Viewing Guide by Phyllis Lerner and David Sadker
WGBY 57 Springfield, MA

The viewing guide is based on the non-broadcast version of Gender Equity in the Classroom. This version includes complete replays of the FAIR elementary and middle school scenes. Some of the activities mentioned in the guide will not pertain to the version aired on Massachusetts Educational Media.

A printer-friendly version is available in PDF format. (This requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
(If you already have the Acrobat Reader, please make sure you have version 3 or later!)

Information on ordering the video tape of Gender Equity in the Classroom is available online.

---

Viewer Audience: Educators K-12, Pre-service Programs, Staff Development
Program Length: 1 hour

Introduction

While the past few decades have seen an improvement in the treatment of females in classroom methods and curricular materials, it would be premature to declare victory and dismiss issues of gender bias. Today, our girls and boys remain the victims of gender stereotypes in text and resource materials. They are also victims of unintended or sexist behaviors by educators. Often teachers reflect varied expectations for children, based on a student’s gender, class, race and ethnicity.

Most teachers care deeply about the youngsters in their rooms. They are confident that they treat all their students the same. However, many teachers who analyze their own attitudes and behaviors, discover the subtle and pervasive nature of gender inequity in the classroom.

This program is one tool for that self-observation, analysis and reflection. The program is based around three scripted classroom scenes, each demonstrating significant gender bias. The scenes are then rewritten to show more equitable and effective teaching. This viewing guide provides suggestions on how to effectively use the video in staff development or education classes. At the end of the guide, you will find key background information and additional resources to better prepare you to teach gender equity issues.

Viewing Preparation

• Preview the video and review several of the support materials in the resource section at the end of this guide.
  
  
• At several points in the video, you will see a graphic: "STOP TAPE". Plan to use these pauses for conversation and activities so that the viewer is engaged and the content(subtle and overt) encourages interaction. You may want to pause the tape for discussion after the content summaries (recapped at the end of this guide) that appear on "chalkboards" during the program. Feel free to stop the video at other points you feel necessary or use only appropriate sections of the video if your audience already has some knowledge of the issues.



• Be prepared for questions about your school’s policies and practices regarding Title IX (1972) of the Education Amendments which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs. Discussion may range from gender segregated lines in the hallways to gender dominated classes in math, science, technology, fine arts or special education.
  
  
• Conversations about diversity (sexism, racism and similar topics) reflect personal, as well as professional, experiences. Meaningful discussions are too often avoided with denial ("I treat everyone the same;" "I don't see color when I see my students.") or resistance ("It's the boys who are the victims, not the girls.").Facilitators are encouraged to skillfully expand meaningful conversations or guide participants towards classroom expectations and interactions. The classroom is where our beliefs and actions must reinforce achievement for all students.
  
  
• If your VCR has a minutes/seconds counter, make sure the tape is rewound and reset the counter. The times referred to below give approximate starting times for each segment.

Pre-Viewing Activity

Before beginning the video, have your students take five minutes to write down an answer and discuss the following question:

Discussion following this activity often reveals unconscious and unintended expectations or internalized and affirming understandings of gender equity. In any case, the quality of the discussion can help faculty and staff understand the potency of gender bias by focusing on how they have been personally affected (or not) by it.

Viewing Activities & Program Overview

(note: times refer to approximate starting times of each segment)

Post-Viewing Activity

In order to bring equity and effectiveness to the classroom (and therefore greater achievement to students), it is important to analysize how issues of bias have been a part of one’s own past and present. Then, it will be possible to overcome bias in the future.

Integrating gender equity research with education is an ongoing and difficult task. Doing it well, for one’s students, will require vigilant diagnosis, persistent positive actions and collegial support. The final tasks are suggested as beginning steps in a commitment to teach with fairness.

Conduct a brief discussion of the following questions:

• Regarding the experiences of females and males in schools, how are things different today then when you were a K-12 student?
• How are things different for males and females on your campus, than at other schools?
• What might your students say when asked the same questions?
• How have you experienced gender bias in work or school environment?
• Help colleagues begin to develop action plans towards a more equitable and effective classroom climate.
• What have you already done to overcome gender bias in the classroom and curriculum?
• As a result of the program and interactions, what will you do within the next two weeks?
• What will you do within the next year?
• What additional information and support do you need from our learning community?
• What further questions do you have?

