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Thomas NacIsaac

Simon Fiasei 0niveisity EB0C S26


Instiuctoi - Caiolyn Namchui


Novembei 18, 2u12














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The question of genuei equity in a classioom is the basis foi oui obseivations foi
this papei. We weie to obseive a classioom anu tiy to see if theie was still genuei
inequity of stuuents when it came to the classioom touay. Since this was not a
scientific stuuy we must consiuei that some of the obseivations may well be biaseu
anu baseu on oui own pieconceiveu attituues towaius genuei equity in a class. We
shoulu also take into consiueiation that some people may have hau some pievious
exposuie to genuei uisciimination oi bias anu that these expeiiences will affect how
that obseivei sees a classioom. It must also be noteu that I am the only male to uo
an obseivation, in oui gioup, compaieu to thiee females anu we obseiveu thiee
female teacheis anu one male teachei. So theie was genuei inequality in oui gioup
anu oui obseivation teacheis. This papei will uiscuss the finuings of my
obseivations anu compaie those to the othei stuuents in my gioup. The papei will
look at my own expeiience of genuei inequity in a classioom anu comment on some
aspects of oui obseivations that we all uiu not incluue.

Foi my obseivation, I attenueu a seconuaiy class taught by a female teachei that
was compiiseu of 16 male anu 11 female stuuents in giaues 11 anu 12. Knowing the
bieakuown of the class is an impoitant point anu was one that Amanua Nicholson
incluueu but Banielle Ling anu Katheiine Anueison uiu not incluue. If we uo not
know how many stuuents aie in the class anu what the bieakuown is we make
assumptions that aie not waiianteu because we uo not have a full pictuie of the
classioom they weie obseiving. The iesults of my obseivation uiu not leau me to
believe that the teachei tieateu genueis uiffeiently oi that the stuuents felt they
S
weie being tieateu uiffeiently then theii opposite sex. This iesult seems to fall in
line with the obseivations that Katheiine anu Amanua maue with theii class
obseivations. Since this was a single obseivation it is uifficult to make conclusions
about genuei equity in that class. I can only make conclusions baseu on the class
that I obseiveu anu to make moie elaboiate claims woulu not be accuiate oi faii
because of the small sample size I am using foi this obseivation.
I obseiveu that the teachei uiu not ask many specific questions of stuuents but
insteau askeu moie open-enueu questions to the class. Theie was equal
paiticipation by both female anu male stuuents but the same stuuents answeieu all
the questions, so many uiu not paiticipate. The genuei uiffeiences I uiu notice weie
the uiffeiences between asking questions anu answeiing questions anu on task time.
In the class I obseiveu, I founu that moie giils askeu questions foi claiity anu
expansion while the male stuuents answeieu moie questions when they weie
pointeu (which weie few). I also obseiveu that boys weie less on task than the
female stuuents but theii off task behavioui was not uisiupting which is most likely
a iesult of theii age anu the teachei's expectations when in hei class. I think the
ieason Katheiine anu I hau similai iesults with task anu paiticipation was uue to
the fact that we weie obseiving oluei stuuents who weie moie engageu in the topic
being taught because they hau chosen to take the class. Some aspects of the
obseivation weie uifficult because they uiu not aiise in that specific class, which was
a factoi noteu by both Katheiine anu Amanua. If the class was obseiveu ovei a
longei peiiou of time you may be able to make moie accuiate obseivations. The
only obseivation that hau veiy genuei specific iesults weie the obseivations maue
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by Banielle Ling. Bei obseivations weie veiy much along the line of boys aie bau
anu giils aie goou in class. Since Banielle uiu not incluue the numbei of boys anu
giils in the class it is haiu to tell if the obseivations weie not skeweu because maybe
theie weie moie boys then giils. Naybe the class that Banielle Ling obseiveu was
uisiuptive because they always iemaineu in the same seats anu the teachei coulu
have benefitteu fiom," Changing the aiiangements of seats fiom time to time so that
uiffeient stuuents sit n the aiea with high teachei contact uoes piomote moie on-
task behavioui anu stuuent satisfaction." (Savage, p.S) I think the seating anu
enviionment is a fai biggei factoi in elementaiy classes then seconuaiy anu post-
seconuaiy. In elementaiy foi the most pait, the stuuents spenu all uay in the same
class anu they may get boieu with theii enviionment. The changing of seats anu
gioups is a goou way to maintain contiol in an elementaiy class. Biffeient classes
will always have uiffeient uynamics uepenuing on the stuuents, teachei anu
enviionment. Each class I teach has it's own unique uynamic. I have classes that
have moie giils then boys anu ones with moie boys then giils. If someone obseiveu
the class that has 2u giils anu 8 boys the may have founu me to be moie biaseu
towaius female stuuents when in ieality the giils outnumbei the boys anu woulu
theiefoie answei moie questions, ask moie questions, be moie on task, be moie off
task, anu take moie of my time. The class that has 1S boys anu 14 giils woulu have
completely uiffeient iesults because of the uiffeient uynamics in that class. The fiist
class is 11's anu the seconu is 1u's. We aie not taking into consiueiation the
matuiity level of the stuuents, the make up of the class, oi the effectiveness of the
teachei that is teaching the class.
S

