From Chap. 8 in “Misleading Masculinity” by Thomas Newkirk
- -Practical ways for teaching literacy more appealing for children and broadening the literacy spectrum.
1.
Literacy instruction should be more open to
popular culture while not abandoning the established literature.
-
“A big room,” one that includes popular culture and
classical literature where children can merge the two in their writing.
2.
Allowing cartooning as serious business
-
Children should be allowed to draw cartoons for
visual storytelling.
-
Students can develop stories by drawing quick
rough sketches of key actions and tapping these to a large board (this is
called “telling board” and then developing these into a picture book.
-
This will develop drawing and oral storytelling
skills.
3.
Make room for obsession
-
Some degree of obsessiveness in writing is
essential for literacy development because when kids repeat themselves, they
are making innovations, which may not seem significant to teachers, but it’s
important to track down these innovations as teachers to improve their writing.
4.
Teachers must resist those forces that would narrow
the range of writing and reading allowed in schools
-
Teachers rely too much on rubrics and writing
instruction is tightly timed and lacking in any social interaction.
-
Rubrics predetermine the qualities of successful
writing, which don’t include traits that make writing appealing to children.
For some reason, I am unable to start a new discussion topic, so continuing with the remnant of the Gender discussion here.
ReplyDeleteA quote from the book:
"In the schoolroom, more than any other place, does the difference of sex, if there is any, needs to be forgotten" ~ Susan B. Anthony, 1856
This is a really old quote but it reminds us of the race-blind school officials and teachers we've talked about extensively in class. Now race is a social construct and the biological implications are close to zero. However, equivalent claims cannot be made about gender regarding the biological impact. I was toying with the idea of gender as a social construct and the book speaks to it from a variety of angles.
So, how do we reinforce these gender binaries on our kids, sometimes consciously and more than often unconsciously? Borrowing some examples from the book:
1. Many times teachers create groups of 'girls versus boys' in 'friendly competition' (beastly boys and gossipy girls is taking it too far). But if adults are responsible for creation of these antagonistic views, can we really blame the students for taking the same feelings outside the classroom during playtime?
2. "Blue is for boys and pink is for girls" is the most basic idea for generating a gender divide. Even the language that is used in class such as "You boys, stop fighting with each other" or "If you girls don't stop gossiping..."
3. Thorne observed school children during playtime and saw a lot of gender separation on the playground and most times it was fostered by the adults in form of playground aides or teachers who were trying to keep the boys from hurting or interrupting girls. These physical demarkations of areas based on gender formed the basis of the psychological divide between the two reinforcing the dichotomous nature of 'gender performance' i.e. one is a boy/girl because they have to 'act' in a certain way appropriate for a boy/girl and play those masculine/feminine roles in society.
Some practical suggestions:
1. Group children on criteria different from gender or race - it can be the fruit they like or the color of their clothes.
2. Do not use stereotyping or sexist ideas in examples and activities such as nurses are always women or boys play football and girls play house
3. Have access to all activities to all kids irrespective of gender. If left on their own, children generally divide themselves as per gender. Assign seating as per height, vision, etc
It would be great if anyone has personal experiences or suggestions to share on this page..