Exploring Inequalities in the Classroom: A Personal Case Study on
Gender and Class Participation
Grayson DeWitt
Educ. 691G
Action Research in Schools
Feldman
When Thomas Jefferson penned the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence he set forth several radical ideas. Though borrowing from the earlier works of enlightened philosophers such as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau, the American Revolution focused attention and created an audience for such beliefs. Arguably, the most important of these principles can be found in the following statement. ³We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal² While it is unlikely Jefferson sought to include people other than white, male, landowners his words were truly revolutionary for the monarchial, patriarchal 18th century. This idea of equality for all, was viewed with trepidation by some, but applauded by the masses of common people seeking a political voice and recognition. This fundamental belief was soon extended to correct social injustices and has become an intrinsic part of our culture. Unfortunately, in the two hundred years since the signing of this document true equality has gone unrealized in the United States.
Inequalities can be seen throughout our society. Some, such as discrimination against minorities, are relatively overt, while others are far more subtle and evasive, though no less damaging. An example of this can be seen in our educational system and more specifically in individual classrooms. There is a disparity in the educational opportunities afforded males and females. Female students have faced adversity and bias in many forms. Studies have shown that teachers pay more attention to boys in class and that most curriculum is male-centered and non-representative of women and minorities. The women who find their way into the pages of textbooks are often portrayed in traditional stereotyped roles. ³They found female characters drawn as dependent, passive, incompetent, fearful, and concerned about physical appearance.² (Sadker, Sadker, and Klein 1991) After years of discriminatory and negative educational practices women have had to truly fight for acceptance and equality. Through increased awareness and study on the subject of gender equity, progress has been made concerning this pressing issue. However, there is still much to be done. It is for this reason that I decided to focus my action research on this subject.
In seeking to determine whether I am part of the problem or part of the solution I reflected on the question of gender equality in conjunction with my own methods and pedagogy. Several questions came to mind. Is there equality in my own classroom? Do I respond to all students in the same way? Do I create an atmosphere that is comfortable for my female students? While contemplating these questions I realized that I would have to narrow my focus to a more manageable aspect of this large topic. However, my main concern was researching something that could have an immediate impact on my class. One of my personal goals for this school year is to increase participation among my students. Therefore, the problem I intend to research deals with the issue of gender and oral participation in the classroom. This topic has been researched many times before, but I feel this is one area that I personally need to explore and ultimately improve.
When I began reflecting on this issue I began by writing down all the questions that I hoped to answer. This list quickly grew to an unmanageable size so I, once again, decided to restrict my focal point to the following questions. Is there equal involvement among male and female students? How does the gender make-up of the class impact oral participation? What impact does topic have on class discussion? How does involvement differ between college prep and honors level courses? How does participation impact student performance (grades)? What is the quality of responses from males and females? Do I hold all students to the same expectations with regard to participation? After examining this list I came to the conclusion that it would be to my benefit to further narrow my concentration to a few key queries. Though the other questions would not be entirely forgotten I felt it would be better to have a little of something rather than a lot of nothing. Therefore, I decided to examine four of these questions, establishing them as the central goals of the project. The first goal is to ascertain who is participating in class. To what extent does the problem of gender based participation exist? Understanding this will be essential to correcting the situation. The second will be to explore the importance of topic in eliciting student response. Is subject matter a factor in the frequency of responses? Thirdly, I would like to analyze the quality of responses from the students. Am I satisfied with answers made by female students that arenıt as ³good² as male students, and does this acceptance mask a greater problem? Finally, I would like to establish an insight into how my behavior impacts participation from all students.
I feel I make an honest attempt at maintaining an equal educational environment, but there are certainly times when I have ³dropped the ball.² When I first moved to Massachusetts I began teaching history at a local vocational high school. The focus of vocational schools is not necessarily on academics, which can make for a difficult educational environment, especially if you are teaching in an academic area. The student population tends to be relatively low level and many are designated as special needs and placed on Individual Education or 504 Plans. Many of the students come from difficult family situation. In addition, with the advent of the MCAS tests some of these vocational schools have become dumping grounds for students with low academic achievement and behavioral issues. After spending two years teaching history in the vocational setting, which tends to be dominated by a sometimes boisterous, male, student population, I noticed a negative transformation undergone by some girls. The girls come to school in September and are active participants in class; however, within a few short weeks many no longer participate. Almost inevitably their work production and grades decrease. I have no solid data, but my intuition tells me that the aggressiveness of boys in class is much to blame for this reversal. This hunch seems to be supported by an account from the article, ³A Studentıs View.² The author, Jennifer Kung, is high school senior, who describes her experiences as the only girl in a top level Physics class. At times she is uncomfortable about participating because of the aggressive and competitive nature of the boys in class. She writes, ³I refrain from inquiry. I choose not to have my self-confidence shattered by peers whom I consider my friends.² (Kung) This is in response to an incident in which other students hound a fellow classmate for asking questions. Though she is not the target of these criticisms she is intimidated nonetheless. Thinking back to these incidences, it bothers me that I didnıt do something different to alleviate the problem. It is these kinds of situations that have lead me to reflect upon gender equity in the classroom and how I can improve it.
