1. Lesson Plan Overview
The purpose of this lesson plan is to lead students, through their own writing, to discover the gender biases that they have. Students will respond to a narrative writing prompt that involves occupations and will be instructed to use pronouns. Afterwards, their writing will be analyzed for bias. Then, students discuss what they have learned about the language.
2. From Theory to Practice Article Summary
This article entitled, “A Brief Writing Assignment for Introducing Non-Sexist Pronoun Usage” details an assignment identical to that in the RWT lesson. Christopher Hayes makes the argument that, to someextent, the language we use shapes our viewpoint of the world. He uses the following passage from Kenneth Dowst as a lead-in to the narrative writing assignment:
We do not know the world immediately; rather, we compose our knowledge by composing language; 2.) how we act depends on what we know, hence the language with which we make sense of the world; 3.) serious experimenting in composing with words is experimenting in knowing in new ways, perhaps better ways (74)[1].
Hayes waits to introduce the quote until after students complete their narrative. He wants the students to write an uncensored narrative; allowing them to subconsciously formulate the sexes of the professionals rather than have their attention drawn to the underlying purpose of the assignment.
Before writing their narrative, students discuss the attributes of a variety of writing, including narratives. This assignment provides the following scenario, “Write a narrative explaining why the characters listed below find themselves in a hall outside a courtroom. Please use pronouns clearly when you refer to the characters so that I can easily tell to which characters you refer and so that I can tell who does what. (If you want, you may even give the characters names to identify them.)” (75)[2]. The characters are: an attorney, judge, teacher, physician, professor, police officer, nurse.
After the writing is completed, Hayes shows his students a chart of the genders attributed to the sexes in the late 80s and then again in the late 90s. In 1987, students assigned gender traditionally or stereotypically—all students made the judge, police officer, and physician male and almost all referred to the attorney and professor as male. All referred to the nurse and teacher as female. In 1997, the students were a little less rigid with these patterns, but the majority of the students still regarded all of the roles but the nurse and teacher as male and vice versa.
Hayes wrapped up this lesson by reintroducing the Dowst quote and asking students to reflect on how language use shapes our realities. If teachers are always referred to as “she”, and doctors always referred to as “he,” then we begin to think of these roles as female and male roles. Some students argued that our use of these pronouns only reflects reality: there are more female teachers and more male doctors. Still, Hayes concludes this article by making the point that we need to experiment with our own language so that we can avoid sexist pronoun usage which may, in turn, reconstruct reality, perhaps by making teaching a more acceptable profession for men and becoming a doctor more accessible for women.
- Website Summary
Identified Resources:
- In-Class Narrative Writing Assignment – handout
- Students’ Ascriptions of Gender to Seven Characters (1987, 1997) – handout
- TexasA&MUniversityWritingCenter – “Stories and Narratives” web site
- OWL (Online Writing Lab) at PurdueUniversity – web site
- National Council of Teachers of English – web site “Guidelines for Gender-Fair Use of Language”
- Wikipedia Entry on Non-sexist Language
Resources accompanying this lesson make it easy to implement immediately. Both the writing prompt and students’ ascriptions to gender need only be copied for student consumption. The Texas A&M siteregarding narratives and stories suggests tips for narrative writing that I would use more as a prior knowledge activation guide as a tool to share with students. The suggestions listed at this site are general enough that struggling students may be more intimidated to start writing if given the handout alone. However, for the teacher to use as talking points to activate prior knowledge about narrative or creative writing (if that isn’t a typical in one’s class), this handout may be helpful. There are other links for writing resources on this site, but mainly sophisticated writers who know what help they need would benefit.
To prepare for this lesson, teachers would find the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and Wikipedia entries helpful. They both articulate the importance of gender-fair language, particularly for educators who have the opportunity to inspire or discourage young minds and ambitions. The Wikipedia source relates interesting background material for teachers to share. The NCTE site provides exactly what its title says, a practical guide to avoid gender biased writing and speaking including corrected examples and an excellent rationale for using gender-fair language when teaching.
