Beyond The Letters

Latest Episodes:

Season Finale! Finding Value in the Subtleties with Jennifer Serravallo Jul 05, 2020

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Beyond the Letters is a podcast featuring LGBTQ+ educators, their stories, strategies and practical advice for creating safe and inclusive educational spaces for queer youth and educators, alike. Hosted by Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts, each week features a new guest as they talk all things LGBTQ+ and education.

Kate and Maggie are joined by Jennifer Serravallo in today's episode as they talk about building out your library, finding moments for queer representation, and how to make the case for building representation into your curriculum.

Creating Brave Spaces with LaMar Timmons-Long Jun 28, 2020

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Kate and Maggie are joined by LaMar Timmons Long in today's episode as they talk about being vulnerable, the intersections of race and queerness, and building brave spaces in our classrooms.

Normalizing Language with Jess Lifshitz Jun 21, 2020

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Kate and Maggie are joined by Jess Lifshitz in today's episode as they talk about normalizing language, digging deep into internal work, and how to discuss our identities in a school setting.

Power in Self-Education with Dana Stachowiak Jun 14, 2020

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Kate and Maggie are joined by Dana Stachowiak in today's episode for a wide-ranging conversation about LGBTQ+ identity in education. They discuss those formative moments when we find the words to match our identity, how coming out is a constant process, and how meaningful and important it is to self-educate.

Dana M. Stachowiak, Ph.D., is the Director of the Gender Studies and Research Center and an associate professor of Curriculum Studies for Equity in Education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Dana is also a literacy consultant with The Educator Collaborative, where she helps to lead much of the social justice and equity work. Prior to her work in academia, Dana was an elementary and middle school literacy teacher and coach in North Carolina. Dana has researched, published, and spoken on trans/gender equity in education, healing centered engagement, social justice and equity education, and literacy curriculum development.

Learning from our Students with Arhm Wild May 24, 2020

Show notes

Welcome to season two of Beyond the Letters!

To kick things off, Kate and Maggie talk with guest Arhm Wild about supporting and learning from our students. They consider questions like, how can schools support their LGBTQ+ students when resources are limited? How does centering LGBTQ+ students benefit everyone? And how can teachers and school administrators communicate with hesitant parents?

Arhm Choi Wild is the author of “Cut to Bloom,” a poetry collection published by Write Bloody Publishing in 2020. They have worked as an educator in New York City for the last 7 years, and is currently working as the Director of the Progressive Teaching Institute and Diversity Coordinator at a school in the Bronx. They hold a MFA in Poetry and a MS in Education and was named a finalist for the Jake Adam York Prize in 2019. Their work appears in The Queer Movement Anthology of Literatures, Barrow Street, The Massachusetts Review, Split this Rock, Hyphen, Foglifter, Lantern Review, F(r)iction, and other publications. They live in Brooklyn with their wife and 11 year old dog.

Living Openly with M. Colleen Cruz Jun 30, 2019

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This week on Beyond the Letters, Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts speak with M. Colleen Cruz about living openly and authentically, and the result of including queer topics and texts in daily curriculum, classroom libraries, and discussions. Colleen was a classroom teacher in general education and inclusive settings before joining the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project where she is Director of Innovation.

The Power of Representation and Inclusive Curriculum with Harper B. Keenan Jun 27, 2019

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This week on Beyond the Letters, Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts speak with Harper B. Keenan about the importance of having queer representation in our schools, and the great impact that inclusive curriculum can have. Harper currently serves as the Robert Quartermain Professor of Gender & Sexuality Research in Education within the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. He is the founder of the Trans Educators Network, a community building group aimed at supporting trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming Pre-K-12 educators in the United States and Canada.

Living Authentically with Shamari Reid Jun 20, 2019

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This week on Beyond the Letters, Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts speak with Shamari Reid about doing the personal work that leads to fostering safe and inclusive spaces. Shamari is a doctoral candidate in the department of curriculum and teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. Currently, he is engaged in his dissertation work which explores the agency of Black LGBTQ+ youth in New York City.

Bringing Theory to Practice with Cody Miller Jun 13, 2019

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This week on Beyond the Letters, Kate and Maggie speak with Cody Miller about approachable strategies for bringing theory into practice when it comes to celebrating and supporting LGBTQ+ students. Cody has taught high school English for the past seven years. In addition to teaching, he has developed and lead professional development for teachers on a range of topics including LGBTQ-affirming pedagogies. Read his full bio below!If this is your first time listening to Beyond the Letters, be sure to check out the preview episode!

Being a Stronger Ally with shea martin Jun 06, 2019

Show notes

This week on Beyond the Letters, Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts speak with shea martin about the big impact that small moves can make when it comes to supporting LGBTQ+ students, what it means to be an ally, and more! shea is a lit teacher, consultant, and researcher whose work is rooted in antiracist pedagogy, intersectional feminism, and creating liberatory learning structures for BIPOC students.* As a note to our listeners, please be advised that there is a brief mention of suicide in this episode.

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