Confronting Gender Issues in a Novice Teacher's Classroom: Student and Parent/Teacher Educator Perspectives

Abstract

This paper stems from a classroom discussion in which one author, a sixth-grade student in that classroom, contended that boys only read books about boys and proposed that the teacher change the situation by assigning books with both male and female main characters. The boys who responded emphatically denied the girl's claim, and the teacher later ended the discussion with a caution against stereotypes. In this paper, the authors describe their reactions to the incident and their decision to explore the students' claims by conducting a study based on the students' year-end reading records. Incorporating first-person reflections, they present the findings of their study, suggest alternate approaches for the teacher, and discuss implications for teacher education programs.