Ignoring Gender When Approaching Adolescents
By Michael Wimmer
EDI 550/551 Psychology of Adolescent Students
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
June 7, 2009
As teachers, we have been handed the futures of each student that comes into our classrooms. For those of us who end up teaching in schools with both male and female students, we are going to come across the issue of gender on a daily basis. To address the issue of helping students reach their full potential, I really feel the best thing to do is to ignore gender and just treat them like adolescents.
Obviously there are going to be certain situations where gender cannot be ignored. However, for a majority of the time in a classroom, it does not matter whether the student is male or female, but instead whether or not they are learning. I do not believe that girls have more academic potential than boys or vice versa. Instead, I think that it comes down to how well the teacher makes his or her points and teaches his or her lessons. If we simply treat the students like students, that is what they are going to respond to.
Teaching is all about the response you get from your students. We are not teaching them material that is impossible for them to grasp, therefore it simply comes down to making the student want to learn what we are trying to teach. While I have had no experience as a teacher, I have worked with both genders as a coach. The reason I have had some success in this field is because I do not treat girls like girls or boys like boys. Instead I treat them all like athletes. When adolescents realize that you are not bringing their gender, which at this time is can be confusing for them, into your dealing with them, they feel more comfortable. The more comfortable they are, the more you can accomplish.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
June 7, 2009
As teachers, we have been handed the futures of each student that comes into our classrooms. For those of us who end up teaching in schools with both male and female students, we are going to come across the issue of gender on a daily basis. To address the issue of helping students reach their full potential, I really feel the best thing to do is to ignore gender and just treat them like adolescents.
Obviously there are going to be certain situations where gender cannot be ignored. However, for a majority of the time in a classroom, it does not matter whether the student is male or female, but instead whether or not they are learning. I do not believe that girls have more academic potential than boys or vice versa. Instead, I think that it comes down to how well the teacher makes his or her points and teaches his or her lessons. If we simply treat the students like students, that is what they are going to respond to.
Teaching is all about the response you get from your students. We are not teaching them material that is impossible for them to grasp, therefore it simply comes down to making the student want to learn what we are trying to teach. While I have had no experience as a teacher, I have worked with both genders as a coach. The reason I have had some success in this field is because I do not treat girls like girls or boys like boys. Instead I treat them all like athletes. When adolescents realize that you are not bringing their gender, which at this time is can be confusing for them, into your dealing with them, they feel more comfortable. The more comfortable they are, the more you can accomplish.
0 comments:
Post a Comment