Gender and Literacies

In the past two weeks we have read about multiple literacies and gender.  As we have discussed previously through other readings, our students are changing and evolving with the new technology available and as teachers we need to find ways to catch up.  I found the video by Michael Wesch on the “Visions of Students Today” to be pretty moving and accurate.  I have to admit that I myself have spent time checking email or browsing Facebook while sitting in a classroom.  I think that teachers lecturing on about material that isn’t relevant to our day-to-day lives and asking us merely to write papers or recall the information for a test is a waste of time especially for a college student.  There needs to be more technology in our classrooms and it should start way before students reach college.  Many teachers have the impression that using a Smart board, having students use computers to type papers, or creating PowerPoint presentations for lessons is the best way to incorporate technology in the classroom.  However, all though many students are pretty savvy with a computer, they are never really taught about programs or in depth computer skills that they may need when they get to the workplace.  They know how to Tweet someone but do they know how to create a spreadsheet or expense report?  With such an emphasis on test-taking and a lack of time in the classroom I fear that we will never be able to progress and become more technologically advanced in the classroom.

In the classroom students need to feel challenged but in some way feel invested in wanting to complete the challenge presented to them.  In the reading, “From Video Games, Learning About Learning”, James Gee basically explains how the way students approach video games should be the way students approach learning in school.  They should want to learn and critically think in ways that they are not used to.  The best video games require a lot of time and effort but people like to play them because they feel a sense of accomplishment.  In some way teachers need to present their class material in the same manner.  We should challenge our students to use different skills than they are used to in order to complete a task they find meaningful.

Gender is something that effects people as soon as they are conceived.  When parents find out they are having a girl, everything bought from that point forward is pink and rooms are decorated with flowers and dolls.  When I found out I was having a boy when I was pregnant, my son’s room was painted blue and all his décor was sports equipment so I know it is hard not to fall into the stereotypes of gender.  We assume that if someone is born with male genitals that they are naturally supposed to be masculine and someone born as a female should be feminine.  It is not always so black and white.  There are people who do not fit these stereotypes in some ways and then there are people who feel that although they are born to a certain sex, they feel their gender resembles the opposite.  I found the video posted about Richard/Riley to be very interesting.  I know this happens and that people can have a gender-identity disorder but hearing the words that a child told his parents about how he felt about it was amazing.  It must have been very difficult to accept their son’s differences but I could tell they had a sense of relief when they found that there was an explanation for his behavior and that making him happy by accepting him as a female was best for everybody.  I give a lot of praise to that principal who suggested Riley start dressing like a girl for school.  I think other schools or districts may frown upon something like this which is the opposite of how we should react as a community.

            When I first heard about the story about the runner, Caster Semenya, I found it disappointing that she had to go through a number of tests to prove her “femaleness”.  She set a world record and has a muscular physique so people felt they had to question her on her gender.  I feel that if this was a man who had done well in a sporting event but had characteristics more typical of a female there would never have been any mention of it.  Men are expected to do well in sports so when a woman does exceptionally well we doubt her sexuality?  It was later determined that Caster is a woman but unfortunately she had to sit out of races while this issue of whether she was a man or woman went on.