The Value in Gender-Balanced Co-Teaching

Each and every one of my teachers from kindergarten to grade five was female.  Was that a bad thing?  At times I thought it was as most of my teachers had also been teaching for a very long time and didn’t seem to understand boys and how they learn best.  My male friends and I always seemed to be getting in trouble or yelled at for doing things that most male-learners do: Fidgeting in our seat, talking to each other during class, touching objects or things in the classroom, writing about war or other violent activities, or  drawing pictures depicting blood or other “disgusting” images.  My teachers just didn’t seem to understand me as a boy, and looking back on the whole situation now, I do wonder if part of the reason had to do with the fact that they were females and didn’t fully understand how to help support and challenge boys; therefore, I lived several very frustrating and challenging years as a result.  Then, in the sixth grade, I had my first male teacher.  Mr. Carr.  He was awesome.  He understood boys and how they learn and see the world.  I was allowed to move around the room, fidget while working, touch objects being studied, and talk to my friends in class.  Sixth grade was the first year that I actually felt cared for and supported as a student and a boy.  It was also the year that I started taking school seriously.  I wanted to do well and succeed because I was in a positive learning environment.  Sixth grade was definitely my transformative year that lead me onto a path of academic success.  I do wonder where I might be now if I had not been placed with a male teacher that year.  Would I have continued to struggle?  Not that I’ll ever now, but it does make me a bit curious.

As a teacher at an all-boys school, I am very conscious of the gender balance in the classroom and curriculum.  When we moved to the co-teaching model for our sixth grade program, I knew that I needed to be paired with a female teacher so that the students would get both a male and female perspective.  Having a motherly and fatherly figure in the classroom for these young boys, many of whom are very far from home, helps to foster a family atmosphere within the classroom.  The students talk to my female co-teacher about things they don’t feel comfortable sharing with me and vice versa.  It’s so important for the boys to see how males and females interact together in all settings.  My co-teacher and I are equals in the classroom and the boys see it on a daily basis.  I don’t run the show by myself and nor does my co-teacher.  We are a team, and that sort of gender balance is vital to the program we have created in the sixth grade.

This gender equity within the classroom also allows us to be sure we are effectively and appropriately educating our boys on all types of issues and information.  Today in Humanities class, my co-teacher lead a very meaningful and relevant activity regarding the role of women in the Middle East Region.  She began the lesson asking the students to share ideas they have regarding the role of women in general.  What kind of jobs do they have?  What do women do in our world do?  How are women treated?  This lead into an eye-opening discussion regarding how skewed our students’ perspective truly is.  Many of the boys hold stereotypical and inaccurate beliefs that the role of women in society is to cook, clean, take care of men, and look pretty.  Wow, how interesting, I thought.  My co-teacher tried to help the boys see the flipside of their perspective and realize that times have changed and so too have the gender roles in our world.  More women than ever before are in the workforce and not staying at home to raise children.  Men and women are sharing caregiving and household responsibilities.  Things have changed dramatically and it’s important that our students begin to see this.

Following the discussion, the boys then viewed various black and white pictures of women from the Middle East Region.  Using guiding questions posted on the whiteboard, the students, working with a partner, discussed the pictures and role of the women pictured.  For almost every picture, the boys seemed to think that the women depicted were mistreated or controlled by men or someone else.  The students thought the women were forced to wear their hijab.  After each pair had looked at all of the pictures and engaged in lively discussion regarding their thoughts on the role of the women depicted, my co-teacher shared the true stories of each of the women in the pictures.  When the boys learned that many of the women held powerful and controlling jobs in various parts of the Middle East Region and chose to wear a head covering, they seemed surprised and shocked.  This new information lead to a meaningful discussion on perspective and the role of women in our society.  Many of the boys seemed to be changing their perspective on the role women play in the world, a bit, throughout today’s lesson.

This kind of activity and lesson needs to be a required part of every school’s curriculum, and especially in boys’ schools.  As many of our students come from various parts of the world with different traditions and cultures, it’s important to provide them with information about other ideas and perspectives.  We’re not trying to inflict our ideas or beliefs upon our students.  We understand that different families and cultures have very different belief systems, which is one of the reasons why our school is so special.  We are merely trying to help our students see the world through a wider, more open lense and perspective.  Having a female teach a lesson or activity like this is also important.  Sure, as a male, I could have easily taught this lesson, but would it have been as valuable?  My co-teacher was able to use herself as an example throughout the discussion, which helped some of the students more tangibly see the points she was trying to make.

Gender equality isn’t just about the students or teachers in the room, it’s also about the content and curriculum covered.  As schools are finally starting to move away from teaching books written by dead white men, it’s also important for teachers to help their students see the world with their eyes and mind wide open.  Teaching boys and girls about the various roles women and men play in society and have throughout history, is an important concept our curriculum needs to cover to help prepare our students for meaningful lives in a very global and hopefully, gender-balanced society.