My favorite resource was the OWL at PurdueUniversity site. Although this web site clearly serves older learners (middle school and above), a myriad of suggestions and resources exist to help teachers and learners here. The link on this lesson goes directly to resources concerning non-sexist language usage. (This site actually credits the NCTE site for the examples used.) The format is easy for students to follow with simple examples of gender bias in everyday vernacular and gender-fair alternatives. I like the OWL site because a search option exists within the site to aid students with almost any writing difficulty. There are several resources for teachers also including prepared handouts for students.
- Student Objectives Review
The objectives of this lesson are accomplished if students gain an understanding of the power of language specifically related to gender biased and fair usage. The teacher wants to instill an awareness of gender bias in language and strategies to avoid stereotypes by using gender-fair language in their own speaking and writing. These objectives coincide perfectly with IRA standards four, nine, and twelve particularly which promote the ability to manipulate language for a variety of purposes and audiences as well as recognizing patterns of language use specific to certain cultural or geographic groups.
- Review of Activities in Lesson Plan
Preparation: To prepare for this lesson, identify the web or print resources that you would like to use and make copies as necessary. Be sure to make a copy or overhead of the narrative writing assignment.
Instruction and Activities (Session one): Discuss basic characteristics of narrative writing. Give students the in-class narrative writing assignment. Students have the remainder of class to write (twenty-five minutes is recommended.) Take papers up.
Session Two: Before class, read through student drafts to get an idea of what the students’ perceptions are regarding occupations and gender. Choose some passages to share with the class. Or, make a table like the sample resources that show the gender distribution in the narratives. Make copies to pass out or an overhead. Start class by reading several passages form student work. Instruct students to visualize the characters as you read. Then, note students’ visualizations for each character on the board. Share the Student Ascriptions of Gender Table for groups of students completing this assignment in 1987 and 1997. Compare the assumptions on the chart to students’ assumptions in your class. Have a class discussion about these assumptions. Then discuss how language has shaped these assumptions. How does using “he” as the general pronoun rather than “she” shape our thoughts and what does it say about our society? Using the OWL atPurdueUniversity’s web site or handout, discuss options for gender-fair writing. Return to class writings. As a possible extension, have students write a reflection about how their use of pronouns reveals their gender assumptions. Also, students can return to their writing either in pairs, small groups, or individually and use suggested alternatives to edit their pieces for gender-fair language.
- Lesson Evaluation
I liked how insightfulness of this lesson. This lesson requires very little preparation for teachers due to the handouts, resources, and instruction provided, but great effectiveness and gain in gender bias awareness for students. As educators, we can easily forget how much influence we really have on students. Often it seems that they are tuning us out, but the cumulative effect of spending large chunks of time with us day after day gives teachers opportunities to inspire or discourage students ideas of the world and themselves. I like this lesson because it reminds me of bias that may creep into my own thought, speech, and writing. The narrative writing exercise provides a perfect and immediate example of how biased one’s writing is. By incorporating the work of the student, the lesson automatically becomes more relevant and interesting to them. If a teacher feels lead to research the history of gender biased language by using the internet resources available, students would benefit additionally from a brief history language illuminating how far society has come in the use of gender-fair language and acknowledging the biases that linger still. The websites included solutions for a host of writing dilemmas, with special attention given to alternatives to use gender-fair language. The suggestions for extension given in this review are the only improvements I would make to this powerful lesson.
[1]Usage,” Christopher G. Hayes, “A Brief Writing Assignment Introducing Non-Sexist Pronoun Teaching English in
the Two-YearCollege. (September 2000): 74-77.
[2]Usage,” Christopher G. Hayes, “A Brief Writing Assignment Introducing Non-Sexist Pronoun Teaching English in
the Two-YearCollege. (September 2000): 74-77.