Graphic Novels and War Books: Gender in the Classroom

[Logan Robinson]

One of the first things I noticed when I walked in to Mrs. McLaughlin’s fourth grade class was that the large majority of the class is female. Of the eighteen there are only four boys, which is really interesting in comparison to my experience in elementary school which erred more on the side of boys being the majority. Additionally, all four of the boys sit together in a little cluster which I suppose at their age makes them feel more like a unit and not out-casts. However, it does make the room seem even more gendered. I will say that despite being few and far between and clustered together, they don’t always stick together. I often see the boys partner with a girl instead of a fellow male student for group activities. The girls in the classroom do tend to be a little quieter than the boys and often more focused. The boys are often the ones I have to remind to stay on task particularly in individual activities like the computer program Lexia. They also tend to be more visibly rambunctious and energized than the girls, which may also have to do with the fact that I see them right after lunch and recess.

One example that I keep coming back to in my blog entries is the student’s book library and collection of books that they get to keep in their cubbies. Each kid has a wide variety of books that they have selected, some of which probably don’t fall under the stereotypical gender norm topic. After the daily twenty minute individual reading sessions, Mrs. McLaughlin asks the students to share something that went well or that they learned that day during reading time. One of the boys shared with the class that he picked out a book on D-Day which he was really enjoying. Mrs. McLaughlin excitedly remarked that she had been to Normandy and wanted to know if the student knew much about D-Day already, to which he replied yes since he had played World War 2 COD(call of duty). This definitely is an example of a typical “male” topic and his response the the question only furthered that. However, there is one girl in the class who loves to read graphic novels. This is certainly a genre that seems to have become much more popular than when I was in elementary school. With that it seems it has also become less gendered, as it was stereotypically more something a boy would read. While some of the graphic novels she reads are more female targeted, like the “Best Friends” series or a book on “Roller Girls”, there are others that she really enjoys that many of the boys in the class have read. One thing that I see often and really love is students exchanging book suggestions, which is how she got into a couple of the graphic novel series. To me this is definitely working towards rejecting the gender norms often highlighted in classrooms.

My experience with gender in school has been interesting as I have always tended to lean towards male friends. I grew up in a very sports centric family, and as a result sadly most of the females didn’t know or care much about sports or teams or players. This at times made me feel like a bit of an outcast which I have since become more comfortable with. In eighth grade my parents informed me that I they wanted me to look at going to a private school and suggested a variety of schools. A couple of those schools were all-girls to which I vehemently opposed, but of course I ended up choosing one as my high school. So, when it comes to gender an education I have a complicated relationship as many of my closest friends are still guys, but I loved my all-girls high school. The all-girls environment was a great community builder for me, but was at times a challenge. I often missed having males in the classroom, as I feel that they may offer a different perspective. On another note, I was also fortunate enough to have a wide variety of teachers, both male and female across all subjects, which definitely was very impactful.

In other updates about Mrs. McLauglin’s classroom I wanted to share an incident I mentioned on my midterm. A student while we were doing Lexia didn’t have her headphones on to listen to the prompts. Initially, I thought maybe she was on a section that didn’t require headphones or that she had special permission not to use them. However, shortly thereafter, the teacher called over to the student, asking where her headphones were. The student reluctantly got up and walked over to grab her headphones from her cubby. When she returned to uncoil them, the bottom piece fell off, to which she tried hopelessly to reattach and then slumped in her chair, tears starting to form. I said, “Oh! That’s alright. Are there extras anywhere?”. She replied with a shrug and anxiously looked around the classroom. The teacher was busy with another group of students, but I encouraged her to inform her when she was done with the group and, in the meantime, continue Lexia without the headphones. Finally, the teacher became available, and I again encouraged her to go talk to her. The student slowly walked over with her head down and told the teacher what had happened. The teacher exclaimed, “Oh no, thank you for telling me! Let’s get you a new pair!”. Shortly after, the student turned to me as she wiped a tear away and gave a relieved beginning of a smile. On my midterm I related this to Kohlberg, as I thought this was an interesting moral dilemma the student had which ended up being easily resolved, but caused much anxiety. I remember feeling this way when I was younger and had done something wrong. My stomach used to turn and I would feel sick, which is probably how she felt.

Another thing I wanted to share is just an observation. I only go in during English time, so I don’t get to spend much time observing math. But, the other day Mrs. McLaughlin asked me to remove some math problems from around the classroom. I was looking at them and noticed that they were about measurement and perimeters. In addition to the unit of measurement on the perimeter problems they also had a little man on them to show walking distance. I related this to the picture below from the classroom about US units of measurement. The usage of images and concrete examples, definitely is a Piagetian method for helping the students understand more advanced problems. Mrs. McLaughlin also encourages students to use their fingers or number lines on harder subtraction problems to help them physically visualize and comprehend the problem.

 

[Arlo Hettle]

Your response made me think about the role that the teacher has to encourage kids to explore a wide variety of interests in things like the choice of free reading materials. Teachers can choose to engage in gender stereotyping or recommend books to their students without keeping those things in mind. This is especially important because many children might be in home environments where they do not get to freely explore their interests. Some parents might be more traditional and only buy reading material for their children that fit into gender stereotypes. I hope that teachers are keeping this in mind and pushing themselves to think beyond stereotypes when recommending books to students.

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