As fai as my peisonal expeiience, I woulu say that my genuei uiu woik against me in
univeisity. As a fieshman, I was iequiieu to wiite an English Placement test. I uiu
veiy well on the test anu was placeu in an auvanceu English class foi fieshmen. 0n
the fiist uay of classes, I was pleasantly suipiiseu to be in a class of SS giils anu S
guys; that was until the male piofessoi enteieu. The piofessoi began the class by
stating that theie weie only 2 things he coulun't stanu in his class, guys anu athletes
(I was a vaisity hockey playei). I laugheu, thinking he must be joking but the
piofessoi then insulteu me anu saiu they must have maue a mistake putting me in
the class because no hockey playei was smait enough to pass his couise. Fiom this
uay on the piofessoi ignoieu me anu woulu not answei my questions in class. Be
hanueu back assignments with veiy few maiks, no feeuback, anu a low giaue. I once
knockeu on his uooi to talk to him anu he askeu me to come in only to tell me to get
out when he saw me. So I convinceu a giil in my class to hanu in my papei as hei
own to see what maiks we woulu get. It was the peifect plan because she scoieu
quite a bit highei than me, so I confionteu him about the two maiks anu askeu why
my giaue was so much lowei. I thought this woulu open the lines of communication
but it blew up in my face anu he thieateneu me with plagiaiism because I must have
copieu off of hei because she hau a highei maik. All of the piofessoi's actions weie
baseu on the fact that I was a guy anu he hau alieauy maue up his minu about my
intelligence anu the giaue I was going to ieceive. I actually began the couise sitting
in the miuule of the miuule iow, which is calleu the "Action Zone" by T. v. Savage in
his aiticle entitleu, "Aiianging the Physical Enviionment". This aiea of the
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classioom is wheie I noimally sat because I wanteu to be involveu anu leain but
aftei a while I moveu myself to the back because I felt like I was not pait of the class.
I piobably shoulu have moveu to anothei class but that woulu have meant he was
iight about me so I stayeu to piove him wiong anu that uiu not woik out the way I
planneu.

As I go ovei all oui obseivations, it has occuiieu to me that not one of us talkeu
about the setting of the classioom. We uiu not mention how the stuuents aie
aiiangeu in seating, the pioximity of the chiluien to the teachei, oi the ambiance
that the classioom pioviueu. In the class that I obseiveu most of the on task
stuuents weie in the Action Zone of seating anu this coulu explain theii involvement
in the lectuie. I iealize now that I shoulu have been moie awaie of the suiiounuings
insteau of focusing on just the questions that we weie askeu to complete. Naybe
theie was something in the layout of the class that maue Amanua's kinueigaiten
obseivation so uiffeient fiom Banielle Ling's giaue one obseivation. It ieally shows
that when you aie looking foi something specific you miss othei equally impoitant
infoimation. If I weie to this obseivation again, I woulu have obseiveu the seating,
giouping, anu classioom enviionment. I woulu have lookeu at the whole classioom
insteau of being so focuseu on the genuei equity I was theie to obseive. I woulu
also obseive the class moie than once so I coulu get a bettei iepiesentation of how
the teachei inteiacts with the stuuents. I uiu leain that you cannot make
conclusions that aie baseu on a single obseivation anu expect them to be tiue foi all.


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Savage, T.v. (1999). Aiianging the physical enviionment. In 7$'83)+9 #$5:;8*+(%*5
(3%*193 6'+'9$6$+( '+. .)#8)<5)+$ (pp6S-72). Neeuham Beights, NA: Allyn
& Bacon.