ASSIGNMENT | Understanding diverse abilities

Please read and answer questions at the end-

Gender and sex are related but different terms. A person\’s sex is determined by the biological characteristics that make a person either female or male, such as genes, hormones, and organs. Gender, which is a human-made construct, pertains to the roles assigned to human beings based on a society\’s expectations of what are considered appropriate roles for men and women. For example, that women who are good mothers stay at home to raise their children and men who are good fathers go to work to support their families.

From a very early age, young children are socialized at home, school, and in society. Often, there is pressure for children to conform and perform to gender roles seen as either feminine or masculine. For instance, boys who cry or verbally express their emotions may be seen as effeminate or weak by their parents, peers, and teachers who might expect them to suppress their emotions. Often, adults such as parents and teachers may unconsciously perpetuate gender bias by holding different expectations about how female versus male students are supposed to behave and learn in the classroom. Due to the continued prevalence of gendered expectations in American society, many children and youth begin internalizing the notion that there are specific boundaries and limitations that they must confine themselves to when they make major life decisions pertaining to educational pursuits, marriage, and work. Teachers who promote gender equity in the classroom must therefore accept two seemingly contradictory points: while there are times when gender should not be used as the basis to make decisions about a student s abilities and educational needs, there are times when teachers need to acknowledge how gender shapes classroom interactions and students identity development.

In order to promote gender equity in the classroom, teachers must:

Use Gender-Neutral Language: In many formal and informal social settings, there is a tendency for many people, including teachers, to use androcentric language (i.e., masculine-centric language – policeman instead of police officer, mankind instead of humanity, etc.). Teachers must make a conscious effort to use gender-neutral language. For instance, rather than making a statement such as Natural disasters still puzzle mankind, the multiculturally competent teacher who promotes gender equity would replace mankind with a more inclusive word such as humanity or us.

Challenge Gender Stereotypes: Societal expectations may lead students to believe that there are clear-cut feminine versus masculine roles that they must conform to, and that any deviation from prescribed gender expectations is problematic or even wrong. Consequently, children often act and behave in ways to conform to gender stereotypes to avoid marginalization or social ostracism. For instance, a boy who truly aspires to be a nurse when he grows up may be seen as letting his family down for choosing a feminine profession, and given that women s work has been historically devalued, he may seek out a career as a carpenter or engineer (which are both historically male-dominated professions).

Teachers must make a conscious effort to avoid labeling students or making assumptions about academic abilities based on their gender, or themselves perpetuating gender stereotypes that would lead their students to think that they are only limited to certain professions because of their gender. For instance, a young girl who aspires to be an engineer should be fully supported by her teachers rather than discouraged from pursuing her dream due to the belief that women do not have the ability to succeed in this profession. Teachers must also immediately step in to address any biased or insensitive comments made by other students about gender stereotypes, even if the remarks seem insignificant or minute.

Adapt Instructional Style to Meet Needs of Students Regardless of Gender: Teachers must adapt their instructional style to meet the varied needs of all students, and take care not to make any assumptions about students abilities or needs based on gender. However, teachers must realize the power of societal expectations and influences on behavior and communication preferences, and understand that gender may play a role in terms of how students interact with each other and their peers. For instance, if a male math teacher who teaches Advanced Placement Calculus in a predominantly male class finds that his female students rarely offer information when he poses a question to the class, he should think about what role gender might be playing into the silence. The teacher might reflect on whether he is nonverbally or verbally communicating different messages to his female versus male students. As an example, he might reflect on whether he is calling more on male versus female students, and if the above is true, adapt his instructional style to more equitably include all participants.
——————————————————————————

Case Study Discussion Post 8

Mr. Nguyen teaches second grade at Westlake Elementary School. He has planned for an interactive activity where all of the students will share information about themselves and their families. The central goal is for students to think about what they want to be when they grow up, and eventually, he wants his students to make a short picture book about their aspirations after verbally sharing their plans with the rest of the class.

Mr. Nguyen starts the conversation by sharing his own childhood dream growing up. He explains that he came to the United States with his family from Vietnam over thirty years ago because they were running away from bombs and a war zone. Upon coming to America, Mr. Nguyen\’s father worked as a garbage collector and his mother worked as a factory worker at a cereal plant. Growing up, Mr. Nguyen had a second-grade teacher, Mrs. Arroyo, a kind woman who made him love learning, and who always treated his parents as if they were her own neighbors. Even though Mr. Nguyen s parents could not speak English, Mrs. Arroyo took the time to personally invite them to school events such as musicals and plays and talk to them whenever she saw them. As seven-year-old child, Mr. Nguyen determined that his lifelong dream was to teach second graders. Now, he tells his class, his wish came true: he is now their second-grade teacher.

Next, Mr. Nguyen asks the students to sit in a circle, and tells the group that each student will share a picture of her or his guardians/parents. Michelle Long starts off the conversation by saying that she and her sister live with their mother, who is a firefighter. She holds up a picture of a tall woman with curly red hair wearing her firefighter s uniform. In the picture, Michelle s mother is standing on the fire truck with six men; it is clear that she is the only woman on the team. Michelle beams, and says that when she grows up, she wants to be a firefighter just like her mother.

Jacob Hart raises his hand, and says that there is no way that Michelle s mother could be a fireman. The other students nod in agreement. Mr. Nguyen informs the class that women can be firefighters, just as men can be nurses or teachers. He gives the example of his own situation. Mr. Nguyen asks his students how many of them had a male teacher in preschool, kindergarten, or first grade. No students raise their hands. Mr. Nguyen asks the students how many of them were surprised to see him on the first day of school. Everyone raises her or his hand. Mr. Nguyen starts calling on students at random to start a discussion about why they were surprised to see him as their second-grade teacher. Patrick Gordon states that Mr. Nguyen looks different from the other teachers because he is Chinese. Mr. Nguyen thanks Patrick, and states that he is actually a Vietnamese American. He points to the world map on the wall to show them where China, Vietnam, and the United States are, and asks another student to circle Vietnam and the United States to show that he identifies as both American and Vietnamese. Next, he calls on Eva Logan, who says that she never had a boy teacher before. Mr. Nguyen thanks Eva, and states that yes, he is the only boy teacher in the entire school, but that he still cares about them as much as the other teachers.

At this point, Mr. Nguyen wants the other students to share their life dreams. Mr. Nguyen gives the following directions to his class. First, they must go with their first choice when deciding what they want to do for a career when they grow up. That is, if a boy decides he wants to be a ballerina or nurse or if a girl decides she wants to be a firefighter or football player, that both the boy and girl should be ready to share their dreams. Second, Mr. Nguyen states that nobody in the class is allowed to laugh at, make fun of, or question anyone else s choice because the goal is for everyone in class to support each other. He reminds the class that he himself is one of those exceptions to the rule as the only boy teacher in the entire school.

Respond to the following:

Evaluate how the teacher in this scenario (Mr. Nguyen) used gender-neutral language. If not, what could the teacher have done differently?

Evaluate how the teacher challenged gender stereotypes through his actions and words. If he did not, what could the teacher have done differently?

Did the teacher (Mr. Nguyen) adapt his instructional style to meet the needs of all students, regardless of gender? If not, what could the teacher have done differently?

SAMPLE SOLUTION

Understanding Diverse Abilities
How Mr. Nguyen Used Gender-Neutral Language?
Mr. Nguyen used gender-neutral language when he asks each student to share pictures of either of their parents or guardians. He does not refer to any specific gender and addresses both genders in his class using his or her (Vallmüür, 2016). Like Michelle, Mr. Nguyen uses the name ‘firefighter’ even when referring to women in that occupation….