How Students View Gender Equity in the Classroom

As previously stated, it is important for students to feel that the classroom is a safe and fair environment.  The students need to feel like they can be themselves if they are going to be high achievers.  The issue of gender is long-standing in education and is not going to go away any time soon.  The issue is: are students of either gender treated fairly?  A study was done to examine the way students felt about this issue, to see how they perceive the level of gender equity in the classroom.

What the study determined is that teachers bring in their own beliefs to the classroom and let them color the way they teach.  The study found that teachers see boys as lower-achieving students and girls as higher-achieving students.  “Boys are perceived as a problem, while girls are increasingly being constructed as the ideal student. Teachers speak of boys dominating their teaching time and attention within the classroom,” (Myhill & Jones, 2006).

The students seemed to believe that the way the students were treated was based on how the students did in a particular subject, based on gender stereotypes.  One student, Sarah, said “Sometimes in science the boys will be treated better because they know more about it, or in say art, girls can do better art and they like get better treated,” (Myhill & Jones, 2006).  She seems to believe that the way teachers treat their students and their levels of achievement seems to be in direct relationship to their academic expectations determined by gender.

Another thing the students seemed to agree on was that teachers were more lenient on the girls. A student, Lucy, made the observation that “Some teachers are really sexist…they will tell off a boy just like that, but girls not so easily,” (Myhill & Jones, 2006), and Natasha seems to agree with her in that “teachers do tend to be lighter on girls…I think it’s because they think that girls are more sensitive, and therefore can break down in tears or something,” (Myhill & Jones, 2006).

Boys tended to be more blunt in their answers when asked about unfair treatment in the classroom.  “Abraham claims that ‘boys are given the hard end and girls are normally given the lenient end,’ while Alex complains that his teacher ‘tells us off more and she makes us do everything last, like after the girls’,” (Myhill & Jones, 2006).

The lesson from this article is obvious: students are more perceptive than teachers think they are.  Teachers must treat their students equally, even if coming in with any kind of a bias (which they really should not be, anyway).  If students begin to think they are being treated unfairly, they will start to think differently of the teacher and, as stated in previous posts, it is important what the students think of their teacher.

Myhill, D., & Jones, S. (2006). "She Doesn't Shout at No Girls": Pupils' Perceptions of Gender Equity in the Classroom. Cambridge Journal of Education. 36(1), 99-113.

Can Teachers Motivate Students to Learn?

As I have stated before, and can guarantee I will state again, having a prosocial classroom climate is of the utmost importance to teachers who want to be effective.  Before I get into the article I will be discussing today, I wanted to bring up this graphic model I found on another article. It shows the best way to go about developing a prosocial classroom and, as you can see, “Teachers’ Social/Emotional Competence and Well-being,” “Effective Classroom Management,” “Healthy Classroom Climate,” and “Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Outcomes” are all centrally important. 

The prosocial classroom: A model of teacher social and emotional competence and classroom and student outcomes.

Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The Prosocial Classroom: Teacher Social and Emotional Competence in Relation to Student and Classroom Outcomes. Review of Educational Research. 79(1), 491-525.

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It is well known that student motivation is integral in their academic success.  Is it the teacher’s job to motivate students to learn? Is that even possible?  “This study aimed to make a contribution to this line of research by examining the relative importance of teachers’ instructional behavior and efficacy beliefs to explain variation in student motivation,” (Thoonen, Sleegers, Peetsma, & Oort, 2011).  Working under the assumption that the way in which teachers create learning environments to suit their students’ specific needs and interests would positively affect different aspects of the motivation of their students, the authors “used psychological theories on motivation and current conceptions of learning and instruction to identify several elements of a supportive learning environment that affect students’ motivation to learn,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).  

Students’ Motivation to Learn

Goal orientation is important to a students’ motivation.  It affects how students experience learning tasks and the meaning given to learning opportunities.  “Students with a mastery goal orientation have learning goals focused on the development of competence or task mastery,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).  These students will view school as a challenge and this is what causes the student to focus on the task at hand.”Mastery orientation is positively related to perceptions of academic efficacy…and leads to an increase in self-regulated learning and higher achievement,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).

Performance avoidance orientation refers to the student avoiding unfavorable judgments on their ability level. “A performance-avoidance orientation is focused on avoiding showing incompetence, and this avoidance orientation is viewed as evoking processes that are antithetical to the intrinsic motivation construct,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).  It has been suggested in research that students with the performance avoidance orientation have reduced opportunities to expand knowledge.

Intrinsic motivation refers to a student doing a task or assignment simply for the enjoyment of doing it.  The will to do the assignment comes from within, not from outside factors.  Extrinsic motivation refers to a student doing a task or assignment because they will get a desirable outcome from it.

