Part two
One of the reasons boys get more attention in the classroom — a consistent finding in research spanning 20 years—is that they demand more. Boys called out answers to teachers’ questions eight times more frequently than girls did. Further, the Sadkers' found, teachers responded differently to such behavior, rewarding boys who called out by giving them attention but chastising the girls by reminding them to raise their hands before speaking. When I have questioned this behavior the response was often that this is something that “girls” don’t do. However, I am not sure if the teachers fully understand the repercussion of their gender stereotyping, meaning that girls begin to disengage from instruction and gradually become docile and will sit until called upon.
The boys are louder, faster, more obstreperous, demanding and receive a disproportionate amount of the teachers’ attention.
When Teachers are shown videotapes of their classroom, teachers who pride themselves on their fairness are stunned to see how much more often they call on boys, how patiently they listen to them, how generous they are with their praise.
The girls get compliments on their new sweaters and pats on the head for the neatness of their workbooks, but the boys receiving explanations, corrections, and the leading questions that encourage them to keep thinking and talking. Sadly, I have seen this type of teacher behavior with regularity. Girls were told how “cute” something was or how lady like they are behaving throughout the day. During directed instruction, boys seem to always get more time to respond or self-correct while girls were either right or wrong and most of often without the additional time for self-correction. What is more prevalent is that many of the complements are gender centered. I have found that female teachers were more prone to complement a girl’s cuteness while a male teacher would remain neutral with complements and the amount of complements. However, male teachers will commented on “lady like behavior” just as often as female teachers did.
Boys, who have fewer inhibitions about speaking up and being wrong, will guess if they don’t know; girls will often leave blank a multiple-choice box unless they’re sure of an answer. A guess had a 25% chance of being right; a blank has none. Even in my own classroom I have had boys response with answers that have nothing to do with the question or the lesson and are never short on inhibitions’ to repeat the same behavior while on the other hand in many instances, girls in the same situation will reluctantly respond or change their mind. I will often ask them to say what is on their mind or to guess. It can take months for the girls to get comfortable with guessing. This is not only a gender issue but one of peer pressure and should be addressed just as any other unwanted classroom behavior
For instance, a report found that teachers more often call on boys and frequency allow them to dominate classroom discussions. When I have observed this behavior, it seemed that teachers were allowing the boys to “get it all out” hoping that they will be more attentive as the lesson continues. The girls seem sensitive to this ploy and withdrew their participation thinking that being quite is what the teacher desires.
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