Teaching "Girl" & "7th Grade"

2/9/2021

For complete details on what to do in this space and how you will be evaluated, please see the complete details for this assignment located on Teaching Discussion page for our class (link is live).

In Brief: Post your initial response, about 300 words. Post a response to your colleagues, 100-200 words. No worries about respondents this week. I will serve as respondent and model what I'm looking for.

THIS WEEK’S SCENARIO: The two short stories included in this weeks reading come from a list of short-stories for middle-schoolers. I have used these two stories with rising 8th and 9th graders.

You are teaching a class of 30 8th graders at Whitman Middle School. Here is a class picture. The class you are teaching is majority white. There are two students who identify as African-American. Just over ½ of the class are young women. None of the students are first generation American, but a few students have grandparents who immigrated, mostly from Ireland. More likely, the majority of students have great-grandparents or great-great grandparents that came from to the US during the great migration in the late 1800s—Italy and Ireland mainly. Your classroom is well-equipped. Students have ipads for use in the classroom and all of the students have internet access at home as well as at school. You maintain a teaching website where parents can check assignments. The parents at Whitman are, more or less, invested in their children’s education and pay attention to what is going on in the classroom. You have 7 students on IEPs ranging from high-functioning spectrum to ADHD mix. Two student are on IEP for cognitive processing problems.

5 Comments

Group 4

2/9/2021 04:09:59 pm

The classroom will open up with a question/open discussion on defining what a girl "should be like" and what a boy "should be like" in society. Do they themselves think this, or is it an expectation? Then they will be asked what in society do they think influenced them to think that way. After reading, the students in groups will create a venn diagram of what it is like growing up as a female, vs growing up male. They will specifically focus on the expectations and struggles, and if there are any similarities as well as differences in growing up as their assigned gender roll. They will also write as a exit ticket what the characters in the story have to worry about that they themselves have not had to worry about in their own lives. This will have the students reflect on their own privilege, despite there still being aspects of the stories that are relatable.

Demi Riendeau

2/9/2021 04:13:08 pm

Book Group 1
Our group discussed that we thought working with these two texts together as a pair would be the most beneficial type of lesson for students. We wanted to have a group structure organization for our lesson where students had a specific roles in their original groups (writer, note taker, etc) where they would read and engage with one text. Then these groups would be split up into a jigsaw format where students will be placed in new groups (4 students for each group, 2 from each text) and they would then receive a conversation guide/ prompting questions to follow along with through the conversation and gain more knowledge. These groups will also have different roles for students to focus on and take place in. This will help students stay on task and focused. For students with cognitive recognition issues, summaries will be provided for students with some of the main points and key information so they can refer to this through their discussion. In between these different types of group work we will come together as a class and discuss our findings to make sure all students remain on track for success in this lesson. In addition during group time teachers will move around the room to provide extra support and guidance during classroom conversations.

Maria Pestilli

2/9/2021 04:24:27 pm

Group 3:
-Maria
-Samantha
-James
-Tenneh
-April

To start I am from the Whitman-Hanson school system, so I know how they run their school. As for my group we had a good discussion on what we would do if we were teaching Girl and Seventh Grade. First, we would either find an audio book version of the stories or record a version of ourselves reading the stories. We would also prepare a worksheet for both stories. On this worksheet we would have boxes with different labels such as “Themes”, “Diction”, “Characters”, etc. At the start of class, we would pass out these worksheets to all the students and then we would have the students listen to each story twice. The first time they are just doing a first read through and the second time the students would fill out the story to the best of their abilities. They would then have a few minutes after listening to the stories to get their thoughts together before splitting off into groups. In these groups they would discuss ideas they found within the text. They would also fill out their charts with any information they want to take from their group mates. The other purpose of the group is to give students the chance to ask each other questions about the text if they are confused. One of the best ways to learn is to teach another person the concept. We would then come back together as a group and we would write on the board what we thought as a class what the most important ideas were. We would then go into a deeper exploration of the texts as a class. This would also be a time where students would be able to ask the teacher to explain any parts of the text, they found confusing. The students will also keep the worksheets for future reference if they ever need to refresh themselves about the important concepts within the two texts.