While I was in this vocational setting I thought many of the problems I saw with participation were a result of the generally non-academic atmosphere. I soon found that this theory was too simplistic. This past year I accepted a position as a history (U.S History) teacher at another local high school. This school has a good academic reputation, and is a stark contrast from my previous experience. It is located in a small, rural community and as a result has little, if any, diversity. The students are generally well behaved and outwardly have developed a nice sense of community. Many of the problems that seem to be prevalent in other schools such as drugs, alcohol and violence are curiously absent. Appearances can be deceiving, but these problems were far more conspicuous in other school districts (Poughkeepsie and Hyde Park, NY and Woodbury, CT*) that I have taught in.
I entered the year in high spirits. I had fewer classes to prepare for and my class sizes (between 13 25) were manageable. I had only heard good things about the school. The administration expressed a great deal of support for the new teachers (18 total) in the building and welcomed us warmly. Needless to say, the year started well. However, as I got more familiar with my surroundings, and had some time to reflect on my performance I again felt that girls were not participating in class to the same extent as the boys. I also felt that participation overall should have been better from all students. This contradicted
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*I completed my student teaching in Poughkeepsie and Hyde Park, NY. These schools were quite different from my new teaching situation socially and economically. The middle school that I taught at in Poughkeepsie is classified as an inner-city school and 98% African-American. Despite the young age of students the school has a history of violence, drug and alcohol issues and teen pregnancy. (A student actually went into labor in my class and had the baby later in the day.) Hyde Park is more rural, but because of its close proximity to Poughkeepsie exhibits some of the same problems I have mentioned. Both these school have a large student population. After college I substitute taught at both the middle and high school level in Woodbury, CT. I was eventually hired as a full time substitute, teaching sophomore Physical Science for the last four months of the school year. The high school and community closely resembles my present situation economically, socially and in the size of the schools. Despite being very similar in these respects Woodbury exhibited a greater propensity for drug and alcohol use. I use these observations to formulate my opinion.
some of the assumptions that I entertained at the beginning of the school year. I had placed too much blame on the vocational system for the deficit in student (female) involvement. I realized (With the structure set forth by the Action Research course) that the problem needed to be studied.
I employed several data collection techniques throughout my research. My goal was to use the data collected to triangulate the responses and hopefully provide me with insight into the role of gender and the quantity and quality of participation in my United States History classes. The first phase of my research was to keep a journal based on the model set forth by Herbert Altrichter, Peter Posch, and Bridget Somekh. I then issued a survey (Appendix 1) to students to evaluate their perceptions on class participation and involvement. Thirdly, I kept a record of student participation to gage the quality and quantity of response. I did this in two ways: audio taping classes and structuring discussion activities to facilitate research. (Appendix 2) Finally, I analyzed first quarter grades to establish a correlation between participation and performance; and to determine whether a gap existed between male and female students. (Appendix 4)
My attempts at maintaining a journal were sporadic at best. It was difficult to focus on my journal writing when other pressing tasks and deadlines loomed on the horizon. I tried to remedy this by writing down my thoughts at the end of the day, but I felt my interpretation of the classes were superficial. As a result I mainly wrote observations about my first, third and fourth period college prep history classes. Eventually the only class I was able to write about consistently was my fourth period class because I have a 5th period study hall. Though the journal writing was relatively unorganized it was a revealing process.
