Loud, passionate voices discussing and debating the women’s issues of our time. Dynamic presentations spilling over the allotted class time into the passing period. A single shy DLS boy, needing reassurance and validation in order for his voice to be heard above our girls. Based on the stories of the teachers who taught the class before me, this is what I imagined in July as I worked on the curriculum of 21st Century Woman, a senior selective English class. On the first day of the class, I realized that what I had imagined was far different from reality.
The young women enrolled in the class were quiet and reticent. When I asked how they liked the summer reading, a provocative book about sex trafficking, forced prostitution and maternal mortality rates all over the globe, eyes stared blankly back at me. There were four boys, who, to my dismay, were more vocal than the girls from the start. I wasn’t disappointed that the boys had interesting and insightful comments to make–I was disappointed that the girls did not. Actually, I knew that the girls did have things to say. I was disappointed that they refused to share them.
The students were arranged in table groups of four, where they could discuss in a small-group setting before sharing their thoughts with the larger class. The talk in the small groups was subdued with only a couple of female voices taking the lead. When I opened up the discussions to the whole class, silence. The students did a mini research-based presentation, and I could barely hear their voices. Two weeks went by with no change. I had to do something.
I had done my usual ice breakers, but it was clear that this class needed something more. Then I remembered an activity that Kate Cutright had wanted to do with the freshman girls. A vision board. I gathered up materials–poster board, magazines, scissors, markers, glue and explained that half of their board would detail a vision or goal for themselves, and the other half would display their vision or goal for the world. They dug in on a long block period, as quiet as ever, creating their visions.
On the day of sharing, I went over my expectations of the audience. I reminded them that the vision boards were very personal and that sharing personal information can make a speaker more nervous than doing an academic report. I asked them how an audience should conduct themselves to make the speaker more comfortable. This is what they came up with:
1. Desks angled toward the speaker.
2. Devices and other work put away.
3. Eye contact with speaker plus a pleasant facial expression. (Smile when appropriate.)
4. Heads up, looking alert and engaged.
5. Questions to show interest
6. Applause when the speaker is finished.
These are the directions I give to the class before every presentation, but I was hoping that by having the students come up with them themselves, they would be more invested. Then we went over the usual expectations of the speaker–good posture, eye contact, dynamic voice, etc. I reminded them that they could look over the heads of the audience if eye contact made them uncomfortable.
The difference in this presentation vs. the first one was significant. The students seemed more at ease. Their voices were much bolder than before. The audience asked questions and applauded enthusiastically. I even had quite a few volunteers to present. I also noticed a difference in the next circle discussion. Girls who had not spoken before, spoke more than once. I felt like the class knew each other better from sharing their vision boards, which made them all a little more comfortable with sharing their opinions about topics that make them uncomfortable.
While I often worry about spending too much time on community building activities like these, especially in a semester-long class, I think I will need to provide ongoing opportunities for the class to bond.
So, what do you do in your classrooms to build community? Please let me know in the comments. I’m going to need more ideas, especially when I have new seniors in January!
In using a spider-web discussion maybe have them "practice" by using topics that would involve a more personal approach. Instead of a discussion about the themes of a novel, maybe one about why they took this class, what feminism means to them, how they perceive gender bias in their lives….killing two birds with one stone. The flipgrid can help with this and Jenn's article that we read for last Friday uses the idea oof "fika" and doing short films of a co-worker (in this case classmate) that shares out some of their personal info or perspectives…..it's awesome that you are working on this Jenny!
Jenny I love this post… and it really feels like these young women NEED your class… I want to echo what Kerry has listed above, spending the time for this is so very vital… Developing a voice is a huge life skill… and I love to se you embedding our Unifying Love concepts and talks beyond the adults and directly into your classroom…!
SO relatable oh my gosh. Expectations vs. reality.
Hearing Haley talk about this class last year made it seem like an upper division college course with the students she had – but each class is a different shuffle of the deck. Your vision board sounds great. In psych this year I used flip grid to get the boys to open up more before tacking a topic in class its a never ending series of trial and error.
Your students are lucky to have you, I wish I was in your class.
Thanks for the suggestions, Kevin. A couple of the initial discussions I held were on the meaning of feminism to them and examples of double standards/gender bias in their lives. When I didn't get much of a response on either topic, I knew I needed to do more community building. Surprisingly, they were just as reticent about sharing personal opinions as they were about academic analysis–maybe even more so.
Jenny, I enjoyed reading your reflection of your class. For the first three days of all of my periods I did community building mixed with talking about the class. One of these community buildings was creating classroom norms, as well as, each period coming up with a classroom mascot. I even reached out to Maggie to see if her classes could help write out the classroom norms and draw the classroom mascots so they can be posted in my classroom. Everything should be finished in the next week or so, hopefully. Some of the ideas students have are hilarious. This can help with the atmosphere, especially if you tell students to do something for their mascot. On a more serious note, as long as students know that you will have their back when they are vulnerable, they will continue to share. Keep up the great work.
Jenny–I feel for you. Each year as I start working with the yearbook staff I am always struggling to blend my "old" yearbook students and my "new" students. How do I get these new students to feel welcome in a classroom where everyone seems to already know each other. So now I take time each week on the long blocks to have icebreakers and team building activities: people bingo, true colors, scavenger hunts, trivia games, even guessing Disney songs on Kahoot or YouTube. Pretty soon barriers break down and the students work better together.
Jenny — great blog! The semester I took over 21st Century Woman for Hayley was a learning experience. I loved talking to the to my one boy after class about issues that women face and how men can be allies. I would echo Kevin about looking more into Spiderweb discussions. I have some resources and can show you how to use the Equity Maps App if you want. When I taught this class, I often directed the Spiderweb discussions to be thematic so that they could include discussions of the reading, discussions of gender issues in a general sense, and allow for personal experiences if relevant. I also like the way Miranda put it that every class is a different "shuffle of the deck". It's a reminder about how flexible we have to be as teachers, and how much or our challenge is identifying where are students are and meeting them there.
Jenny, I've been working with providing the right type of environment so that my students feel free to speak, and this applies especially to the girls in my coed classes. In the past I've pulled out the girls to have discussions with them about being more proactive about speaking in the classroom, but with mixed results. Looks like you have found a way for students to build more trust and connection between each other so they experience more public acceptance about who they really are. I'd like to implement a version of your idea (I also like Kevin's suggestions), perhaps in January when I have new classes. For myself, public speaking is a very scary thing and I very often talk myself out of taking the microphone during whole faculty meetings. I would imagine many of our students are feeling the same way during classroom discussions.
Love these ideas, Michelle!
Thanks for sharing this, Jenny! I was actually sharing with Elizabeth about struggling with getting one of my classes talking and she pointed me to your blog. It's nice to know that I'm not alone and also just have the reminder that building trust and relationships will lead to a greater overall outcome and so is work doing. Thanks to everyone else who commented above as well. I am going to look into some of these ideas for my class.
Love the Spiderweb discussion–it's one of my "go-tos". I forgot to mention in my blog that I did a Spiderweb discussion the second week with poor results. The second one was much better after we built some trust.
I'm so glad you're doing this Jenny! I'm working on public speaking with my sophomores and having them start with almost icebreaker-type topics helps them build that sense of community. Of course there will always be varying comfort levels with regards to sharing in front of a group or class, but baby steps help for sure. Moving on to more academic topics is always a challenge with my students but we'll see what happens! I'd love to sit in on one of these discussions in your class 🙂