Theres Monicas picture such a lovely young woman'

1
Theres Monicas picture - such a lovely young
woman.
2
Reduce Stereotypical Thinking

• Girls are pretty, boys are smart
• Girls are good at language, boys are good at math
  and science
• Challenge stereotypes in the mass media
• Challenge your own stereotypes
• Ask students to complete sentences like
• A boy would never _______
• Girls should not ________
• Teachers expect girls to _______

3
Monica never made anything but an A. She wouldnt
even consider taking Physics because it might
spoil her perfect GPA!.
4
Encourage Risk Taking/Help Students Set Goals

• Learning Goals vs. Performance Goals
• intrinsic vs. extrinsic rewards
• incremental vs. entity theories of
  intelligence
• Goals need to be set by students themselves
• Intermediate goals linked to long-term goals
• Clearly stated goals with the means spelled out
• Challenging goals (75 confidence in reaching
  them)
• Goals with rewards attached to attaining them

5
She worked so hard and was so eager to please.
What a perfect student she was.
6
Teach Self-Assessment

• Girls often under-estimate their abilities, set
  lower goals and avoid risks.
• Boys often over-estimate their abilities, set
  higher goals and take risks.
• Ask students to predict how they will perform
• Have students evaluate their own work
• Peer review
• Teach students to reward themselves for a job
  well done
• Get students to make predictions based on larger
  sets of data
• Model self-assessment

7
What great girls! I could always count on them.
They always read their assignments and raised
their hands. I can remember them waving their
hands at me. Id smile and look around for
someone to call on, someone who didnt look very
alert. Usually Paul!The girls told me I paid
more attention to the boys, but Id laugh and
explain that I had to. Boys are just harder to
teach.
8
Active Teaching Pattern

• Boys
• Receive more teacher disapproval, usually of
  behavior
• Receive more teacher approval, usually related to
  academic work
• Receive more praise, are asked more questions,
  and are given more extended directions
• Girls
• Receive less teacher disapproval and disapproval
  is more private
• Receive less teacher approval related to quality
  of academic work
• Receive less praise, are asked fewer questions,
  are often short-circuited
• Worst case scenario - they become invisible in
  the classroom

9
The girls used to complain that we always read
books about men, written by men. How in the world
would I ever have managed to get boys like Paul
to read womens books?
10
Instructional Materials

• Invisibility
• Stereotyping
• Imbalance and Selectivity
• Unreality
• Fragmentation and Isolation
• Linguistic
• Cosmetic

11
Curriculum

• Invisibility
• Search for the missing women
• Women as disadvantaged, subordinate group
• Women studied on own terms
• Women as a challenge to disciplines
• Transformed, balanced curriculum.

12
I tried hard to give the girls lots of extra
praise to build their self-confidence.
13
Avoid Negative Messages

• Excessive praise for mediocre work sends a
  low-ability message.
• Effective praise must be sincere and must be for
  something praiseworthy
• Praise tells students what we value
• Self-esteem comes from doing well, not being
  complimented

14
Whats the Message?

• Kristi fails algebra. The teacher tells her not
  to feel bad. She tried hard and thats what
  matters. She can just take Arithmetic 9 next
  year. Girls dont need math and besides boys
  dont like smart girls.
• Thats a difficult problem, Sue Ann. See if James
  can help you with it.
• Thats an excellent point, Dwight. Lets write
  that on the board so we can return to it. Now,
  Carrie, we dont have time to get off track. Make
  your point so that we can move on?
• Tom makes an error and the teacher corrects him
  and then gives him another similar problem.
  Jessica makes an error. The teacher smiles and
  says, Okay, lets go on. What about you, Jean,
  do you know the answer?

15
Ill never forget Monicas term paper. It really
wasnt as good as she could do, but I knew how
upset shed be if she didnt get glowing
comments. She would have been crushed if Id
handed it back all covered in red ink! I went
kind of easy on the girls because I didnt want
to discourage them. Then I think of all the time
I spent marking Pauls paper! I went over his
papers with a fine-toothed comb.
16
Take Pride in Success/Learn from Mistakes

• Learned Helplessness
• Find ways to provide legitimate success for all
• Provide failure opportunities for all
• Remind students of their successes
• Perform a post-mortem after failure
• Redefine failure as opportunity for growth

17
Provide Good Feedback

• Refocuses selective attention - choices rather
  than barriers
• Redirect girls attention to task-related
  information
• Redirect boys attention to relationships
• Is process feedback rather than outcomes feedback
• Disconfirms wrong hypotheses and assumptions
• Corrects faulty self-assessment
• Teach students how to seek feedback and help

18
Retrain Attributions

• Dimensions
• Internal or external
• Fixed or changeable
• Success or failure
• Strategies
• Link effort and performance
• Focus on success
• Use success to predict future performance
• Emphasize pervasive, permanent, and internal
  explanations for success
• Offer hope after failure
• Redefine failure
• Focus on choices and control
• Teach optimism

19
What Could You Say?

• Im so surprised - I got an A!
• Student performed well with little effort
• Student blames failure on teacher
• Student worked hard and still performed poorly

20
They hung around me, always asking my advice and
seeking reassurance. They made me feel needed.
21
Well, Id thought about getting an MBA. That
would help me a lot, but you know an MBA requires
all that accounting. You remember how bad I am in
math! I just dont think I could do it.
22
Focus on Math and Science

• Female role models
• Relate math and science to topics that are of
  special interest to girls
• Reposition math and science as gender-neutral
  fields
• Emphasize the human side of math and science
  careers
• Ensure equal access to equipment
• Diagnose and remove impediments
• Stereotype threat