Equitable Events

March 23^rd – March 27^th

The schedule last week was altered slightly, due to scheduling conflicts and work demands. On Monday, March 23^rd, I was able to assess the curriculum and determined there were no gender-stereotypes listed in the eight planned activities. I also planned an additional “Gender Equity” activity for Tuesday & Thursday, which I have outlined below:

Tuesday, March 24^th

Child / Teacher: The activity was a teacher-directed activity

Goal: One goal for the activity was to master graphing skills; the other objective was to take turns during group conversations

Group: The planned activity was intended as a whole-group, circle-time activity

Materials: Chart paper, markers, and the book, “Pink is Just a Color and So is Blue,” by Nika Bhatia

Activity Description: Teachers asked children, “What is your favorite color?” and charted children’s responses. Then, children were encouraged to listen to the story, “Pink is Just a Color and So is Blue,” by Niki Bhatia. Children were asked some of the following open-ended questions as teachers read the story:

1. Do men in your family wear pink?
2. Can boys wear tiaras or dresses? Why or why not?
3. Who cooks dinner in your home? Do you help?
4. How many friends like to play soccer? Hockey?
5. How are the children in the picture playing? Does it look like they are playing gently or roughly?
6. What do you do when you are sad? Is it okay for everyone to cry?

Teachers will talk about how girls and boys are able to do the same things and encourage the children to discuss their thoughts. 

Thursday, March 26^th

Child / Teacher: The activity was both a teacher-directed & child-directed activity

Goal: The goal for the activity was to recognize & appreciate similarities and differences

Group: The activity was to be implemented with small groups of children (3-4)

Materials: Writing utensils, paper, “buckets”

Activity Description: To meet our goal of recognizing and appreciating similarities and differences, the children were encouraged to write a note to their friends or teachers for their 'bucket!'* Teachers explained that writing notes is a form of interaction and how their friends might feel after receiving a friendly note in their bucket!

*The above activity was an extension of the teacher’s idea to incorporate “Compliment Buckets” in the classroom. Each child was asked to bring a bucket into the classroom. Then, teachers explained that friends would write friendly notes for one another and place them in the appropriate ‘bucket.’ Check out the news article that inspired this idea:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/03/us/feat-kansas-principal-prank/

[Tuesday’s observation lasted forty-five minutes. At this time, I have not successfully transcribed all details of the observation]

On Wednesday, March 25, I was only able to observe fifteen minutes of outdoor play, rather than the hour that the classroom was scheduled to be outside. Due to work demands, I needed to focus on daily tasks instead. What I did observe, however, was a transition activity, where the teacher initiated a Sign Language activity. As she called each child’s name, she requested that they show her a sign for a specific word. For example, the teacher would say, “bear,” “snake,” “octopus,” or other animals / phrases, and children would portray the ASL hand movements, which corresponded to the term. Then, the children were instructed to follow their other teacher to the grassy area to participate in a gross-motor activity. The activity’s goal was to “balance and hop on one foot.” Hula-hoops were set-up in the grass and children were encouraged to hop from one hula-hoop to the next on one foot. After each child hopped through the ‘obstacle course,’ they were able to play freely on the playground!

[Due to my Assistant Director’s scheduled time-off and other scheduling conflicts, I was unable to observe Thursday’s implementation of the activity, nor meet with the teachers to discuss the weekly happenings on Friday]

Positive Presentations

To begin my work in the classroom, I assessed the room arrangement and made adjustments. I completely altered the arrangement of learning centers and tables in the room. In doing so, I removed a shelf, a table, and created a more open learning space for children. I placed the “Library” center closer to the entrance of the classroom and repositioned the ‘noisy’ interest areas (such as Dramatic Play and Blocks) near the back of the space. Large tables were placed toward the corner of the classroom to avoid unnecessary emptiness.

Next, I rewrote the classroom schedule in collaboration with the teachers. The main adjustment reflected a longer outdoor playtime before lunch. Instead of a thirty to forty-five minute gross-motor activity allotment, one hour was planned before lunch. Our expectation was that children would that after curricular activities from 9-11 AM; they would need an hour of unstructured ‘free play’ before lunch and nap-time.

