It seems as if there is a gender bias in Julia's classroom. Not only is it present in the roles she assigns to students, but it is evident in her comments about the students as well. I was a bit disturbed when she tried to characterize her classroom by describing the "wonderful girls, retuning as sixth graders, who valued education and reading, and the immature boys, 'Nintendo freaks,' some bright but not productive in school." Because she has strong beliefs about the lack of power girls often experience, Julia tries to establish small groups where females act as leaders. This constant female leader role worried me a bit because in my own classroom, the girls tend to take on the leadership roles Walkerdine describe: "Girls are often positioned as mothers and teachers whose job it is to regulate the behavior of boys." Like Julia's students, many of my girls follow through with their agendas during peer-led discussions. This had me consider the questions above. Is there a correlation or pattern in the roles that boys and girls take on?
I agree Louisa that the girls tend to bemore organized, punctual and take more leadership roles in my class as well as with Julia's. I am just concerned that sometimes we can overlook an otherwise intelligent student who does not take on the more authoritative role.
I have been reconsidering what I value the most in my class lately, and have been more concerned with the final product than making sure all steps are completed. I have been finding that some of my students (many boys) resist the organizational approaches I set up, but many times do well on final assignments. I used to lower their grade for this reason, but this marking period, I am not taking off points and over-regualting if that is not thier style.
So, to answer the bigger question, I wonder if because I am a female the young girls will emulate my styles and methods while the boys are resistant because sometime they don't see me as someone the would want to model after? I don't know. Is it a nature issue or nurture?
Karen, you bring up such an interesting point. I imagine that part of what you are trying to teach your students is that big projects should be broken down into specific steps, and yes, they could just do the big final project, but if they do the steps along the way the final project may be richer. But now you are rethinking how to grade your students because so many of your boys don't complete the steps. It's such a tricky decision here-- you are trying to honor your students who may have a different learning style than you, but you're also trying to teach them how to organize and prepare for a big project-- which is crucial once they move to high school and beyond.
It seems that Julia really didn't take into account her different students' learning styles, and I wonder if you reacting against this.
I have no advice, but you really raise an interesting point here.
It seems as if there is a gender bias in Julia's classroom. Not only is it present in the roles she assigns to students, but it is evident in her comments about the students as well. I was a bit disturbed when she tried to characterize her classroom by describing the "wonderful girls, retuning as sixth graders, who valued education and reading, and the immature boys, 'Nintendo freaks,' some bright but not productive in school."
ReplyDeleteBecause she has strong beliefs about the lack of power girls often experience, Julia tries to establish small groups where females act as leaders. This constant female leader role worried me a bit because in my own classroom, the girls tend to take on the leadership roles Walkerdine describe: "Girls are often positioned as mothers and teachers whose job it is to regulate the behavior of boys." Like Julia's students, many of my girls follow through with their agendas during peer-led discussions. This had me consider the questions above. Is there a correlation or pattern in the roles that boys and girls take on?
I agree Louisa that the girls tend to bemore organized, punctual and take more leadership roles in my class as well as with Julia's. I am just concerned that sometimes we can overlook an otherwise intelligent student who does not take on the more authoritative role.
ReplyDeleteI have been reconsidering what I value the most in my class lately, and have been more concerned with the final product than making sure all steps are completed. I have been finding that some of my students (many boys) resist the organizational approaches I set up, but many times do well on final assignments. I used to lower their grade for this reason, but this marking period, I am not taking off points and over-regualting if that is not thier style.
So, to answer the bigger question, I wonder if because I am a female the young girls will emulate my styles and methods while the boys are resistant because sometime they don't see me as someone the would want to model after? I don't know. Is it a nature issue or nurture?
Karen, you bring up such an interesting point. I imagine that part of what you are trying to teach your students is that big projects should be broken down into specific steps, and yes, they could just do the big final project, but if they do the steps along the way the final project may be richer. But now you are rethinking how to grade your students because so many of your boys don't complete the steps. It's such a tricky decision here-- you are trying to honor your students who may have a different learning style than you, but you're also trying to teach them how to organize and prepare for a big project-- which is crucial once they move to high school and beyond.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Julia really didn't take into account her different students' learning styles, and I wonder if you reacting against this.
I have no advice, but you really raise an interesting point here.