By Tara Goldstein and Austen Koecher

As the end of the academic semester comes to a close we'd like to share the project's accomplishments with our followers.

This semester we welcomed our collaborator Dr. Manal Hamzeh from the New Mexico State University to the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and to our project.  Dr. Hamzeh worked with Tara, Austen and Pam around the development of our methodology for the project. We specifically focused on looking at "intersectionality as method".  Working with intersectionality as method means thinking about the ways our own simultaneous, multiple identities interact with our interview work and our interview analysis work.  It also means thinking about the ways our participants' simultaneous, multiple identities impact on their experiences in schools.  


The team also did a lot of reading about other studies that have examined the experiences of LGBTQ families in schools (see our project bibliography in the Resources section of this website) and began to analyse the four pilot interviews we undertook earlier this year.

All the best for a safe and happy holiday season.
Tara and Austen

By: Tarra Joshi

         As this semester comes to a close, I thought I would take the time to reflect on my experience as a Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student. So far, I have immensely enjoyed working on this project with the research team. I feel that this opportunity is going to prepare me for not only the rest of my undergraduate degree, but also graduate school and the professional world.

         The ROP students have been given two assignments so far. The first is an annotated bibliography that identifies the thesis and key ideas of each reading that the group studies, and then to come up with critical questions about the readings. I have found this to be a very valuable exercise, as sometimes it is so easy to forget to ask yourself what exactly the purpose of a reading is, or to question certain aspects of it. I plan to use this skill, and this framework for future courses and readings.

         The second assignment that we are working on is a verbatim transcription of one of our preliminary interviews. After having spent countless hours listening and re-listening to one of the interviews, I have developed a thorough understanding of the participant, her experiences, and opinions on the experiences of LGBTQ families in public school. I look forward to beginning the analysis of the transcripts in the new year. I am learning how important the phrasing of questions are in interviews, and that they can inadvertently affect the participant’s response.

         Overall, I have had a very positive experience on this research team so far, and consider myself very fortunate to work along side such inspiring people.