Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Boys vs. Girls
After our discussion today, I have been thinking about gender issues in my pre-k music classes. Frankly, the girls really rule the roost at this age. ("Reviving Ophilia" is an interesting book about the phenomenon of girls' transition from being ahead of the boys developmentally through elementary school, then transforming to more passive adolescents and adults, generally scoring lower than males. Has anyone read this?) Anyway, in some activities, I divide the class into sections. Sometimes randomly, sometimes by gender. I wonder if I am unintentionally creating an issue by naming and separating the genders? Maybe there are children who would rather not be grouped or identified with their gender. Maybe grouping the sexes showcases strengths and weaknesses from which the children might form generalizations. Has anyone thought or dealt with this in their classroom?
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2 comments:
I wish for the life of me I could remember the name of the study but Dr. Abrahams has one that shows how, at younger ages, female students are called on more when asked questions. By the time the students enter high school males are called on more. A lot of the data is refelctive of how male students become more outgoing in high school, but it's interesting to see the data. It's also tough cause of our culture of "guys." Until I started making a conscious effort to notice and stop it, how so many teachers use the general term "guys" when addressing the entire class. It's enough to drive you crazy
I actually divide my chorus small group lesson classes into boys and girls. I find that it allows me to tailor my approach to their unique development in the middle school. When boys voices begin to change, it is much easier getting them to sing when they are among other boys than in front of the girls. Middle school girls can usually sing circles around the boys and love to flaunt that. Separating them for their small group lessons makes that less of a problem.
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