While actively keeping a journal my impressions of student involvement began to shift. I found that subject matter had a clear impact on class participation. The topic at the time was American Revolutionary War. The content objectives were to familiarize the students with military operations, tactics and 18th century weaponry. The level of student involvement and interest improved considerably. What was interesting to observe was the increase in female participation. They set the standard for a serious, well-structured class discussion. Many of the girls engaged other students, asked probing questions and kept the conversation going. I was impressed with not only the quantity of their responses, but also in the quality. Some interesting questions emerged that needed scrutiny. What sparked this increase in participation? Was it really an increase at all? I had a feeling that this was not unusual. Were girls in class holding their own without me realizing it? Was the problem not as prevalent as I had once thought? After reviewing the journal entries it seemed to indicate that the problem of girls participating in class was not the problem I had initially thought it to be. There were no clear-cut cases of male domination. On the contrary there was more evidence pointing to female dominance. On other occasions female students demonstrated a clear command of student contributions. The topic of one particular lesson was 18th century medical practices, which lead to a discussion on the importance of women in medical achievements and current health care issues. Once again female students were impressive in the quality and quantity of their participation. Since I attended to my journal activities in such an erratic way it is difficult to validate any of the data, which may be flawed by my own understanding of the problem and inherent bias. However, my aim is to gain insight and not to necessarily answer the problem of gender equity. The journal writing did nothing to answer any of my questions, but it opened my eyes to new possibilities as I had hoped.
The student survey went further in supporting my tentative assertion that girls were performing at a much higher level than I had originally thought. After collating the student responses it appears that I have established a relatively equitable environment. For the most part males and females answered the survey questions in much the same way. For example 94% of the female and 97% of male students at least somewhat agreed that they were given enough opportunities to participate in class. Similarities can also be seen on questions concerning being comfortable in class, (92% of girls and 89% of boys agreed) feeling nervous speaking in front of others, and accepting the positive correlation between verbal participation and understanding course content and attaining good grades. (Appendix 1A) When asked what classroom activities they enjoyed the responses were almost identical. Both males and females identified group work and discussions as their favorite thing to do in class. (Appendix 1B)
Though most of the responses from the survey differed little between the genders, some data needed further analysis. When the students were asked to rate their daily participation in class the girls indicated that they contributed more. 44% of female students felt they participated between three and five times per class compared with just 22% of males. This contradicts my early thoughts about the lack of female participation in class while tending to maintain my new feeling that girls are holding their own in my classes. Additionally, there was little difference among male and female students who said they participated at least once per class period: 66% for girls and 61% for boys. (Appendix 1A)
There was, however, one particular piece of data that was disconcerting. The survey provides evidence that 20% of my students feel they rarely or never participate in class. This is an unacceptable situation and must be improved. If 20% of my students are not participating how equitable can the situation truly be?
The next phase of my data collection plan was to audiotape my classes. I thought this would enable me to track who was participating in class and give me the opportunity to accurately rate the quality of individual responses. This activity was successful in its first goal, but a failure in meeting my second expectation.
My first action was to create a rubric to establish consistent criterion in evaluating student contributions. (Appendix 3) This helped me focus and reflect on what I was truly looking for from my students. I had a concept of what I wanted participation to be, but putting it down on paper was a significant step forward. I then assigned my students (College Prep periods 1,3,4) a current events assignment. Students were supposed to choose a recent news article and summarize it contents and analyze its importance to the United States. I had informed my students (they have been aware of my research since the beginning) that I wished to tape the class in conjunction with this assignment. Some students joked about saying inappropriate things into the recorder or whispering subliminal messages that would influence my grading policy, but some had genuine concerns. Those who voiced their uneasiness about being taped were mostly girls from my period 1 class. Some were quite adamant about their anxiety. This presented me with an ethical/moral dilemma. Should abandon this type of data collection? Is it ethical to hinder the educational opportunities of girls in class so I can conduct research? I reiterated the fact that no one had to participate if they didnıt want to. No students would eventually sit out, but I believe their anxiety about being recorded limited the amount of participation from the girls in period one.
It was my initial contention that the boys participated more during these taped discussions. However, after evaluating the tapes I found that this assumption was incorrect. In two out of the three classes girls held an edge in participation. Overall they responded more frequently. (94 total female responses to 74 male responses) Twice as many boys failed to contribute at least once to the discussions, and there was comparative gender equality among those students who did participate.
In addition to the taped current events discussions I conducted similar un-taped activities with much the same result. During this activity female students made up 23% of the class and accounted for 29% of the total answers. All five girls participated at least once. This data seems to support my new feelings on classroom participation. Although I recognize that in order to truly validate these finding I would have to repeat the audio taping many more times.
