I am (or maybe was) one of the good girls in classroom. Only
speaking when I knew the correct answer, working hard, always being nice,
quiet, never hurting anyone’s feeling, feeding on affirmation, and good grades.
However, I have never cried to a teacher or professor over a bad grade or hurtful
comment. Now, in my car or at home after class is a totally different story.
More than a few times I have balled my eyes out over a bad grade or botched
presentation. These instances always pushed me to work harder, to do better
work to impress my professor or at the very least save face. As a good girl who
is now an instructor, I am sensitive to the good girls in my classroom. I feel
my mothering instincts come into play every time one of the good girls in my
classroom raises their hand and especially after the answer given is wrong or
botch presentation is given. I cradle their
egos. I help them through the speech with smiles and nodding. I also let them
down gently but never actually tell them their answer was wrong. Now I never
thought I was hurting them more than helping them. I was giving these good
girls what I found in very few classrooms. Lots of affirmation and sympathy.
After reading Bell and Golombisky's article, I now think I am hurting my
good girls way more than helping. By side stepping every wrong answer to save
face for my good girls. I am keeping them from learning to find their voice.
Keeping them from learning it’s okay to say the wrong answer because the
classroom is where we correct those answers. I was too worried about upsetting my
good girls and not worried enough about helping them become smart women.
In the future, I plan to push my good girls a little more
and include more affirmation phrases in class discussions. I hope to help them
realize the amazing voices they have and that it is not all about the grades
but it is about what you learn. Hopeful starting them on a path away from
learned helplessness and the feeling that crying to superiors will help them
get their way. Ultimately, turning the
good girls in my classroom into smart women. Just as all those professors who
were “hard on me” or “must not have liked me” pushed me onto the path of
becoming a smart woman.
#thefeels
Jordan! In some ways, I believe that I have been (or am) a "good girl" student myself. With that being said, I was able to relate to all of it on an extremely personal level! Crying at home over a grade...been there, done that. As a teacher though, I never even thought of how I catered to the "good girls" in my classroom, but you are absolutely right, the teachers that pushed me and took me out of my comfort zone, taught me more than how to make a good grade. Good girls to smart women - I love that :)
ReplyDeleteI think affirmation phrases are a great way to empower the women in your classroom and avoids a lot of the side stepping arguments you made above. I agree that if you can convince students that grades don't matter and that their primary concern should be to learn the content through their assignments, a much deeper level of comprehension can occur. Extrinsic incentives, like grades, have proven time and time again to be insufficient motivators in the classroom. I think framing an education in this way can help change some of the 'good girls' in the class, to the smart women you talked about!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great world in the classroom!