Getting Ready for Benjamin

Reviews / Votes

This groundbreaking collection, written by preeminent educational scholars, theorists, and practitioners, will forever redefine how current and future generations of teachers, school administrators, and pre-service teacher educators view issues of sexual and gender diversity in overall teacher training programs and classroom pedagogy. It will help to end the often-deadening silence by setting a higher standard for the promotion of truly democratic schooling within a larger diverse society. Getting Ready for Benjamin will go a long way in helping our schools welcome not only Benjamin, but also Sally and Khyati, Carla and Kalman, Nehal, Dachia, Courtney, Bob, and Kenji, as well as all their many peers. -- Warren J. Blumenfeld, Editor, Homophobia: How We All Pay the Price Editor, International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies Getting Ready for Benjamin is a very important book that delivers an exquisite set of articles for an education practitioner at any level. Although a collection of articles, each is a delight to read and provides food for thought. This work is finely nuanced, clearly written, theoretically competent and should be a must for every teacher. I am grateful for the author for producing a book I can use in my education classes. -- Didi Khayatt, PhD, associate professor, faculty of Education, York University This book is an important addition to the growing literature on LGBT issues in education. Rita Kissen has crafted a timely, comprehensive, and practical anthology that should be required reading for all K-12 educators and Teacher Educators. -- Pat Griffin, University of Massachusetts First-person narratives along with more scholarly essays create an inclusive and highly readable book for use in teacher education courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. * Journal Of Gay & Lesbian Issues In Education * This volume pulls together persuasive research about the heterosexist knowledges that pervade the school and teacher education curriculums. It is a valuable resource for teachers who need to get ready for . . . children and adolescents of 'queer' families who will no doubt give their teachers a run for their money. * Teaching Education * This book represents a moment for which many of us in teacher education have been waiting. Here is an anthology that addresses the needs of teacher educators, pre-service teachers, teachers, administrators, counselors and school staff as we attempt to do more than discuss, debate, and/or defend and sympathize with victims of sex and gender prejudice. These scholars, some of the most informed in the field, have presented us with revealing analyses of school cultures and given us insightful prescriptions for teacher education as we work to further fair treatment of individual differences in ways that can create safe and democratic school learning environments. This is a very important contribution to our understanding of both what is and of what is possible. -- Glorianne M. Leck, Ph.D., professor emeritus at Youngstown State University and a past president of the American Educational Studies Association