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  Case: I Don't Discriminate My Girls
As a teacher with 25 years of experience, I am regularly asked to mentor new teachers at my school. In my 25 years, I have taught every grade level from Kindergarten to 5th grade. One of the new teachers in our school is Ms. Smith who is in her second year at my school. She pays a lot of attention to teaching science using hands-on inquiries. She also wants to make sure that both boys and girls have good experiences in science. She strongly believes that schools push girls away from math and science. I observed one of her science lessons last week. She had her students conduct science experiments in small groups. Students, then, wrote an experiment report at the end. As she was walking around in the classroom, she commented on student work and praised students. What I noticed about her praise was that she praised the boys for using proper science skills, coming up with good hypotheses and predictions, conducting the experiments carefully while she praised girls for keeping the materials orderly, writing a neat experiment report, and being a good team member. When I talked to her about my observation, she became very defensive. She said that she was making sure that her female students were praised for the work they do and that she did not gender-discriminate. I have to find a way to show/convince her that what she is doing may actually hurt her female students. Am I right about these points? How should I explain to her my points? Do you think what she is doing is right?
Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!)
I would discuss it wth her further and suggest using a video tape to tape her lesson. Tell her you would love for her to come and tape one of your lessons and provide you with feedback as well, this way the she can also put in her two cents without thinking you are attacking her.
 
     
     
  Rating
The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes
The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes
The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes
The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes
The suggested solution is original Yes
Comments: Documenting the lesson through video or through observational writing would be a good idea as well. Therefore, you have something physical to present which allows her to understand that this is not an attack and is just a helpful suggestion.
Rated On: February 27, 2017 3:08 pm
Rated By: yzujyV