DOCTORAL DISSERTATION: To Do This Discussion Differently: Queering Teacher Professional Learning Through Comic Art and Graphic Stories

hicks, b. l. (2022). To Do This Discussion Differently: Queering Teacher Professional Learning Through Comic Art and Graphic Stories [Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto]. T-Space Doctoral Theses Repository.

OR: hicks, b. l. (2022). To do this Discussion Differently: Queering Teacher Professional Learning through Comic Art and Graphic Stories (Publication No. 29259174). Dissertations & Theses @ University of Toronto; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2741005505).

MASTERS THESIS:

ALL-WAYS in Transition: De-sensationalizing beliefs about trans identities in schooling through participatory action research

hicks, b. l. (2017). ALL-WAYS in Transition: De-sensationalizing beliefs about trans identities in schooling through participatory action research. [Masters Thesis, University of Toronto]. T-Space Repository.

OR : hicks, b. l. (2017). ALL-WAYS in Transition: De-sensationalizing beliefs about trans identities in schooling through participatory action research. (Publication No. 10624435) [Masters Thesis, University of Toronto]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing (1992164859).

hicks, b. l. (pending 2024). VISIBLE / VISIBiLity. In L. Diedrich & B. Martino (Eds.), Keywords and Keyimages in Graphic Medicine. Penn State University Press: Graphic Medicine.

hicks, b. l. (pending 2024). CARE. In L. Diedrich & B. Martino (Eds.), Keywords and Keyimages in Graphic Medicine. Penn State University Press: Graphic Medicine.

hicks, b. l., (2020). To Do This Discussion Differently: Drawing Queerness in Education. Research in the Teaching of English, 55(2), 187-190.

hicks, b. l., (2020). The Festival of Puberty. In Airton, L. & Woolley, S. (Eds.), How to Teach about Gender Diversity: Teacher-Tested Lesson Plans for K-12 Classrooms, Canadian Scholars Press, Toronto: Ontario.

hicks, b. l., (2020). On the Threshold of Awesomeness. In Airton, L. & Woolley, S. (Eds.), How to Teach about Gender Diversity: Teacher-Tested Lesson Plans for K-12 Classrooms, Canadian Scholars Press, Toronto: Ontario.

hicks, b. l., (2019). The Unicorn Glossary. In Goldstein, T., Teaching Sexuality and Gender at School: Letters to Teachers. Taylor and Francis.

hicks, b. l., (2017). Gracefully unexpected, deeply present and positively disruptive: Love and queerness in classroom community. In Linville, D. (Ed.), Queering Education: Pedagogy, Curriculum, Policy. Occasional Paper Series 37. Bank Street College of Education.

hicks, b. l., (2016). BEYOND THIS OR THAT: Challenging the Limits of Binary Language in Elementary Education Through Poetry, Word Art and Creative Book Making. In s.j. Miller (Ed.),Teaching, Affirming and Recognizing Trans and Gender Creative Youth: A queer literary framework. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.*American Educational Research Association (AERA), Division K,Exemplary Research Award winner.

hicks, b. l., & Goldstein, T. (2021). Naming and Renaming. In Goldstein, T. Our Children Are Your Students: LGBTQ Families Speak Out. Gorham, ME: Myers Education Press.

Goldstein, T., Salisbury, J., Baer, P., Koecher, A., hicks, b. l., Reid, K., Owis, B., Ga’al, E., and Walkland, T. (2021).  LGBTQ Family Advocacy at School.  Perspectives on Urban Education, 18(2).

The Addressing Injustices Collective: Simon, R., hicks, b. l., Walkland, T., Gallagher, B., Evis, S., Baer, P. (2019). “Breaking gender expectations as a whole”:  Adolescents’ critical rewriting of a trans young adult novel. In B. Guzzetti, J. Dunkerly-Bean, & T. Bean (Eds.), Gender Identities, Sexualities, and Literacies Across the Lifespan.New York, NY: Routledge.

