1. Developing a Collaborative Classroom
Gender and Sexual Orientation
Chapter 10
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
 ©2012 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

2. Rationale for Collaborative Teaching and Learning
An interdependent world requires that we learn to live cooperatively.
Competition for natural resources is counterproductive.
Thirty years of research demonstrates that girls (and probably boys) learn more effectively when cooperation is the norm.

3. Characteristics of a Collaborative Classroom
Both competitive and collaborative approaches are present.
Teachers, students, other school personnel, parents, and members of the community work together to plan and implement instructional goals.
Lessons are integrated.
Interest in home-school collaboration is high; parents are viewed as “first teachers.”
Students cooperate with one another in planning their activities.

4. Pedagogies: Old and New
Collaborative work in schools is not new: think about teams, choirs, plays. In collaborative classrooms, this kind of work is applied to the formal curriculum.
In collaborative classrooms, the instructional mode is cooperative learning.
Positive goal interdependence: individuals share the same group goals, and members of the group are accountable to one another.
Task specialization (assigning a specific subtask to each member of a group) effective ensures that all students contribute significantly.

5. Roles: Old and New
The teacher often acts as a coach, rather than an expert.
Students may serve as coaches as well.
Parents, grandparents, and other community members often serve as instructors.
Adults and students use a partnership model of teaching and learning.

6. Place of Content Knowledge: Old and New
Because teachers and students collaborate, content is often interdisciplinary.
Learning (and teaching) serve a variety of purposes.
Students are better able to make connections between areas of knowledge.

7. Assessment: Old and New
Assessment techniques should be compatible with instructional strategies.
Assessment of collaborative work should measure performance over time (e.g., with portfolios or other demonstrations of both individual and group problem-solving ability).

8. Perspectives on Gender Identity
The development of one’s sense of identity—the knowledge that one is separate from parents and family—begins early.
A critical part of identity development, beginning at least at birth, is gender.
Identification in terms of sex begins at about 18 months of age—“I am a girl,” “I am a boy.”
However, while sex is a biological characteristic, gender is a social one—what it means to be a boy or girl in any given society; what the rules are.

9. Gender Role Socialization
The process of learning one’s gender role can be described in three parts:
The child learns to distinguish between men and women, boys and girls, and to know what kinds of behavior are characteristic of each;
The child learns to express appropriate gender role preferences for himself or herself;
The child learns to behave in accordance with gender role standards.

10. Gender Role Socialization
Parents:
Boys handled more roughly, girls get more verbal attention
Boys given more freedom to explore; girls kept closer to supervising parent
Girls get more help in solving problems; boys told to “figure it out”
Parents’ approval of “appropriate” gender behavior shapes the behavior of children

11. Other Socializing Agents
Television
Children’s books
Children’s toys
Nursery rhymes, religious stories
Proverbs and sayings

12. Masculine and Feminine Behavior
It is also the case that this society favors the active, the adventuresome, and the aggressive, and that these traits are largely associated with boys.
Boys are socialized much earlier to gender role behavior than are girls.
Boys are also punished more harshly than girls for deviation from norms of gender role.
Consider the relative meaning of the terms “tomboy” and “sissy.” Which has a more negative connotation? At what ages can these terms commonly be applied?

13. Perspectives on Gender and Schooling
Schools as socializing agents
Schools have an important socializing function for middle-class norms.
Among those norms are those for gender roles.
While these norms are changing, sanctions still operate when boys and girls move too far from the norms for each.

14. Gender Stereotypes in School
For boys: independent, strong, logical, direct, adventurous, and aggressive
For girls: passive, weak, illogical, indirect, gentle, and emotional
These traits, while they can be exhibited by either sex, are genderized in favor of one or the other.

15. Social Factors That Enforce Male and Female Stereotypes
Misogyny—the denigration or hatred of women
Homophobia—the fear of homosexuality and homosexuals
In both cases, the assumption is that feminine qualities are less valued, even contemptible.

16. Some Further Definitions
Sex Role Stereotyping: when specific behaviors, abilities, interests and values are attributed to one sex or the other
Sex Bias: behavior that results from an underlying belief in sex role stereotypes
Sex Discrimination: any action that denies opportunities, privileges, or rewards on the basis of sex

17. Gender as an Issue of Legal Equity in Schools
Title IX, Educational Amendments (1972) “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
Grove City v. Bell (1984)—Supreme Court agrees that schools that do not receive direct federal funds can be excluded from Title IX
Civil Rights Restoration Act (1988)—overrode Bell; required all education institutions receiving any federal funds (e.g., student loans) must comply with Title IX

18. Other Important Court Cases
Other cases have been brought on issues of sexual harassment; the results have been mixed in adult-on-student cases:
Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools (1992)—petitioners may claim punitive damages under Title IX when intent to evade compliance is established
Gebser and Mccullough v. Lago Vista Independent School District (1997)—denied compensatory damages from both the teacher involved and the school district
The first successful student-on-student harassment case was decided in 1995:
Doe v. Petaluma Unified School District (1995)—plaintiff was awarded punitive damages of $250,000

19. Where We Are Now
New interest in the education of boys as well as girls
New issues of concern:
Single-sex education (of both boys and girls), particularly in math and science
Use of technology
New interest in socialization of boys to gender role, particularly with respect to violence, decreasing academic achievement, increasing numbers of boys on medication for hyperactivity disorders

20. Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality
Sexual activity among teenagers is lower than 10 or 15 years ago, but is still very high; the U.S. has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the industrialized world.
Among the most difficult problems facing teachers and students is the relationship between heterosexual and homosexual students.
Public awareness about homophobia has increased, due largely to gay and lesbian activism and the tragedy of AIDS.

21. Tolerance is also complicated by gender-related issues involved:
Yet, cognitive knowledge about homosexuality often fails to neutralize deep-seated attitudes of anger and guilt that accompany the issue.
Tolerance is also complicated by gender-related issues involved:
Hostility and violence are more often directed toward gay men than toward lesbian women.
Losing jobs or being evicted from housing is a more common problem for lesbians.

22. Teachers Can Decrease Levels of Homophobia: Suggestions
Make no assumptions about sexuality (e.g., use gender-free language).
Have something gay-related in your office, to identify yourself as a safe person to talk to
Support, normalize, and validate student's feelings about their sexuality.
Do not advise "coming out" to parents and family.
Guarantee confidentiality with students.
Challenge homophobia.
Combat heterosexism in your classroom.
Learn about and refer to community organizations.
Encourage school administrators to adopt and enforce anti-discrimination policies.
Provide role models.

23. Ethical Issues
The degree to which all students are encouraged to be open, reflective, and critical thinkers
The degree to which open inquiry may place students at odds with their families or the community
The degree to which the role of the school is seen as one which helps all students to understand, appreciate, and negotiate differences—of gender and sexuality as well as of other characteristics