for my job that day” and “scared for my job.”

11. Colleagues

12. “Lillian”
During an English department meeting, Lillian said that a veteran colleague told the department,“I was, like, you know, I was teaching, blah, blah, blah, whatever, and um, I asked my students, ‘How many of you guys have ever, you know, gone home and cried about a girl?’” Lillian’s colleague then described how shocked she was when several female students raised their hands, which prompted the teacher to declare, “I’m never asking that question again! Because, like, I just do not need to know!”

13. “Miranda”
[Following an argument with a senior teacher] “Um, and, and I apologized to her, and I said, 'I’m sorry that, you know, the was sent in haste, but um, [seems to struggle for the right words] I know not to send it in the future.' And so, she responds to that with, um, 'Oh, I didn’t realize you were new here.' To which I wanted to reply, 'You little [pause] because you and I have had multiple conversations before. You and I have spoken before. You and I have met before. We teach on the same hallway. How dare you not know who I am?’ But, that’s what I wanted to say, but I didn’t, so um, that was offending. And then, that evening, I go home, and we had open house [school is open to parents who want to talk to students’ teachers—standard practice in most schools] that night, and so the teachers were at school all day long, and then Tuesday, Tuesday, I get to school 7:00 in the morning again, and I receive an from another one of the veteran teachers in the department. And it says, and too, again, responding to all from this one original , and it says, 'What,' 'Question mark,' 'Question mark,' 'Question mark.' ['What???']”

14. Why am I arguing that this is “teacher bullying”?

15. Defining “bullying” and applying the term to the study.
“Bullying” is typically (and legally) defined as “hurtful actions experienced repeatedly over time, usually at the hands of one person or the same people” (Olweus, 1993).
Bullying limits the target’s notions of self-value and self-agency.
Bullying has been shown to contribute to the target dropping out of the activity (e.g., teaching) that most likely puts her into contact with the bullying behavior.

16. References
GLSEN. (2012a, September 05) national school climate survey: Lgbt youth face pervasive, but decreasing levels of harassment. Retrieved from GLSEN. (2012b). “No promo homo” laws. Retrieved from ttp://glsen.org/learn/policy/issues/nopromohomo GLSEN. (2012c, December 11). Strengths & silences: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in rural and small town schools. Retrieved from Haertling Thein, A. (2013). Language arts teachers' resistance to teaching lgbt literature and issues. Language Arts,90(3), Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at school: What we know and what we can do. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.