**Note: I use language in this post that enforces a gender binary because that is how my students seem to act and interact, but I recognize that gender is not a binary, and that there may be students that do not identify within a gender binary who I am overlooking. I hope this is not the case, but I apologize for any discomfort my repetitive use of the terms of “boys” and “girls” may cause.

Gender-related behavior has been noticeable since I first arrived at Prairie Creek. The first day Trina and I arrived, the girls immediately started talking to us. A couple boys spoke with us throughout the day, but the girls were much more likely to approach us. They showed more interest in sharing with us, and in general seem more comfortable with us. I also noticed the first day in the classroom that the students tend to play in gendered groups – there is a group of boys who play football, and groups of girls who play on the playground or do other activities (not football). Not every student follows these norms, but in general students definitely appear to self-identify and interact within a gender binary.

When I visited on Wednesday of this week there were other things related to gender that I noticed as well. The first thing that happened when I arrived after lunch was a “birthday circle” for Ravi, who was turning nine the next day (there was no school the next two days so they celebrated on Wednesday). A birthday circle was where they sang to Ravi and also went around the circle with each student saying something they like or appreciate about Ravi. While they did this, Molly (the teacher) also wanted them to work on their social conversation skills such as looking at Ravi when they were complimenting him. I noticed that the boys (Ravi’s peers, who he spends more of his time with) had much more trouble looking at Ravi when talking to him than the girls did. Furthermore, the boys tended to say short comments like “I like you because you’re a good friend,” while some of the girls had much longer and more complex comments such as “I like that like to learn from other people and are happy for other people to teach you things if you don’t know them.” This was very interesting to me that already at age 7-9 the boys seemed to have more trouble showing affection than the girls did, even for someone who identifies as the same gender.

Later that day, there was another culminating event that the Robins, a 4/5 class, were putting on. It was about orienteering, so groups got compasses and went to different stations to learn how to use them or how to build a fire etc. There were a couple things that I noticed throughout this activity that had to do with gender. Firstly, the Egrets (my class of 2/3’s) were paired with the Doves (a K/1 class) to go through the stations. There were two Egrets each paired with Two doves. It seemed like Molly grouped the Egrets by friends, which meant they were generally separated by gender. The only pair of mixed gender was a group of three which had two boys and a girl. This was an interesting choice because it could have been an opportunity to encourage students to work with others they don’t often work with. However, it also makes sense to me that Molly paired students with people they are very comfortable with and therefore are likely to work well with, because this is a situation where they will be models and leaders for their K/1 buddies. Furthermore, I noticed that when they were paired with their Dove buddies (who also seemed to be split by gender/friend pairs), they were often put into mixed gender groups. So two Egret boys with two Dove girls, or vice versa. I think this was an interesting way to mix gender, but am also curious about how power dynamics might have played out in these groups. I wonder if it would have felt more equal (but maybe been less cohesive?) to have mixed-gender pairs within classes, instead of only between them. While I don’t see Molly enforcing any gender regimes, I also have not explicitly noticed her encouraging students to break gender rolls.

Another interesting tendency that I noticed was when students would group themselves by a gender binary. For example, at one station the Robins who were presenting were getting ready to send the group off to explore with their compasses. They didn’t realize that the Egrets and Doves were already split into groups, and wanted to break the large group up into smaller groups for the activities. One of them started to say “Okay, let’s do this half and this half …”, but another Robin cut in saying “Wait no, why don’t we do boys and girls” (there were 5 girls and 4 boys). The other Robins quickly agreed and they started to break the group up by gender before an adult said that they already had buddy groups assigned.

Lastly, I noticed an interesting theme in the adults during this activity. Most of the teachers and helpers at Prairie Creek are females. The director is male and there is one new male teacher and another male helper, but that’s it. During the Robin’s event, it was only female adults who were wandering around keeping an eye on things. But I didn’t notice this until I got to the fire station and suddenly realized there were two male adults there, and no female adults. Why is it that only men are at the fire station? This does seem to play into classic gender rolls of women being caretakers and men being the leaders in the more high-risk station.

Hence, both students and teachers at Prairie Creek seem to embrace a gender binary. Gender norms are evident in student and teacher interactions, but are not explicitly encouraged by Molly, who tries hard to treat people evenly across genders. I think my own gender identity as a woman has influenced the way I experience spaces throughout my education. I grew up in a household of 3 men and 3 women, so I was used to being around multiple genders. I have also always had close friends of different genders. However, I remember feeling uncomfortable when people would comment on my existence in spaces that were traditionally dominated by men. For example, my twin sister and I used to play football and basketball with the boys in elementary school. I don’t think I thought very explicitly about gender roles until I was in my upper years of high school, but looking back gender definitely affected my comfort level in different spaces at school, both in the classroom and outside of it.

One last thing I’ll mention was that I appreciated the flexibility that Molly demonstrated with her lesson plan on Wednesday. We had about 15 minutes between activities, and she had something planned. However, it suddenly started pouring and the rain outside was grabbing all the students’ attention. So, Molly smoothly transitioned into giving them the option to 1. Listen to and watch the rain outside, 2. Get a piece of paper and draw the rain, or 3. Get a piece of paper and write about the rain. Rather than trying to force students to pay attention to something that no longer interested them, Molly allowed students to follow their own interests in a classroom activity that still helped them practice various skills they were working on. I appreciated her ability to read her students and adapt to different contexts as they came up.