Gender Equality in the Classroom

Identify 5 or more differences between male and female students in the way that they approach learning.       

There are several differences regarding male and female students when considering learning styles.  From an early age, parents are told to engage in mutual gazing with their infant as it was thought necessary for proper development. As it turns out, this is more important to female infants that to male infants (Source 2) and how a child optimally develops depends on their gender until the age of 5.  although the implications that gender have on girls and boys learning styles do exist, the environment and culture can have a greater influence beyond infancy in childrens' lives and into adulthood.

(A)One of the first differences that I wan to mention are the general cognitive styles that female and male students have: Males students tend to be analytic thinkers and achieve through competition. Whereas females tend to be "global thinkers" (or field dependent) They tend to achieve through prompting (notes) and benefit from coaching.

(B)Female student will tend to understand the dynamics of cooperative learning more than male students do. Females are better at understanding the social codes that is required in this type of teaching method. Males focus on getting the job done and doing it well, they may feel themselves in competition with the other groups in the class.(source 1)

(C) Males tend to be right brain dominant. This makes boys more prone to using deductive reasoning more than female students to and could be the reason why male students typically do better on test that require visual/spatial orientation.  Contrarily, females tend to be left brain dominant: they are ore prone to using inductive reasoning and perform better on test that require linguistic ability. (notes)

(D) Another difference than many teachers will agree to is that female students are more talkative that male. Female students will often be he ones passing notes and talking during a class (when they should be listening).  This could be due to the fact that generally, female students tend to develop verbal skills (grammar, vocabulary, spelling) more quickly than male students do. Female students will be more fluent than male students and will be quick for words. This is another reason why they can take more advantage of the benefits of cooperative learning. (source 1) 

(E) It seems that female students tend to do better in school during the early years in most subjects. However, as they get older, males tend to have a better grasp on symbolic texts, diagrams and graphs. Males seem more prone to understanding coded text whereas females prefer written texts (source  1) 

(F) Male students seem to be more dependent on visual images to understand text than females, making them more effective as visual learners. Also, it has been discovered that male students have better vision under bright light. This knowledge could be of good use to a teacher when she has to plan seating arrangements and place students at an effective distance from visual aides.

Analyze how teachers may reinforce stereotypical gender behavior in the classroom. Explain which teacher responses to students are most supportive of learning. Explain how these responses differ for boys and girls.   

Stereotypical behaviors are reinforced in the classroom not only by the teacher but by the material the teacher uses in her class. In general, teachers reinforce "appropriate" gender behavior by rewarding girls when they are quite, compliant and helpful.  Male students on the other hand are rewarded for being assertive and take risks.  Although risk taking in  the classroom is encouraged to every students, male student are more rewarded (source 3).

In general, students that are most likely to dominate the classroom are white males. When these target students cannot answer a question, teachers tend to ask simpler questions (source 3).  This practice reinforces white male dominance because teachers are using these target students to gauge the academic potential of the classroom. 

Furthermore, African American girls use assertive behavior in their socializing patterns.  When they use this assertiveness in the classroom and ask questions without being called on, is sometimes views as "unladylike".

Here are some teacher responses that I think will create a supportive environment for girls and boys equally.

1. Teachers must hold every student to the same standards. Every student has to try to reach their academic potential.  

2. Teachers should not only treat students equally, but treat them justly by providing g the additional assistance any students may need to be able to reach their potential though additional instruction and addressing different learning styles and intelligence.

3. Teachers should pay close attention t the stereotypes students bring to the classroom from outside the classroom and teach students to challenge them with real life examples.

4. Teachers should remind their students that many men and women have fought for many of the right that they may take for granted today, and integrate the struggle for equity into their lessons.

Teachers can also curb the stereotypes that give way to gender inequality in their classroom by responding to students with teaching techniques and strategies. Here I mention a few that I would implement in my classroom and that I feel that teachers use to be supportive of learning in the classroom

1. Implement mixed gender classroom activities and cooperative projects: Inside the classroom a teacher can plan activities and assign group roles to students.  When girls and boys have to work together, they will tend to assign the more "female roles" like not taking, cleaning up, and presentations  to the girls and the more "hands - on" tasks to the boys. (textbook reference). Girls and boys approach and can carry out the same activities but in very different ways; by implementing and rewarding non-traditional roles in classroom activities, both male and female students can be discovered academic potentials and can erase misconception.

2. Shattering Stereotypes in the classroom: Students are aware of the gender stereotypes that are encouraged in their community through observing their parent and other adults, and also the media.  Both male and female teachers can take on these, often misleading, stereotypes in their classroom encouraging and rewarding their students to take on tasks that challenge not only their academic ability but also their gender "comfort zone".  I feel that this can create a scene of gender awareness, and allow students to explore themselves and discover new abilities. 

3. Self-reflection on Biases: We all come with a set of stereotype reinforced throughout or lives. However, as teachers we have to reflect on the biases that we have been conditioned with and challenge them so that every student can reach their academic potential, regardless of a stereotype. Most importantly of all we have to teach our students to do the same. We must teach them that despite the social demands on gender in the world around us today, tomorrow will be different. They have to prepare themselves to live in a society that has resulted from today's struggle for equality and justice for everyone.

Unfortunately, not all of us, particularly males are encouraged to be ourselves and an individuals behavior is often countered by society's idea of gender identity.  This can influence the attitude make students have in the classroom when the values we teach them conflict with what their father tells them at home.   As with may aspects of K-12 education, parental support is imperative.  We must ask parents to challenge their gender biases to so the can prepare their children for life in a society 20 years from now. 

Today, society seeks to encourage girls to enter male dominant fields of study and this trend has been on the rise.  However, male students often suffer from loss of prestige when they enter fields that are traditionally female, and can suffer from discrimination if they choose to follow different gender roles.


Sources

(1)http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/llog/Hodgins1.

(2) Brizendine M.D ,J "The Female Brain" pp15 (http://books.google.com/books?id=dGfQ2TMB1lIC&lpg=PA15&ots=pXJkv-Bz4X&dq=mutual%20gazing%20girls%20vs%20boys&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q&f=false) Google Books
(3) http://www.education.com/reference/article/gender-role-stereotyping/ 
(3a)American Association of University Women Educational Foundation (AAUW). (1993). Hostile hallways: The AAUW survey on sexual harassment in America's schools. Washington, DC: Author. 
(3b)American Association of University Women Educational Foundation (AAUW). (1998). Gender gaps: Where schools still fail our children. Washington, DC: Author.
(3c)Scantlebury, K. (2006). Gender. In K. Tobin (Ed.), Teaching and learning science: A handbook (pp. 201–206). Praeger Publishing.