Students’ Motivation and Teachers’ Teaching

Research in recent years has shown that an increase in students’ self-regulation has positive effects on their motivation and performance. A model that fosters self-regulated learning is called process-oriented instruction. 

“Process-oriented instruction implies that the external control of the learning process by teachers shift gradually to an internal control over the learning process by students themselves.  Furthermore, teachers using process-oriented instruction focus on knowledge building in the domain (subject-area), pay attention to emotional aspects of learning and treat learning process and results as social phenomena (Bolhuis 2003). Performaing process-oriented instruction facilitates independent learning, supports students to become proficient learners and prepares them for lifelong learning,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).

Cooperative learning also influences student outcomes.  Motivational and learning perspectives form the theoretical basis of cooperative learning.  “Drawing on motivational theories, it is assumed that positive interdependence (cooperation) is based on intrinsic motivation and interaction which encourage and facilitate learners’ efforts,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).  This potentially results in positive relationships, psychological well-being, and high academic achievement.

So can teachers really motivate students to learn?

Simply put, yes and no.  Students already possess determining factors of their motivational levels.  Some students are intrinsically motivated, while others are motivated extrinsically. Some students are motivationally goal oriented while others exhibit performance avoidance characteristics.  There are things that teachers can do, however, to foster students’ motivation such as developing self-regulation and employing cooperative learning techniques.  Motivation levels are not simply due to students’ intrinsic levels, but also rely on the teachers’ techniques.

Thoonen, E. E. J., Sleegers, P. J. C., Peetsma, T. T. D., & Oort, F. J. (2011). Can Teachers Motivate Students to Learn? Educational Studies. 37(3), 345-360.

Developing a Positive Classroom Climate and Building Relationships with Students

One of the most important aspects of classroom management is the classroom climate and relationships you build with your students.  A plethora of research has been done on the positive effects of building prosocial relationships with students in the classroom.  “Teachers must ‘win their students’ hearts while getting inside their students’ heads’ (Wolk, 2003 p.14). As Haberman (1995) suggested, this winning of the hearts occurs through very personal interactions, one student at a time,” (Beaty-O’Ferrall, Green, & Hanna, 2010). 

Teachers who have these personal, meaningful relationships with their students experience less behavioral problems and better academic performance in the classroom. It may seem difficult to promote these prosocial relationship and yet maintain the classroom climate and continue teaching effectively, but Beaty-O’Ferrall et al. provide techniques that have already been adapted for teachers in order to make education more effective (2010).

One of the most effective ways to build a relationship with a student is to simply get to know more about them. There might be something in their life that is affecting the way they perform academically, and you might have just chalked this up to being lazy or ill-prepared.  “Teachers who adopt a relationship-building approach to classroom management by focusing on developing the whole person are more likely to help students develop positive, socially-appropriate behaviors,” (Beaty-O’Ferrall et al., 2010).  

Some general suggestions for building positive student-teacher relationships include gentle interventions, making time to bond with the student, relying more on reinforcing positive behavior than punishment for negative behavior, and giving lessons and activities that ensure success for all students.  These strategies are fine and dandy for some students, but we must continuously think of students as individuals, not as a group, and realize that each student has individual needs.  A teacher must employ other strategies when dealing with more difficult students. These strategies include, but are not limited to:

• ­Building empathy – People in education tend to view empathy is a largely misunderstood concept, often seen as simple affection or caring. While this is true, it is also much more than that. “Adler (1956) defined empathy as ‘seeing with the eyes of another, hearing with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another,” (Beaty-O’Ferrall et al., 2010).  The end result of empathy should be that the student feels heard and understood.

• Admiring negative attitudes and behaviors – I’m sure you read this bullet point and immediately started to question my sanity.  I assure you, this is a researched and tested method “based on a well established area of research called ‘positive psychology’ (Seligman, 1999). This approach looks upon negative student behavior as a skill he or she has been practicing and refining for many years,” (Beaty-O’Ferrall et al., 2010).  Since most of these skills get their start within the students’ family, it is only expected that they will come with the students to the school setting. Beat-O’Ferrall et al. gives the example of a student who has only been effective by manipulating to get her needs met in her family, so of course, she would bring this skill to school to get her needs met there as well.  “Rather than engage in a power struggle with such a student, a teacher should acknowledge the skill that the student has worked so hard to develop—and then redirect it,” (Beaty-O’Ferrall et al., 2010).  Teachers can take these skills and direct them in a way the student can further her academic progress.  Channel that manipulation into a positive method.

These are only two of the many ways a teacher can build positive relationship with difficult students, thus producing a positive classroom climate.  The one thing that you should get out of this post, however, is that RELATIONSHIPS ARE IMPORTANT TO STUDENTS.  How they feel about you as a teacher and as a person can greatly affect how they perform in your classroom.

