Pedagogical Third Spaces: Inclusion and Re-Presentation of LGBTQ Communities in and through Teaching as a Matter of Justice

Abstract

In this article, a teacher educator and a New York City elementary public school teacher share insights from a yearlong collaboration whereby they worked together to interrupt normative pedagogical practices regarding gender, sexuality, and interrelated identities within the context of a second-grade classroom. Bridging the typical disconnect between teaching and teacher education, the authors worked to queer early childhood education, developing a framework for full inclusivity through the codesign and implementation of pedagogical third spaces. Through examples, they show how this innovative framework offers the potential to transform the architecture of teaching in ways that render LGBTQ voices, identities, and experiences visible, (re)positioning them centrally in curriculum and teaching. In doing so, this framework (re)conceptualizes inclusion and representation of LGBTQ individuals and communities in and through teaching as a matter of justice.

Notes

¹ We employ the term intersectionally minoritized because “as a characterization of people, ‘minority’ is stigmatizing and often numerically inaccurate. … ‘Minoritized’ more accurately conveys the power relations and processes by which certain groups are socially, economically, and politically marginalized within the larger society” (McCarty, 2002, p. xv). It acknowledges “prejudice stemming from the intersections of racist ideas and other forms of bigotry, such as sexism, classism, ethnocentrism, and homophobia” (Kendi, 2016, p. 5).

² The Merriam-Webster dictionary (2018) defines cisgender as: “of, relating to, or being a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth.”

³ We use the term queer as a verb. Simply put, queering early childhood education entails disrupting “normative categories relating to sexuality, gender, body, and desire” in and through curriculum and teaching (Ryan & Hermann-Wilmarth, 2013, p. 144).

⁴ The students who attended the New York City public school where Alison taught comprised the following demographics: 80% were children of color; 22% had identified disabilities, and 100% received free lunch (indexing low -/no-income).

⁵ Hermann-Wilmarth (2007) defined full inclusion as inclusion for everyone. Although the term inclusion is often code for including and addressing the needs of students with disabilities, we adopt the definition forwarded by Artiles and Kozleski (2007): “Inclusive education … enhance[s] access, participation, and outcomes for all students” (emphasis in original; p. 357).

⁶ Differently from represent, re-present encompasses both the actions of presenting and representing.

⁷ In this subsection, we intentionally weave actions and reflections, engaging with Freire’s concept of praxis—defined as reflection and action, mediated dialogically. We do so as a way of privileging lived experiences, centering intersectionally minoritized perspectives, and queering “traditional research paradigms, texts, and theories used to explain the experiences of” intersectionally minoritized people (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002, p. 24).

⁸ A popular toy marketed to girls: https://shopkinsworld.com/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mariana Souto-Manning

Mariana Souto-Manning is at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Alison Lanza

Alison Lanza is at Central Park East II Elementary School.