Content Summaries

Student/Teacher Interaction

Wait Time
Allow 3-5 seconds before calling on or responding to a student

Teacher Expectations
Hold high expectations for all students

Quality of Feedback
Use precise, clear feedback and distribute it fairly.

Lesson Planning/Classroom Management

Cooperative Groups

• Assign students to groups
• Establish ground rules for participation
• Require job rotation

Learned Helplessness

• Avoid Short-circuiting students

Curriculum

FORMS OF CURRICULAR BIAS

• Invisibility: certain groups are underrepresented or omitted
• Stereotyping: assigning rigid often traditional roles
• Imbalance: presenting only one interpretation of a people’s history or culture
• Unreality: glossing over the problems that plague our society
• Linguistic: using masculine terms instead of gender neutral terms
• Fragmentation: isolating issues related to females and people of color from the main content of the curriculum
• Cosmetic: creating a superficial impression that equality is present

Concluding Teacher Tips

Student/Teacher Interactions

• Allow 4-5 seconds of wait time
• Hold high expectations of students
• Use quality feedback, distribute it fairly
• Analyze interactions with students
• Videotape a lesson

Lesson Planning/Management

• Allow students to learn tasks themselves
• Assign students to groups
• Establish rules for participation
• Rotate jobs within each group
• Apply classroom rules fairly
• Create a safe classroom environment

Curriculum

• Use gender inclusive language
• Encourage students to take higher level courses
• Analyze curricular materials for bias and supplement as needed
• Diversity classroom resources

Key Findings 1

The typical classroom can be divided into three groups:

Salient students: Typically, only one or two students receiving twice or three times their fare share of attention (both positive and negative behaviors can create a salient student).
Silent students: These students have no interactions with the teachers and become passive spectators (about 20% of the typical class).
Nominal students: Typically, interact once, or at best, twice with the teacher. They are nominally participating.

Usually males receive more teacher questions than females.

Males are also more likely to call out or act out, demanding and receiving teacher attention.

Segregated seating patterns reinforce unequal teacher attention. About half of America’s classrooms are characterized by gender segregated classrooms.

Boys are more likely to be called up to the front of the room to do demonstrations (e.g. science demonstrations).

Boys are more likely to be disciplined than girls, even when the misbehavior is identical.

Girls are more likely to be praised for the appearance and neatness of their work.

Teachers are more likely to offer boys specific feedback on their work–including praise, criticism and remediation.

Boys are more likely to receive attributions to effort and ability, teacher comments giving them confidence that success and competence is simply a matter of applying themselves. Girls are often told, "It’s okay, as long as you try."

School textbooks and supplemental resource materials tend to be filled with male protagonists and stories. Teachers suggest that boys will not be interested in the lives or experiences of girls; males are the fathers of our history; it’s hard to find sources of curriculum that are inclusive. These beliefs fuel curriculum bias and reinforces gender disparities.

1 For a comprehensive summary of this research, see Failing at Fairness: How Our Schools Cheat Girls. New York: Sadker, M. and Sadker, D. (1995). Touchstone Press; David Sadker, "Gender Equity: Still Knocking at the Classroom Door," Educational Leadership, Vol.56. No.7, April 1999; Myra Sadker, David Sadker, and Susan Klein, "The Issues of Gender Bias in Elementary and Secondary Education," The Review of Research in Education, Vol. 17, No. 7, 1991.

Additional Resources

RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS

American Association Of University Women
111 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-785-7700
Email: info@mail.AAUW.org

CURRICULAR MATERIALS

National Women's History Project
Director: Molly MacGregor
7738 Bell Road
Windsor, CA 95492
707-838-6000
Email: NWHP@aol.com

Women's Educational Equity Act
Director: Katherine Hanson
Equity Resource Center
EDC 55 Chapel St.
Newton, MA 02158
617-969-7100
Email: katherinh@edu.org

VIDEOS

Dateline
NBC News Audience Services
PO Box 2284
S. Burlington, VT 05407
800-420-2626
Failing in Fairness Part 1 and 2

MD Statewide Equity Resource Center
University of Maryland
J.M. Patterson Bldg, Rm 3106
College Park, MD 20742-2211
301-405-7367
Equity in Education
Email: drhart@wam.umd.edu

PROJECTS

Myra Sadker Advocates
Suite 300, 1401 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852
301-738-7113
www.sadker.org