Colorado university offers ‘Queering Literacy’ course for future high school teachers

Aspiring high school teachers at the University of Colorado Boulder can learn how to incorporate “queer pedagogy” into English and social studies instruction as part of a fall semester course titled “Queering Literacy in Secondary Classrooms.”

However, many parents’ rights advocates and pro-family groups believe K-12 classrooms need less, not more LGBT content.

The university class provides students with “theories and practices of literacy teaching and learning that challenge multiple forms of oppression,” its course description says. It is targeted to education majors preparing to enter K-12 classrooms. 

Instead of simply promoting the inclusion of different identities, the course aims to train teachers to “develop and enact strategies for planning and implementing literacy instruction that moves beyond inclusion of differences,” especially in the humanities. 

Professor Sara Staley has previously taught the class and co-directs the school’s “Queer Endeavor” project. The course supports teachers and students “trying to create spaces of belonging in every classroom,” she told the College Fix. 

Teachers lack proper training on “gender and sexual diversity,” according to Staley. 

“There is also a lot of research that shows that school can be a pretty unwelcoming place for students who are different,” she said, emphasizing “queer and trans youths.” 

Exposing future teachers to books with LGBT characters helps them develop more inclusive teaching practices, Staley argued. 

“If you’re a straight person who doesn’t know a lot of LGBT people in your life, maybe reading a book that features a queer, trans character, that might make you feel uncomfortable,” she said. “One of the tools of queer pedagogy is tapping into those emotional feelings we sometimes feel when we encounter things we think are different.” 

Staley advocates for schools to decide what’s “age-appropriate” on a case-by-case basis. For younger kids, this may mean discussing “the whole range of families” instead of anything directly related to sexuality. 

However, critics raise concerns over both content and parental awareness. 

Such topics “have no place in elementary school,” said Erika Sanzi, director of outreach for Parents Defending Education and a former teacher. 

“LGBT topics in curriculum outside of sex education/health are a problem because it’s mature subject matter about which parents aren’t notified and can’t opt out,” Sanzi told the Fix. 

Sanzi blames state education departments for mandating gender and sexuality content even at a young age. 

“They are the ones who added the state standards around gender and sexuality – including in very young grades – and they are the ones who can remove them,” she said.