This is a really interesting article to me, but it also gets me defensive right off the bat. Issues of gender inequality of any type makes me really uneasy. It is not that I cannot recognize that there are inherent differences between masculinity and femininity. However, those two things are both just constructs and I get very nervous about making sweeping prescriptions to boys vs girls based on the differences on masculine people vs. feminine people. I think this another instance where binary thinking on the matter really sells the issue short. Some boys are feminine and some girls are masculine. Furthermore some boys are both and some girls are both. This article and many others show that there are a lot of differences between male and female learners. I would be really interested to talk to outliers in these studies. The little boys who thrive in the classroom settings and the little girls who cannot seem to pay attention unless her body is engaged in active learning. These types of folks whose gender and sex are not aligned might suffer from sex divided classes.
Chandler elementary has a male and female class for its gifted and talented students. This article seems to be endorsing including indoor/outdoor activities for mixed classes. I agree that that may be a better way of addressing gender differences in learning than actual class separation.
Comment to Ken: I envy the kids in your class next year. They don't know how lucky they will be to get a revived and inspired teacher. Are there some good green spaces for you take your class at the school you were teaching at? Do you think you might take some grief from your administrators for wanting to be outside more, or will they be supportive?
Comment to Amy: The nature vs nurture thing is too tightly tangled to ever figure out. I gave up on that one a long time ago when I stopped trying to figure out what happens to us when we die or what animals think about. I know a lot of parents who try to encourage their children to be more gender neutral. They give their children trucks and dolls and blue and pink clothing regardless of their genders. Then they sit back and watch their daughters become princesses and their boys gun-slinging dump truck operators. Sort of makes you wonder doesn't it...
Sounds like the tension pulling on the polar opposites, from Parker Palmer. I wonder if he has reflected on and then written on this topic?
ReplyDeleteThere are many schools across the country that have separated classes by gender. Some with good results. Separating classes by gender allows girls to be girls and boys to be boys, or so the thinking goes. I think there is no definitive answer except everyone learns differently, so teach differently...
Matt, I do like your teaching style of incorporating a hodge-podge if you will of techniques. Thought of you today when I was shopping and saw a sticky hand in the toy aisle! It seems to me that so much of school is learning how to socialize and the rules change with every year and every grade. There is a certain point when boys and girls are trying to figure out how to relate to one another as they change and that can be a distraction more so than teaching style. As a kid who felt like a trapped animal throughout her grade school years, I must say that I would have benefitted from learning in the out of doors. But, that may not always be the case, as Sara pointed out, it wasn't working for her.
ReplyDeleteThe answer you are seeking Carli is Jello! I was given this information by an elderly friend of mine and I think it applies here. Seriously though, I agree that the nature nurture thing is something that can never be conclusively figured out and I too have witnessed well meaning parents try to be gender neutral only to have the same results as other parents.
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