Beaty-O'Ferrall, M. E., Green, A., & Hanna, F. (2010). Classroom Management Strategies for Difficult Students: Promoting Change through Relationships. Middle School Journal. 41(4), 4-11.

Why is Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Important?

Culturally responsive classroom management (CRCM) is an imperative concept student teachers must master or at least begin to understand by the time they enter the classroom.  In our elementary and secondary schools, more than one third of students are children of color, one fifth of the students live in poverty, and almost one tenth of them are LEP (Limited English Proficiency) students (Weinstein, Tomlinson-Clarke, & Curran, 2004).  “In sharp contrast, our teaching force remains overwhelmingly White, middle class, and monolingual English (Ladson-Billings, 2001),” (Weinstein et al., 2004). 

Without understanding where our students are coming from culturally, the already difficult task of classroom management will become exacerbated.  When teachers come from a different background than their students, it is more likely that they will see more conflicts and differences in expectations of appropriate behavior, (Weinstein et al., 2004).  According to Weinstein et al. (2004), there are five components essential to CRCM:

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• Recognition of one’s own ethnocentrism and biases

• Knowledge of students’ cultural background

• Understanding of the broader social, economic, and political context of our educational system

• Ability and willingness to use culturally appropriate classroom management strategies

• Commitment to building caring classroom communities

In order to become culturally responsive classroom managers, we must recognize our own biases and values.  The sooner we can recognize these, the sooner we will realize how they shape our behavior expectations and daily interactions with our students.  “[Culturally responsive classroom managers] recognize that the ultimate goal of classroom management is not to achieve compliance or control but to provide all students with equitable opportunities for learning…They understand that CRCM is classroom management in the service of social justice,” (Weinstein et al., 2004).  

Part of managing a productive classroom environment with an ethnically diverse population of students is to create a safe classroom climate which will, in turn, help our students develop awareness of ethnocentrism.  We must also realize, and portray to our students, that “the categories by which we classify people are constantly evolving, overlapping, mixing—even opposing each other (Scholl, 2001).  Identity is not a ‘fixed essence lying unchanged outside history and culture’ (Hall 1989, p.72); rather, identity construction is an ongoing, lifelong process,” (Weinstein et al., 2004).

Because social identity is so fluid, we must also understand the links between power and differences in race, social class, gender, language background, and sexual orientation.  The varied practices of school (e.g. rigid tracking, unevenly distributed resources, standardized testing) can single out groups of students and make them feel superior while unintentionally demeaning or separating others (Weinstein et al., 2004).  Another way some students are being profiled by gender or race is to examine the ways that “current practices and policies may reinforce institutional discrimination,” (Weinstein et al., 2004).  This can be determined by realizing which children are being disciplined most often.  Once we recognize this, we can determine which behaviors we regard as needing disciplinary action.

In sum, we can reflect on the ways our specific classroom management strategies promote or obstruct equal access to learning.  This requires awareness of assumptions we may take for granted, knowledge of our students’ cultural backgrounds, and understanding of the broader context (Weinstein et al., 2004).  “This is an ongoing, possibly uncomfortable process, in which cultural diversity becomes a lens through which we view the tasks of classroom management,” (Weinstein et al., 2004).

Weinstein, Carol S., Tomlinson-Clarke, Saundra, & Curran, Mary (2004). Toward a Conception of Culturally Responsive Classroom Management. Journal of Teacher Education, 55(1), 25-38.

Blogging on Classroom Management

An effective classroom management style is the backbone to any successful teacher’s classroom.  Teachers have been employing many different theories in their own classrooms for ages, and some are more successful than others.  I am going to read peer-reviewed articles on different methods and ideas related to classroom management before dissecting them; I will agree with some and disagree with others.  

As a current student seeking an undergraduate degree in Secondary English Education, it is important that I learn about the different styles and theories of classroom management.  I want to learn as much about as many of these theories as possible before I get into the classroom and put them to use in my own classroom management style.  

The only experience I have with classroom management comes from my mother who has been an elementary school teacher for longer than I have been alive.  She has her own opinions, but they do not apply to middle and high school, grade levels I intend to teach.  I have observed some high school classes and obviously attended four years at my own high school, but other than that I do not have much experience in the classroom.  This blog is going to help me foster my own classroom management style by choosing and tweaking bits and pieces of others’ theories.  

I personally believe that students learn the most when they are free to be creative and make discoveries on their own.  The strict, rigid learning style of authoritarians works for some, but not all.   As a whole, I believe students (especially middle and high school students) need to discover the world on their own and they will, in turn, discover more about themselves as people.  Classical education had its day, but I think it is time to start employing more flexible methods of instruction, and this is already being implemented in some schools.  But who knows, maybe after I start reading some of these articles, I will change that view!

“It is a fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little planet, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail.” – Albert Einstein