Feminist+Pedagogical+Techniques+for+Everywoman



= Feminist Pedagogical Techniques for Everywoman =

//"We can refuse to accept passive, obedient learning and insist upon critical thinking. We can become harder on our women students, giving them the kinds of "cultural prodding" that men receive, but on different terms and in a different style. Most young women need to have their intellectual lives, their work, legitimized against the claims of family, relationships, the old message that a woman is always available for service to others. We need to keep our standards very high, not to accept a woman's preconceived sense of her limitations; we need to be hard to please, while supportive of risk-taking, because self-respect often comes only when exacting standards have been met."--Adrienne Rich, "Taking Women Students Seriously," Gendered Subjects, p.27. //

Language

 * Avoid the use of generic masculine terminology. It has been demonstrated that when generic terms such as he and man are used, people rarely visualize women. Generic use of masculine terminology also implies that the male is the norm in society. Usage of masculine generic terms makes women feel excluded from the discussion.
 * Avoid labeling and nonparallel terminology. Labeling has traditionally been used as a subtle form of discrimination against women and people of color ("boy" or "girl" for an adult; "credit to your race"). Nonparallel terminology ("men and ladies" or "the dentist and his doctor wife were in Hawaii") also conveys differential status.
 * Do not stereotype. Stereotyping encompasses a broad range of issues including age, gender, race, handicaps, and sexual orientation. It includes stereotypes of roles (all women as housewives), occupations (all truck drivers as men), personality characteristics (stoic men; passive women), and physical, mental, and emotional characteristics (mathematical men and verbal women). Stereotyping that assumes a heterosexual and/or able-bodied norm ("When, in your first sexual encounter, he inserts his penis into your vagina") may exclude homosexual and/or differently-abled individuals. Paternalism is a subtle form of stereotyping that conveys surprise that a person of color, a woman, or an older person succeeded in a certain situation (Dr. Jane Wright, a black woman who rose to the position of Associate Dean of the New York Medical College).
 *  Use effective parallel treatment. Employ particular techniques to break stereotypes and emphasize contributions of women and people of color. It is unparallel treatment to compare work done by "black scientist E.E. Just and scientist R.M. Auerbach." Prefacing Just's name with "black scientist" while not using "white scientist" before Auerbach's name assumes white as the racial norm. It may be effective and parallel to mention everyone's race and sex when talking about individual contributions: "The black female physician Susan McKinney Steward and the white male physicist Albert Einstein." If possible, use a style manual that includes full first names when constructing bibliographies and citing references.


