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The Cranes are a pretty evenly split class between girls and boys, and I can tell that Nancy tries to divide them into mixed gender groups, especially in their work crews–typically two boys and two girls, and it rotates each week. Throughout my time at Prairie Creek, I have noticed some gendered behavior. If someone is goofing off, interrupting the teachers, or not listening, it is one of the boys (I am going to use the terms “boys” and “girls,” even though this may not be the case as I do not know how each of the students identifies; this is just the simplest way to write about what I have witnessed and assumed). Generally, it is the same few boys who have trouble focusing in class; one of the good things about Prairie Creek, though, is the fact that they get to go outside. Even just as a transition between activities, getting to run around for five minutes outside helps the students, especially the high-energy boys, get their energy out.
On Wednesday, it was storming, so the students had to stay in the classroom for recess. They had “choice time” where they could do whatever they wanted for that 30 minutes. I was curious to see who would play with who and what activities they would choose. Immediately, some of the girls began doing crafts and drawing, and some of the boys played a board game. After witnessing this, I assumed that most of the activities were going to be gendered, but as I looked around, everyone else was mixed together in different games, books, and crafts. There did not seem to be any clear gender “regimes” in the classroom; while there were some groupings such as the board game by gender, no one seemed to give much thought to it, indicating to me that there are not any gendered expectations in the class. I have not heard any of the students make comments about gender or actively avoid playing with students of the other gender.
From what I have noticed, Nancy tries to mix up partners and groups so that the students are paired with people who they do not usually hang out with, which often means someone of the opposite gender, since the students seem to usually hang out with those of their same gender. In my experiences in education, I usually stuck to those of my own gender; a lot of that was probably because I was a quiet, lower energy student who didn’t love being around those who were loud and obnoxious in the classroom. Now, I have no issue with being in a group of guys, and frankly, I sometimes enjoy it more, but that was not always the case. Also, when thinking back on my educational experiences, I am often reminded of how the majority of my teachers were women. I wonder how this impacted me as I learned and grew, and what other implications this has in education. I notice this is true at Prairie Creek, as well; I have met many more women teachers than men.
Something that was interesting about my time with the Cranes on Wednesday was how bad their problem-solving skills were. Nancy noticed, too, and talked to them about it at the end of the morning. After she had given them instructions for work time (the students were supposed to find sticks, work on writing stories, and cut up vegetables for boiling later–a busy set of activities for the morning), many of the kids had trouble deciding on what sticks to use, how to cut the paper bags for their books, or where to locate the scissors, among other things. When they didn’t know what to do, they immediately ran over to Nancy and asked her what to do, when in reality, they could have asked their other classmates for help. It was evident that the students are not used to using their classmates as resources, since last year provided them with a lot of individual attention as they were distanced or at home with their parents. I am interested to see if these problem-solving skills improve over the course of the term.
Here is a photo of the pavilion where the Cranes had work time on Wednesday!
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Hi Allegra,
I really enjoyed reading your post!
Your description of the lack of gendered groupings or expectations in class is interesting. My friend group and the friend group in my elementary and middle school classes are almost always grouped by gender. Children would say that the kid who often played with the other gender was weird (which was usually a girl playing with a group of boys – obviously, femininity in boys is even less acceptable than masculinity in girls). I don’t remember my teachers encouraging group work or play across gender either, although I also don’t recall them implicitly or explicitly discouraging it. However, I wondered how the teacher at Prairie Creek reacts to the boys who are interrupting, having high energy, or having trouble focusing and how she reacts to girls who occasionally display this kind of behavior. Would she still interact with the students in a somehow gendered way? (If I were in the situation, I might only respond to girls who do this kind of thing because it’s rare and thus perhaps “more serious.”)
I also agree with you that most of the teachers in my education experience are female. And among them, three of the five teachers I formed some sort of close tie to are female (and four of them teach language arts, which is disproportionately taught by female teachers anyway). However, I remember my mom consciously trying to find afterschool programs taught by male teachers for my sister and me. She told us that because we met so many female teachers at school, she wanted us to be exposed to some qualities that male teachers were usually better at. Although I have some objections to her reasoning, she did help me get in touch with slightly more male teachers and understood that men could be teachers!
Shaw
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