-Written by Maria Pestilli

Maryan Aden

2/9/2021 04:35:38 pm

Group #5:
Maryan
Alex
Brittany
Claire

My group and I discussed what we would do in our potential classroom to promote a space welcoming of diverse backgrounds. One of my colleagues discussed showing a documentary called “A Class Divided” because it is a film that promotes diversity. Additionally, another idea is to make a list of statements pertaining to different parts of one’s identity—that connect to the texts—and having students get up and identify with whichever one they mainly resonate with. In both these texts, identity is one of the main themes. This activity will help in getting students thinking about their identities and how they’re perceived in the world which will ultimately help in making the texts easily digestible since they will already be looking for that specific theme.
In a class where many students may require accommodations, it is helpful to include different kinds of activities and be inclusive of all learning types. The first idea where a video is shown will help those students who depend on some sort of visual to learn easily understand the theme. The second idea will help those who like to learn experientially by allowing them to move around the classroom and interact with their peers through discussing the intersectionality of their identities with one another.

Group 2

2/9/2021 06:54:52 pm

In both “Girl” by Jamacia Kincaid and “7th Grade” by Gary Soto there are many important aspects to teach a class with such diversities. An important part of teaching is recognizing the diversity in your classroom. The short story “Girl” overall shows a mother’s expectations of her daughter, but there is more to be revealed under the surface. First, it is important to teach students about the importance of an individual's identity in society, and the expectations society holds for people (male vs female). In “Girl” we are specifically talking about the expectation's society has for women vs the expectations of men. One way to teach a lesson on gender roles referring to the short story “Girl” is to ask the students in the classroom ways they have been assigned gender roles in their society. This will help make the story even more relatable so they can further understand what this piece is trying to show. After asking about examples of the different gender roles they may have been assigned in society, you can bring out a quote that reveals the importance of acknowledging gender roles in the short story. For example, when Kincaid states, “You are not a boy, you know” we specifically see the daughter’s mother placing expectations on the female gender as she compares it to the male. This relates back to society in real life, where expectations are put on different genders, and it is important for middle school students to recognize that.

The 7 students on IEPS will be given individual attention and there will be a focus on key quotes to help them understand the gender roles in “Girl”. Quotes such as, “this is how to sew on a button; this is how to make a buttonhole for the button you have just sewed on; this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming” show how the mother is expecting her daughter to act like the proper women. Things such as sewing and making button holes would generally be considered tasks of a “proper woman” in society and it is important for these students to recognize that so they acknowledge the gender roles in this short story and in society overall. It is also important to teach students the issue of gender roles and how they can actually cause harm to a society through such specific expectations attached to a certain gender. Such expectations make one’s true identity harder to reveal when they are often hidden by a label.

It is also important to discuss the cultural aspects of “Girl” by Jamacia Kincaid and how the mother and daughter’s culture may have stricter beliefs in assigned gender roles. So, what may seem like a brutal relationship to some, may be relatable, or show a mother’s love or care for her daughter to others. It is important to teach students that in many cultures, gender roles are more enforced. So, these expectations put on the daughter by the mother, may seem harsher to those who do not share the same cultural experiences. But those who relate to the culture, may see the mother as more protective over her daughter, rather than harsh.

“7th Grade” by Gary Soto also has cultural aspects through Victor’s relationship to whiteness. Specifically, when Victor talks about hating the sun and picking grapes since it darkens his skin we can then infer that Victor has trouble with his identity which is most likely related to living in a predominantly white community. The lesson in this story that is important to teach students is to love yourself for the person you are, not for who you are not. It is also important to teach students to accept their diversities and differences which make them unique-which Victor does not do. If any students on the IEP are struggling they will get individual guidance on how culture can be found in the short story, and the importance of the topic in our society.

In both “Girl” and “7th Grade” someone else's opinions determine one's own self-worth in society. In “Girl” a young girl’s worth is solely based on the expectations of her mother, and proper gender roles. While in “7th Grade”, Victor determines his worth through the opinions of others. He likes Theresa, and when he finds that Theresa may like him, he suddenly starts to like seventh grade. He comes to this conclusion specifically based on the identity he is making for himself in the society he is surrounded by. Students would then be asked if they have ever done something silly to fit in, which I am sure many would answer yes, to make the story relatable to their personal lives once again. Lastly, students who are on an IEP who need clarification would be given the main aspects of the stories that are important to take away- the importance of acknowledging gender roles

Teaching "Girl" & "7th Grade"

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