Studying Gender Roles in Literature and Life
http://www.tolerance.org/blog/studying-gender-roles-literature-and-life
Author: Jeremy Knoll
September 28, 2016
Key Points: This article points out some great books, and lesson plan ideas to teach the meaning and value of social justice. Some of the key books that they mentioned was Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, and readings on Romeo and Juliet. These books address the sexism, and struggles of fitting into society. He talks about how the teacher can encourage the students to examine the media and how the media portrays gender-normative ideas. It's also important to allow students explore the fact that a lot of social media portrays women as sexual objects. There are also important cultural messages that these books among others can open the floor for discussion and questions. He states: "As a teacher, I see the cultural message that continue to tell girls they are objects to be appraised by boys and that how women look is a key determinant in deciding who they are." Men are also portrayed as being strong, muscular, and the cosmetic industry for men is exploding.
Relevance: It is important to understand that as teachers we need to keep an open mind, and have a safe environment to discuss these important topics in the present day media literacy. This is a great article for Middle school, or high school teachers wanting to explore lessons that relate to present day literacy lesson segments. We need to be able as teachers to help make connections to real life situations in our classrooms. One idea that stood out to me was having the students write in their journal about times they have seen the value of girls and boys being measured by their looks. The main goal would be to create a great understanding and awareness on cultural diversity, sexism, and biases.
Karleta,
ReplyDeleteI found this article to be very interesting. I especially like the focus it takes on emphasizing the social constructs of gender in men and women. I feel it is imporant for a student to feel safe to be whoever they are no matter what race, gender, religion etc. The lesson ideas are practical and seem to be a way to begin the critical thinking process. I agree with the use of literature to teach students how to not only learn from the past, but also use it to help create a more positive future.
I really enjoyed this article! I can see how the ideas for the lessons would lead to enhanced critical thinking on the part of the students. I might borrow heavily from them. I can appreciate how it leads toward examination of social constructs for gender. Many school, alas, are not ready to have those conversations with their students yet. We need to make our teachers more comfortable discussing sensitive subjects before we try discussing them with our students. If a student tries to be open about sexuality, maybe their own or in general, some teachers do not know how to handle that. Another example would be, especially these days, when the subject of race comes up. Many students are confused and scared. How do we talk to them about this without making them more scared? How do we address the fact that some of our students actually feel this bigotry and racism is the correct view? Talking with someone who has the same or similar views as you is one thing, but talking with someone who has views diametrically opposed to yours is a whole different kettle of fish.
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