Goldstein, T., Salisbury, J., hicks, b. l., Reid, K., Koecher, A., and Baer, P. (2018). Inviting Startling Empathy Through Performed Ethnography: A Queer(ed) Collective Research Project. In Gallagher, K. (Ed.) The Methodological Dilemma: Creative, Critical and Collaborative Approaches to Qualitative Research. New York, NY: Routledge.

Simon, R., hicks, b. l., Walkland, T., Gallagher, B., Evis, S., & Baer, P. (2018). "But in the end, you are all beautiful": Exploring Gender through Digital Composition. English Journal, 107(3), 39-46.

Goldstein, T., Koecher, A., Baer, P., & hicks, b. l., (2017). Transitioning in elementary school: Parent advocacy and teacher allyship. Teaching Education, 1-13.

FLOURISH: Community-Engaged Arts for Social Wellness (A Cluster of Scholarly Prominence) / Department of Health and Society, University of Toronto Scarborough.

QTPiE: Queer and Trans People in Education / University of Vermont

LGBTQ Families Speak Out / a video interview project / Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) , University of Toronto

OUT AT SCHOOL / a verbatim theatre project / Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) , University of Toronto

The Addressing Injustices Project / Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) , University of Toronto

Gender is Like an Ocean / documentary (2016). *watch on VIMEO with the password “music”

“Flourish” [Featured Interview]. UofT Scarborough Implements the UN Sustainable Development Goals, pp. 8-9 (2023)

EXCERPT:

benjamin lee hicks, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow and visual artist. Drawing on their experiences as an elementary school teacher and a queer/trans person working in Ontario schools, their research for FLOURISH focuses on how the arts can help deepen and personalize teacher professional learning so efforts towards equity and diversity education are more meaningful and sustainable for all school community members. “On paper and in policy, governments are always talking about the value of the arts and physical education in promoting good mental health,” says benjamin. “But when it comes to planning and funding for teacher towards 2SLGBTQ+ youth, many of whom are also racialized. FLOURISH researchers are collaborating with program participants to define what it means for young queer people to live in a state of wellness, how the arts might enhance aspects of wellness such as belonging and justice, and what resources they need to continue to develop and evolve. The arts have long been at the centre of community and social activities, allowing people to come together and share or explore things that they have in common,” says Charise. “One of our goals is to make a bigger argument for the profound importance of the arts. Is our idea of the arts limited to some nice hobbies to do on the weekends? Or is our society ready to support arts access as an integral, deeply entangled part of what it means to be well? ‘‘ education, these subjects aren’t given the time and resources they need, which gives the sense that they aren’t actually valued. “If you as a teacher truly want to be hearing stories and voices that aren’t usually heard in schools, then you need to become literate in forms of language other than traditional Eurocentric written practice, and those are the arts. You don’t need to be a practicing artist yourself, but you do need to be open to all the different ways your students might be capable of communicating creatively if given the opportunity.”

OUT AT SCHOOL Audio Play / podcast (2021)

gender-sexuality-school podcast / Season 1, Episode 8: Queer Visual Storytelling (2019)

gender-sexuality-school podcast / Season 1, Episode 3: Teaching about Gender in Middle School (2018)

scene / set illustrations for The Love Booth and Other Stories. *An archival / arts-based research project by Tara Goldstein, OISE/ University of Toronto.

hicks, b. l., (2021). (chapter illustrations for) This Is Our Family. In Goldstein, T. Our Children Are Your Students: LGBTQ Families Speak Out. Gorham, ME: Myers Education Press.

Isolation and Art Making, OCAD University, online art exhibit (2020)

all art work (on screen and promotional) for the 2017 documentary film, Gender is Like an Ocean

a love story / illustrated poem, self-published (2017)

FLOURISH : A visual map of our collective arts/research interests, activities and passions, for: flourishcollective.ca