Sharing the Spotlight with a Co-Teacher

When I first started co-teaching a few years ago, it felt awkward and uncomfortable.  I didn’t really like it.  Sometimes I felt as though I needed to rehearse exactly what to say.  It was as if we were each doing one act of a two-act play.  There was no flow or consistency amongst the two of us.  While I enjoyed working with my previous co-teacher, it felt weird at first.  Like anything new, we just needed time to practice.  So, we did.  By the second year, we were pros.  Our parts fit together perfectly like a puzzle.  While one of us would lead a particular portion of the lesson, we would jump in or contribute when and if needed.  It worked brilliantly.

This year, I am working with a new co-teacher.  She’s trying to figure out her place in the classroom.  How do we do things in the sixth grade?  For the first unit on community, she took the back seat as she was unsure how this unit should come together having never taught it before.  So, I did run the show to be sure she understood how our sixth grade program functions.  It worked out just fine.  She added in her thoughts where necessary and asked lots of good questions throughout the unit.  She was getting the hang of it.  As we planned our next unit, we realized that we wanted to cover mapping and perspective.  As she has written and taught a unit on this topic in the past, I felt it best for her to take the lead on this unit.  Now, it’s my turn to watch and learn.

Today marked the beginning of our new unit in Humanities class.  My co-teacher did a fine job running the show.  While I noticed some places and spots for improvement, overall it went swimmingly.  The boys seemed mostly engaged throughout and the discussions were fruitful and insightful.  Following the lesson I provided her with some feedback as she asked me how I thought it went:

• I wonder if there is a way to incorporate map parts and a partner activity into the unit.  This may better engage the students as we dig deeper into maps and what they show.  She loved this idea so much that we are going to utilize it in tomorrow’s class.  Sweet!
• I wonder if the students did too much sitting today in class.  Were they all engaged the entire time?  She did notice this too but thought the discussions were going so well that she didn’t want to cut them short.   The discussion portion of the lesson was only supposed to last 10 minutes, she said.  While I agree that the discussions were quite good, I do wonder if everyone was engaged throughout.  I find it hard to sit and focus for long periods of time and so I imagine our students feel the same way.  I think she will consider this point  moving forward.

My co-teacher seemed open to the feedback I provided her and excited about how well today’s lesson went.  I learned a lot about different types of maps and perspective myself as I watched and observed.  It’s fun to share the spotlight and not always be the leading voice in the classroom.  It’s also good for the students to get used to multiple perspectives in a class.  I can’t wait to see what I learn tomorrow as we get into a more in-depth map study and discuss latitude and longitude.

Great Minds Think Alike

When I first started out in the teaching realm, I was an island.  I felt alone and scared.  While I had peers with whom I spoke about what I was doing in the classroom, I never felt like I had any deep conversations that allowed me to hone my craft.  Sure, I went to professional development conferences and read several educational texts, but I never had a colleague with whom I felt comfortable enough to share ideas.  That part of my teaching life was missing.  I felt a bit like the circle in Shel Silverstein’s book Missing Piece.  I wasn’t quite a whole teacher yet.

Then, because the sixth grade class was increasing, my school hired another sixth grade teacher many years ago.  And that’s when my professional life changed completely.  It was then that I realized what I had been missing all those years.  It was amazing.  I was growing as a teacher exponentially because I now had a sounding board, someone with whom I could bounce ideas around and plan lessons.  I was like a whole, new teacher.  I finally found what I had been lacking earlier in my career.

After the blah feeling I was left with following yesterday’s STEM Class, I had not stopped thinking about what to do next time to change things up and make math more exciting and engaging for my students.  However, I wasn’t talking to my Pink Caped co-teacher about this problem, yet.  I was tackling it on my own using only one perspective.  Then, today, I ran into my Pink Caped co-teacher and she told me how she felt like yesterday’s lesson was less than good.  That’s amazing.  She was thinking the same thing I was thinking.  We then discussed how we needed to change things up to make math more fun for our students.  We talked and talked about some different ideas.  I shared with her the ideas I brainstormed yesterday and she did the same.  Then, it hit me like a ton of bagels: Math Club.  When I taught second grade math several years ago, I made use of a weekly activity I called Math Club.  Every Friday, my students would complete a timed math test.  Each student was working on the test that best suited his or her ability.  Some students were solving addition problems while others were completing multiplication equations.  Each student had a different time allotment for their test based on the skill on which they were being tested.  As the students progressed through several levels of Math Club, they received special prizes and privileges including lunch with the teacher and a friend.  They loved it.  And, they were honing their math facts skills.  So, why not try it in the sixth grade?  We talked about the idea for about a minute or so until we realized it was worth trying.  So, Saturday morning we will unveil our new Math Club idea at the end of our STEM Class.  Hopefully, this will help get the students excited and motivated about math.  If not, we’ll keep talking and try something new next time.

Had I not talked with my Pink Caped co-teacher, I never would have came to the conclusion we did.  The idea of using Math Club never once crossed my mind until we got talking about yesterday’s issues.  So, the moral of the story is, talk to your team members, co-workers, and fellow teachers about what you are doing in the classroom.  Ask for help, ask questions, share great ideas, and talk about things that go wrong in your classroom.  Just talk and discuss.  You don’t need a fancy PLC to learn something new and grow as an educator, you just have to find a peer with whom you feel comfortable and start talking and sharing.  Remember, while great minds think alike, they can also offer different and new perspectives on those great ideas.