 * Discuss not only the subject matter to be taught but also the pedagogy by which students will learn that subject matter.
 *  Teach students to use I-messages. I-messages offer women a means for giving positive or constructively critical feedback to each other in a supportive way. The format is: "When you (behavior), I feel (feeling) because (consequence)." For example: "Sue, when you dominate the class discussion, I feel annoyed because I'm interested in hearing the thoughts of everyone here." This enables a person to tell another how a particular behavior makes her feel, but gives the receiver the choice to change her behavior. I-messages are easy to learn, can be shared among peers and between student and instructor, and are very effective in producing an honest classroom atmosphere.
 *  Discuss the function-roles people play in groups--organizer, devil's advocate, clarifier, withdrawer--and ask students to take turns playing those roles. This gives students who may be unfamiliar with group dynamics time to develop skills they need to participate in interactive situations.
 *  Encourage students to take the responsibility to include other students in discussion. Have them address comments and questions to one another. At the beginning of class, discuss the importance of everyone having a turn to talk and make it clear that the students should speak up if they feel class time is being monopolized by one or two students.
 *  Change the physical arrangement of your classroom to help break down intimidating structures. Step away from a podium and closer to the class. Move chairs into a circle. Sit at the side of the table rather than the end. In large classes enhance participation asking students to rotate where they sit--students at the front and up the center of class have been found to be more visible and likely to talk. When you reach an evocative point in a lecture, pause and ask students to discuss the issues with a neighbor for 10 minutes. Then draw the class back together and ask them to brainstorm the results. Physical closeness and eye-contact make interaction easier--push chairs closer together and angle them toward the front if you can't make a circle.
 *  Be aware of the construction of turn-taking. Latina, African-American, Asian, and Native American students have been found to be more likely to talk when called on by name, offered encouragement in facial and nonverbal gestures, and given time to respond. Native American, Latina, and Asian students may have been socialized not to speak up. African-American students may feel more comfortable speaking out in class rather than raising their hands and waiting for a turn to speak.
 *  Talk privately with students who are always silent and ask if there are ways you can help.
 *  Help students prepare for an upcoming discussion by providing questions for them to think about or by asking them to prepare discussion questions or summaries of readings.
 * Open class with a round of introductions. In a course on women and work, ask students to describe their own or their mothers' work history. In a class on child development, ask students to describe themselves as they were in second grade. Set the pattern of introduction by introducing yourself in the same manner you ask students to use.
 *  Build a sense of group among class members. On the first day or days of class, use one of many available group-building games to help students get to know one another and become more comfortable talking to each other.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Allow students to select some syllabus topics. You may have certain topics that are required; others can be selected from a list of potential topics suggested by the students and the instructor. Decide by mutual consensus what topics will be included that semester.
 * Ask students to respond to questions about learning in general: What do you value in the classroom experience? What particular classroom incident or course stands out in your mind as being particularly successful for you? What do you view as problematic in the classes you've taken? In what context have you found learning to be the most fun or exciting? Responses can be during class discussion or in journals, or students can be asked to reflect on the question in writing before discussing it in class. Allow discussion to guide you in changing how you teach that course.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Coteach or bring in guests. Coteaching may take more time than teaching alone but since issues can be explored from more perspectives and in greater depth it is more rewarding for students and faculty. Invite colleagues to lead discussions.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Have students lead discussions. Students may already have expertise in an area or can be asked to research a topic and lead a class discussion.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Assign group projects. Nancy Schniedeman states that "an activity has a cooperative goal structure when an individual can complete it successfully if, and only if, all others with whom she is linked do likewise. The group sinks or swims together." Make sure it is the responsibility of the group to ensure that each individual becomes a functioning member.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Arrange same-sex groups or pairs. In mixed-sex pairs and groups, students will tend to select traditionally masculine and feminine roles. For example, in mixed sex laboratory pairs the man inevitably works with the equipment while the woman records the data, doing little to increase the woman's ability to handle instruments and equipment.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Have students respond to classroom discussions in journals.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Assign papers that ask students to express their own feelings about or reactions to course content.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Assign projects that solicit reactions from women outside class. In biology students could be asked to interview women as different from themselves as possible (race, age, class, sexual orientation) about childbirth, menopause, or hysterectomy, for example. Students can interview, produce oral histories, observe public behaviors, take surveys.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Use works of fiction outside the literature classroom. Fiction conveys the experiences of different women, makes scientific subjects less clinical, adds issues for class discussion.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Make assignments that require students to create. Have students respond to course content by writing stories or poems, have groups write scenes for performance or perform already existing works, allow students to develop alternative formats for assignments, etc.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Develop assignments that involve students in interactions in the college and the surrounding community. Have them compare college students' attitudes to those of community members. Encourage students to become involved with the professional societies affiliated with their probable careers.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Ask students to periodically evaluate your performance, their performance, and the course. Do the same yourself and use the evaluations to adapt the course to students needs.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cover necessary traditional content from a feminist perspective. Many students careers require passing some test or licensing examination upon the completion of college. It does not do women a service not to provide them with the skills and information they will need for competence in their field as defined at this point by traditional examinations. This means that many courses must continue to cover the traditional information. However, that information can be presented from a feminist perspective and criticized when the theories and practices exclude women and people of color. Teach techniques of feminist criticism in literature courses even when the content excludes women. Include feminist criticism of scientific theory. Discuss Carol Gilligan as well as Lawrence Kohlberg.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Use textbooks that include women and people of color even if you cannot teach that content. Some students will see it and may even read it. Use texts written by women, even if the content is not feminist--its a subtle message to students when their calculus book was written by a woman.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Use primary sources instead of textbooks. Textbooks tend to present a subject as fact. Using primary sources demystifies the subject and makes it more personal, thus inviting questions from those normally intimidated.