When I tried the lesson again, with a less insightful class, I simply used the pizza as a metaphor for sex TED Talk, from before, and the excellent Tea as a Metaphor for Consent video. The class was far less contentious and perhaps more grade-level appropriate. I think for next year I will show these videos earlier in a lesson about argument and build up to the more complicated ones.
A win reflecting last blog post: in our final Socratic Seminar of the year, the videos, even the most difficult one on feminism, were referenced multiple times and there was some effective discussion about gender. I only managed to jot down what one of the young men said in response to a question posed by one of the students about this.
Question: Why are female authors judged more than male authors?
Answer: Men are more looked upon as a dominant gender...when women try to do things we do they're questioned and it's harder.
Baby steps.
Monday, June 13, 2016
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Blog Post 1
These days I want to talk about feminism and write about it and figure out how it is the opposite of the quiet, polite demeanor I've developed over the years. I need to learn when to speak up, when to lean in, and when it's okay to still stay silent. I feel it is imperative to my developing identity (and yes, I am still developing at 33) as both a human and a teacher (and is it concerning that these are my only two classifications? Perhaps...).
So, as I sit here in my classroom, worrying about my second day using the diva cup and percolating on the somewhat unsuccessful feminist lesson I just taught, I thought I might write a blog about feminism.
Today, I possibly bit off more than I could chew. It was my best class, an English 10 Honors class, but still not always the deepest of thinkers, and predominantly male. We were examining videos on a social issue important to me (big idea: feminism; smaller idea: the language we use to talk about gender and sex) and evaluating whether or not effective arguments were made. The students will then be creating something (poster, letter, or speech) that addresses a social issue important to them.
Here are the videos I used:
1- Sex needs a new metaphor. Here's one: this video examines the issues with the common American metaphor for sexual activity--baseball--and suggests using pizza instead. Students laughed, enjoyed it, and seemed pretty accepting.
2- More than our parts--living in a rape culture: this video, by a three woman group called "lady parts," discusses some of the issues with our culture, such as victim-blaming and the normalization of violence against women. Boys reacted very strongly and predominantly negatively to the video; girls stayed silent.
3- Violence against women--it's a men's issue: in this video, Jackson Katz discusses rape culture without using those words and looks at what men can do, especially as bystanders to violence against women. I wouldn't say the class enjoyed this video, but it made them think and calmed them down after number two.
One of their reflection questions after our discussion asked which video was the most effective. No one chose number 1; the students seemed pretty evenly split between 2 and 3. Gender didn't seem to affect their choice, nor did whether they were vocally opposed to (or sitting with friends who were vocally opposed to) Video 2.
So here's where I succeeded: I introduced some topics and ideas that the students had not thought about before and it's clear from the notes and reflections they turned in that they really turned some new things over in their brains. Some of them could really relate and though most of the boys had a visceral and negative reaction to the video about rape culture, it's also the video that produced the best and most introspective note-taking. Also, I kept my cool and patiently redirected some of my male students when they said really stupid things.
So here's where I failed: I did too much too fast. This needs to be a unit, not a one day lesson that I squeeze in at the end of the year because it's important to me and I can connect it to teaching argument. Not everyone was prepared to have a sensitive discussion about difficult topics and most of the girls, even my girls who usually participate, were silent. I pointed that out once or twice, trying to wring a teaching moment out of it, but it didn't make enough of an impression.
I also had a boy talking about how girls "who dress a certain way" that I had to shut down, and I had another boy, who didn't speak, write down "how women dress provokativoly [sic] and then they make up a story after sex." Many boys, it seems, have bought into this myth about lots of women making up stories about rape, and I'm not sure how to address this. I did make sure to point out that even if a woman dresses provocatively, says she wants to have sex with you, comes back to your house, and then says no, you still can't have sex with her. That is rape.
Though most didn't speak, I am encouraged by some of the girls' reflections. One wrote "I never looked at sex like this but its...a pretty accurate comparison. People should be more cooperative with one another and aim for satisfaction." Most of them responded positively to the second video but worried that it painted men in too negative a light, as the "majority are told to respect [women]" and some questioned the validity of the final video "since a guy was talking about women."
So what's the solution here? Throw over the curriculum and spend some time delving into feminism? Skip it, since I don't have enough time for it? Or rush in, rush out, and risk losing some important points in the process?
So, as I sit here in my classroom, worrying about my second day using the diva cup and percolating on the somewhat unsuccessful feminist lesson I just taught, I thought I might write a blog about feminism.
Today, I possibly bit off more than I could chew. It was my best class, an English 10 Honors class, but still not always the deepest of thinkers, and predominantly male. We were examining videos on a social issue important to me (big idea: feminism; smaller idea: the language we use to talk about gender and sex) and evaluating whether or not effective arguments were made. The students will then be creating something (poster, letter, or speech) that addresses a social issue important to them.
Here are the videos I used:
1- Sex needs a new metaphor. Here's one: this video examines the issues with the common American metaphor for sexual activity--baseball--and suggests using pizza instead. Students laughed, enjoyed it, and seemed pretty accepting.
2- More than our parts--living in a rape culture: this video, by a three woman group called "lady parts," discusses some of the issues with our culture, such as victim-blaming and the normalization of violence against women. Boys reacted very strongly and predominantly negatively to the video; girls stayed silent.
3- Violence against women--it's a men's issue: in this video, Jackson Katz discusses rape culture without using those words and looks at what men can do, especially as bystanders to violence against women. I wouldn't say the class enjoyed this video, but it made them think and calmed them down after number two.
One of their reflection questions after our discussion asked which video was the most effective. No one chose number 1; the students seemed pretty evenly split between 2 and 3. Gender didn't seem to affect their choice, nor did whether they were vocally opposed to (or sitting with friends who were vocally opposed to) Video 2.
So here's where I succeeded: I introduced some topics and ideas that the students had not thought about before and it's clear from the notes and reflections they turned in that they really turned some new things over in their brains. Some of them could really relate and though most of the boys had a visceral and negative reaction to the video about rape culture, it's also the video that produced the best and most introspective note-taking. Also, I kept my cool and patiently redirected some of my male students when they said really stupid things.
So here's where I failed: I did too much too fast. This needs to be a unit, not a one day lesson that I squeeze in at the end of the year because it's important to me and I can connect it to teaching argument. Not everyone was prepared to have a sensitive discussion about difficult topics and most of the girls, even my girls who usually participate, were silent. I pointed that out once or twice, trying to wring a teaching moment out of it, but it didn't make enough of an impression.
I also had a boy talking about how girls "who dress a certain way" that I had to shut down, and I had another boy, who didn't speak, write down "how women dress provokativoly [sic] and then they make up a story after sex." Many boys, it seems, have bought into this myth about lots of women making up stories about rape, and I'm not sure how to address this. I did make sure to point out that even if a woman dresses provocatively, says she wants to have sex with you, comes back to your house, and then says no, you still can't have sex with her. That is rape.
Though most didn't speak, I am encouraged by some of the girls' reflections. One wrote "I never looked at sex like this but its...a pretty accurate comparison. People should be more cooperative with one another and aim for satisfaction." Most of them responded positively to the second video but worried that it painted men in too negative a light, as the "majority are told to respect [women]" and some questioned the validity of the final video "since a guy was talking about women."
So what's the solution here? Throw over the curriculum and spend some time delving into feminism? Skip it, since I don't have enough time for it? Or rush in, rush out, and risk losing some important points in the process?
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