This Week’s #UTEdChat: Gender Stereotypes in Education

Written by Michael Hakkarinen on January 12, 2016. Posted in #utedchat.

Margaret Thatcher

"In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man.
If you want anything done, ask a woman."
– Margaret Thatcher

Gender stereotypes exist in our culture, our society, and in our schools. They can be positive stereotypes, and negative. Both effect not only how we teach and learn, but who we become. In this Twitter Ed Chat (#utedchat) we would like to discuss these stereotypes and challenge you to think about how they influence your teaching.

Tonight's #UTedChat will be moderated by Michael Hakkarinen (@edtechakk) and Michelle Zey (@michelle_zey). We are also excited to welcome two authors on this subject matter. Dr. Lisa Hinkelman, the author of Girls Without Limits and Kelley King, who wrote Writing the Playbook: A Practioner’s Guide to Creating A Boy-Friendly School

Michelle is an EdTech (Instructional Technology Teacher Specialist) with the Canyons School District and an experienced secondary Language Arts teacher. Michael is an Instructional Technology Trainer with the Utah Education Network and former EdTech, Technology Resource Teacher, and experienced elementary school teacher. Neither Michael or Michelle fit into your typical gender stereotypes – Michelle is awesome with power tools and home improvement while Michael has a huge collection of bags and shoes, and easily cries in movies – for example… He can't watch the end of "Field of Dreams" without completely falling apart when Kevin Costner says "Hey Dad, how about a catch?"

Michelle and Michael first shared their insights on gender stereotypes in education at the 2015 SUECON. Slides and resources from that presentation can be found at http://edtechakk.weebly.com/10-tech-tools-to-challenge-gender-stereotypes.html. This presentation will also be repeated at UCET2016.

Here is the schedule and questions for our conversation…
(All times are Mountain Standard Time)

9:05PM Q1 Part 1: Complete this sentence and tweet it out – The boys in my class(es) are _________, _________, and ____________. #utedchat

9:08PM Q1 Part 2: Complete this sentence and tweet it out – The girls in my class(es) are _________, _________, and ____________. #utedchat

9:10PM Q2: Let’s hear about you! What gender stereotypes do you see present in education today? Share your examples, feelings, frustrations! #utedchat

9:20PM Q3: If little boys and little girls brains start out more similar than different, but are wired noticeably different by school age, what’s happening? @kelleykingsdjan – what do you think? #utedchat

9:30PM Q4: Based on the statement from Lisa Hinkelman tweeted earlier… Do you think we should teach boys and girls differently? #utedchat

9:40PM Q5: What, if anything, have you found needs to be changed in your teaching based on the gender of your students? #utedchat

9:50PM Q6: What ideas do you have for challenging Gender Stereotypes in your classroom?

9:59PM Q7: Resource sharing time! What websites or resources have you used to engage all students in your classroom?

See you Wednesday night, January 13th at 9 PM MST!

Michael Hakkarinen

Michael Hakkarinen specializes in helping teachers engage students in the classroom with technology such as Mac Tools, Google Apps for Educators, iPads and more. He earned a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Maryland at College Park and a Master’s in Elementary Education at Mount Saint Mary’s University, where he also taught Instructional Technology at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He was a Technology Resource Teacher in Frederick County, Maryland, where he taught elementary school, and an EdTech for Canyons School District in Utah before joining the UEN PD team in 2014. He currently serves as President of the UCET Board.