#15 - 'School' book summary

In the book that I am reading "Why Gender Matters", the chapter on school gives some very interesting strategies on teaching to gender. And how as teachers we need to be well versed in the language of the opposite gender. For example, the chapter mentions at how girls feel as though their male teachers yell at them. . .well biologically girls hear better than boys and as students have a tendency to sit in the front of the classroom to be a 'good' student. So where the male teacher may be projecting to those in the back of the classroom, to the girls up front it sounds as if he is screaming. The book offered a really cool solution. . .move the boys to the front(since they have a hard time hearing) and the girls to the back. Now I tried this in my classroom but set my room up where the desk were set up in quads and my desk was in the middle of the room. That way when I went to the board, (which is where I sat the boys) it didn't appear as if I was at the "front" of the room. The girls could hear me and I had the boys attention at all times because I was in the center when at my desk and close to them when I was at the board. I thought this was absolutely genius. I also didn't find myself repeating directions to the boys as much as I did before. (who knew)

Coed middle schools causes a lot of grief and leaves quite a few scars on students. Liking someone who doesn't like you back, kids making fun of your due to the ackwardness of growth spirts, and just the overall rage of hormones that overtake the body in this particular age bracket. By separating students by gender in their school setting will eliminate alot of the crazed questions that tend to go through the mind of middle schoolers and keep them focus on the task at hand which is their education. This model of education scales down on the ills of social behavior of students worrying if they belong to the 'wrong' clique. Instead students begin to worry if they are contributing to their community and question their responsibilities in it.

As parent, administrators, and educators continue the push for gender-based schools, especially in urban areas, professional development as to how to relate to students based on their gender is a temporary alternative. By making small changes in how we relate to our students we will see improvements in test as well as overall classroom performance. Cost will always be a factor in the world of education, but it is one that shouldn't cause us to compromise the success and growth of our students. With grant funding and reallocation of current professional developments focusing on gender-based learning should be a direction that education should be headed into.