Kevin Jennings (1) (1963–)

Overall, a compelling collection about the experiences of LGBT educators as they negotiate their identities, manage the competing needs of job security and personal happiness, and advocate for themselves and the children they work with. (Since my wife and I both work at a preschool, this issue is near and dear to our hearts.) People wondering whether it's safe to be fully themselves should be heartened by most of these essays, which are honest about both the downsides (dealing with bigoted show more administrators and upset parents) and upsides (supporting students and feeling supported by co-workers and students ) of coming out of the closet. I say most because a couple of the pieces don't talk about identity/work in the same way; I feel like they were included just to help the book meet its stated mission of being more diverse. And I felt irritated by the guidance counselor who wrote about wanting the atmosphere at his school to get better, but doesn't want to be the first one to be out at his school. Hopefully he will read the rest of the book and decide to emulate the rest of the writers in being a role model and making things easier for those that come after him. show less

This is the third "One Teacher in Ten" collection of essays by LGBT educators edited by Kevin Jennings. This collection aims to include more diversity and to demonstrate the issues that come up in dealing with a new generation of students, parents, and administrators.
The most moving parts of the essays describe interactions with students. Most of the teachers have a good sense of which students are "different" and are longing for an adult role model. There are poignant accounts of teachers show more being closeted early in their careers, and later regretting not being that role model that students could have benefited from (e.g. the essays by Andrea Fazel and Steven Benoit).
This book demonstrates progress, but also problems that still exist. There are still plenty of schools with administrators who resist LGBT acceptance. Some of the writers discuss dealing with being both LGBT and a person of color (e.g. Deidre Cuffee-Gray and Ashok Reddy).
This book can be an inspiration to LGBT educators. But I hope it is also read by anyone who cares about education, for the insights it provides on the needs of students and how those needs can be better met when the school environment welcomes LGBT people. show less

I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program. This is the third book in what has become a series, as every ten years they make a new collection of essays to hear about the current status of GLBT educators. This edition worked extra hard to be more diverse in its population of contributors, and indeed had people of color and trans people, and of locations across the US as well as some from other countries. There was a mix of private, charter, and public schools, show more though I would have liked to see more plain old public schools. Overall, as a gay educator myself I did find people in here I could identify with, but I also wished for more depth. With some of the stories I couldn't quite tell how they were chosen, although in some cases, I think it is just good for the public to know the types of private battles going on behind the scenes for some teachers, and how the need to keep those battles private can hurt people. This book also well illustrates the challenges GLBT teachers face in trying to be supportive of queer kids without being accused of "recruiting". There were incredible stories of bravery, where teachers pushed themselves out of the closet because they knew they would save lives by doing it, and there were heartbreaking stories of teachers losing friends and jobs by coming out. It was nice to see how many teachers were pleasantly surprised to find out they were accepted, and to realize that they no longer had to live under the stress and burden of being in the closet. We'll probably want another of these books in ten years, and we do have a ways to go, but we also have come a long way. show less

A great assemblage of the recollections and experiences of educators from all across the spectrum of sexual diversity, including intersectional aspects of racial diversity, age, and a variety of types of educational institutions (public, private, rural, urban, etc.). Clustered into groups showing the best of what progress has been made in the decades since the original edition came out, to more nuanced stories of continuing conflict, to hard stories of where the struggle continues. As show more another reviewer noted, the most affecting and poignant stories are those of teacher/student interaction, and those give me hope when I read this. show less