As a result of these findings it appeared that girls were participating on an even par with male students. Even with this confirmation I was still unsatisfied. How were students participating? What was the quality of student responses? I found it difficult to rate the quality of student answers even with the use of a rubric. The flow of conversation was too rapid to accurately gage all the contributions. Obviously there were those responses that were easy to identify as a level one (lowest) or a level three (highest), (Appendix 3) but distinguishing those answers between levels one or three took time. Accuracy suffered as a result. The methods I developed to rate student participation coupled with the audio taped sessions were inadequate to meet the needs of the research. Therefore, I tentatively abandoned trying to systematically scrutinize the responses using a rubric and cataloged those students who I felt participated at the highest level. After reviewing this material there were an equal number of responses from males and females that matched the level 3 criteria from the rubric. (32 out of 168 total responses) Once again, an equitable situation manifested itself.
I was interested in comparing male and female student performance. Though it appears my original assumptions about a deficit in female participation was false, I wanted to explore possible connections between participation and grades. First quarter grades indicated that female students were performing at a higher level than their male counterparts. There were twice as many girls with A averages than boys (8 to 4) and seven out of the top ten students were girls. The number of female and male students scoring a B, C, or D was comparable. The greatest disparity in performance was among those students who failed the first quarter. Almost 25% of the boys in my classes failed, while only about 10% of girls fell into the same category. The ten students with the lowest averages were all male. Many of these male are repeating the course for a second time, and though they are capable, produce dismal quantities of course works.
The data did not produce a correlation between grades and performance. Some of the students who participated well during the audio taped sessions are failing the class, while several high achieving students chose not to be involved. For instance, four out of the top seven period 1 students didnıt participate. All four students who did not make contributions during period 3 were failing, and the three students from period 4 (all male) had a diversity of grade point averages. I am not pleased that 17% of my students did not pass the first quarter, but the data does point toward an equitable environment.
The triangulation of my data sources challenges the earlier notions I had established concerning the classroom environment. It became apparent that the situation was more equitable than I had previously thought. The data shows that female students are performing and participating at least as well, if not better, than their male classmates. The findings also showed me where I am deficient. I need to increase participation from all my students. If 20% of my students are not actually participating then I need to modify my methods to include them. The failure rate of male students is also a source of consternation. How can I improve their academic achievement? Why are they performing so poorly? Am I not meeting their needs? These questions need to be examined. I am pleased with the results thus far, yet I question the validity of my findings. I would like to research the subject in more depth to construct a more valid argument. However, the project did meet my expectations in that it provided me with some significant insights that I can immediately employ in the classroom.
Implications
I felt comfortable in the methodology of action research and feel I accomplished something in a very short time. The action research project has aided me in identifying problems in the classroom. I found the process of reflection, and the triangulation of data helpful in focusing on specific aspects of the classroom environment. The project has enabled me to reach a new level of awareness. I have a much better grasp on my current teaching situation.
My research is not complete. In fact, I think it has just begun. As I have previously mentioned I have questions concerning the validity of my findings. The only way to achieve a valid conclusion is to explore the topic in a much more systematic way. I would like to continue my research journal. I found the process to be informative and thought provoking even though I followed through on it in an inconsistent manner. The audio taped sessions proved to be useful in determining who was speaking, but problematic in establishing the quality of responses. To correct this problem I plan to video tape my classes. This will serve two purposes. The first will be to study student contributions, and the second will be to analyze how I react to student responses. How do my actions influence student involvement? Examining this question will be a fundamental part of my future research. The student survey provided useful data, but I would like to investigate student perceptions. I believe I can ascertain this information through student interviews.
In conclusion, the processes of action research have been valuable. It has provided me with a means to explore my pedagogical style and classroom environment. However, I feel I have just scratched the surface of this significant issue. The research has led me to examine more questions rather than provide me with solutions and breakthroughs. The more I reflect and investigate my practices the more areas I want to inspect.
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Altricter et al. Teachers Investigate Their Work. New York: Routledge, 1993.
Kung, Jennifer. ³A Studentıs View.² The Physics Teacher 35 (1997): 118-119
Sadker, M, Sadker, D, and Klein, S. (1991) ³The Issue of Gender in Elementary and Secondary Education.² In C.B. Caxden (ED.), Review of Research in Education, 17, 269-334