I came across an article that included great tips on the topic of gender equity in the classroom. I found the tips to be really helpful and universal, and could really be modified to use at any grade level.
"As teachers, it is important for us to understand the shifting pressures affecting this generation of
students if our efforts are to be relevant to them. Our attempts to promote standards of equality may
seem awkward to students for whom the gender roles of the past have new meaning, and are adopted
or rejected for different reasons than our own. Even the remedies at our disposal may seem as
patronizing to these students as the paternalism that we intended them to replace." (p.1)
"Strategies of inclusion for the contemporary classroom:
1. Assume nothing about your students with regard to gender, treat them equally, but make an
effort to respect their differences.
2. Observe the gender dynamics in your classroom, especially at the beginning of the class. Know
your students individually, their attitudes and the reasons for their silences and respond
accordingly:
3. Create an invitation to speak by offering a range of encouraging responses. If there are reticent
women in the class, the sense that there is an invitation to speak without being put on the spot can
be a strong inducement to participate.
To create openings for reticent women, you might try to:
4. Avoid the temptation to call only on the most talkative students. Appreciate aggressive women as
you would aggressive men, but be aware of the effects that each has on others and the group.
5. Do not allow the same students to dominate every discussion. Break up gendered monopolies by
eliciting responses from others.
6. Encourage women who seem to be at a disadvantage by virtue of culture or training: who expect
to be interrupted, doubt their own authority or frame their comments as questions. But be ready to
credit intelligent observation and engaged listening among them as a distinctive kind of
participation.
7. Resist the temptation to respond to inquiring tones of voice as if they were questions. Instead of
answering, try to identify and credit the comment within a question.
8. Don't call on women to the exclusion of men. Students tend to resent a new favoritism as much
as the old.
Suggested Reading and Reference:
Tips for Teachers
"As teachers, it is important for us to understand the shifting pressures affecting this generation of
students if our efforts are to be relevant to them. Our attempts to promote standards of equality may
seem awkward to students for whom the gender roles of the past have new meaning, and are adopted
or rejected for different reasons than our own. Even the remedies at our disposal may seem as
patronizing to these students as the paternalism that we intended them to replace." (p.1)
"Strategies of inclusion for the contemporary classroom:
1. Assume nothing about your students with regard to gender, treat them equally, but make an
effort to respect their differences.
2. Observe the gender dynamics in your classroom, especially at the beginning of the class. Know
your students individually, their attitudes and the reasons for their silences and respond
accordingly:
- If they are quiet but engaged, an encouraging gesture may be all that is needed to include them.
- If they are being intimidated or interrupted by others in the class, your protective intervention may be called for in a way that gives them strength.
- If they are alienated or hesitant by nature, find ways to show that you are especially interested in what they have to say.
3. Create an invitation to speak by offering a range of encouraging responses. If there are reticent
women in the class, the sense that there is an invitation to speak without being put on the spot can
be a strong inducement to participate.
To create openings for reticent women, you might try to:
- Ask students all to take turns at presenting material.
- Assign them to small groups or supportive pairs to solve a problem.
- Give students time to answer and be sure to indicate that you are paying as much attention to the hesitant ones as to others.
- Credit a quiet student by making her the expert of the moment.
- Refer back to the comment of a quiet woman to make it a pillar of discussion.
- Refer to a silent student's written work in an affirming way.
- Avoid interruptions. Your own impulse to complete your students' thoughts for them, or that of other students may discourage quiet students.
- Resist filling every uncomfortable pause with your own voice.
4. Avoid the temptation to call only on the most talkative students. Appreciate aggressive women as
you would aggressive men, but be aware of the effects that each has on others and the group.
5. Do not allow the same students to dominate every discussion. Break up gendered monopolies by
eliciting responses from others.
6. Encourage women who seem to be at a disadvantage by virtue of culture or training: who expect
to be interrupted, doubt their own authority or frame their comments as questions. But be ready to
credit intelligent observation and engaged listening among them as a distinctive kind of
participation.
7. Resist the temptation to respond to inquiring tones of voice as if they were questions. Instead of
answering, try to identify and credit the comment within a question.
8. Don't call on women to the exclusion of men. Students tend to resent a new favoritism as much
as the old.
Suggested Reading and Reference:
Tips for Teachers
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