11. Critical Self-Reflection and Teaching an LGBTQ+ Literature Course with Dr. Mollie Blackburn

How can we as teachers, researchers, and activists  make ourselves visible and vulnerable on the page? And what happens when we disagree with the past versions of ourselves that we encounter once we’ve committed our choices to writing?

These are some of the questions at the heart of our conversation with Dr. Mollie Blackburn. Mollie is a Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the Ohio State University. Her research focuses on literacy, language, and social change, with particular attention to LGBTQ+ youth and the teachers who serve them. Mollie’s also no stranger to Writing Projects like ours: She spent many years as an active member of the Philadelphia Writing Project, and she is a long-time member of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), where she was recently recognized with its inaugural LGBTQ+ Advocacy and Leadership Award. In her most recent book, Moving across Differences: How Students Engage LGBTQ+ Themes in a High School Literature Class, Mollie offers an unflinching portrait of her teaching and advocacy work with young folks. Today she offers insights gleaned from that work over the years and tells us how she’s learned to embrace humility and vulnerability as she continues to think and write about the very human exchange that is teaching and learning.

Teaching Writers Speak is a podcast developed by members of the Toronto Writing Project. The Toronto Writing Project—or TWP for short—is made up of teachers and researchers who view writing as a vehicle for change, both in our institutions and in the world at large. 

This episode was produced by Celeste Kirsh, Velta Douglas, and Ty Walkland. Celeste is our editor and Rob Simon, TWP’s director, is our executive producer. Our theme music is by Doug Freisen. 

You can learn more about the Toronto Writing Project, and sign up for our upcoming writing workshops and speakers series, by visiting www.torontowritingproject.com.