On Wednesday, March 11^th, I printed, cut, and laminated gender-neutral pictures and created posters for the classroom walls. The pictures were organized into categories (women in non-stereotypical roles, men in non-stereotypical roles, boys playing with non-stereotyped materials, girls playing with non-stereotyped materials, etc.) and presented on a poster with open-ended questions posed for teachers to ask. None of the classroom display, which was previously posted, was determined stereotyped; therefore, they were not taken down from display.

Bright Beginnings

During the first week of my action research study, I met with the teachers and owner for the school to discuss my plan in the classroom. The only concern the teachers brought to my attention was how participation in the project would affect their employment. I assured them that their agreement and collaboration was appreciated and that, as their supervisor, no negative action would result in relation to the action research study. I also explained to the owner for the school how I would differentiate between work and school, as I conducted my research on-site.

I distributed a pre-research questionnaire to the two teachers collaborating with me on the project. The results are listed below:

Teacher Questionnaire: Pre-Study

Open-Ended Questions:

Question:	Teacher 1 Response:	Teacher 2 Response:
What does the term “diversity” mean to you?	Being equal and accepting to all people of different gender, races, cultures, age, disability and religion / nationality	Very Simple: I would like a range of different artifacts, stuff, effects, things, objects, soul, feat undertaking
How do you plan for and implement diversity into your classroom environment (display, materials, etc.)?	The children do most of the display work, but as far as classroom items, we try to have international, recycled cartons for dramatic play. Toys in blocks also show some diversity for gender, age, race and disabilities where possible	Parent involvement (CDs from home, cultural items (doll, tea cup)), lesson plan stories about being different
How do you plan for and implement diversity into your interaction with children?	I try to be fair, accepting and equal with interactions with children. Although, I do occasionally call boys “dudes” and girls “sweeties”	Visual aids, Identify their & own thoughts, allow children to express questions, allow classroom interactions with other cultures
How do you plan for and implement diversity into your curriculum activities?	I won’t, or try not to, plan gender-biased activities in the lesson plan. I go mostly by the goals we need to accomplish to plan lessons. Also, I try to fit international locations and cultures into lesson plans, when available	Book: Gertrude McFuzz from Dr. Seuss Writing Project: I like my _____ best or I like being different _______ and I like my friend ______ because ________

Survey Questions:

Please indicate your opinion about each statement. Do you strongly agree, strongly disagree, or is your opinion in between these extremes? Mark one choice per item.

Statement:	Strongly Agree	Agree	Undecided	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Both boys and girls really need to develop social skills	Teacher 2		Teacher 1
Only boys should be permitted to play competitive sports					Teacher 1 Teacher 2
Quiet girls will have a happier life than assertive girls				Teacher 1	Teacher 2
It is only healthy for boys to cry when they have been hurt				Teacher 1	Teacher 2
Boys who exhibit sissy behaviors will never be well adjusted				Teacher 1	Teacher 2
Girls who are tomboys will never be well adjusted				Teacher 1	Teacher 2
Parents should set different behavior standards for boys and girls				Teacher 1	Teacher 2
I feel upset when I see boys put on a dress when they play dress-up					Teacher 1 Teacher 2
Boys, more than girls, need competitive skills			Teacher 1		Teacher 2
A parent who would pay for ballet lessons for a son is asking for trouble					Teacher 1 Teacher 2
Girls should be encouraged to play with building blocks and toy trucks	Teacher 1		Teacher 2
Math and science are as necessary for girls as boys	Teacher 1		Teacher 2

Multiple Choice

When referring to the children, I usually call them:

a.    Boys / Girls: Teacher 1 – Gendered nicknames like “dude” or “sweetie”

b.    You guys

c.     Friends

d.    Other: Teacher 2: I call them all and so much more!

Based on the results of the pre-study questionnaire, it seems that both teachers need further training on gender as a component of “diversity.” Teacher 1 surprised me with the ‘undecided’ answers, after answering so elaborately in the open-ended section of the survey; I was also taken aback by Teacher 2’s ‘undecided’ answers in the last two survey statements. Teacher 2’s open-ended questions were also slightly confusing; perhaps the teacher did not fully comprehend the questions.

I look forward to continuing this week and making progress in the classroom! My hope is that by the end of the project, the teachers will have a deeper understanding of any unconscious bias and make efforts to take initiative to include gender equity as part of their classroom routines.