Isaac and Hope

Annotations:

• Use the Note Area to cite sources of information you found. Click the upper right corner of the box to make the note pad appear, then type.

1. Level 2: Sources Before 2010. In the bubbles below, record the main idea of each of the five articles we read for the discussion posts. Use dates in APA style.
   1. In" How Schools Shortchange Women" the main idea is that girls are being taught to fulfill the traditional role of "housewife", but not go into a male dominated profession. Yet,women make up almost 50% of the workforce, so this is definitely a wrong approach to education for women.
   2. In "Landscapes of Learning" by Greene the main idea of the text is that there is discrimination against boys because the classroom has always consisted of "feminine" activities; activities that appeal to girls more than boys. In this article there is also mention of traditional roles being taught to each sex.

      Annotations:

      • Note the citation here - it is APA style.  The author's last name and the date of the article/book.  Then at the end, you would have a list of references in APA style that would include the name of the article/book - like what most of you did for your biography project.
   3. In "The Problem With Gender-Based Education", the main idea is that girls and boys learn differently, therefore, they should be taught differently as opposed to being put in one classroom and being taught the same in the same way. All in all, minority boys are the ones who are suffering the most, and are usually the ones to drop out of school. The solution to this problem is "multi-aged classrooms"'; a classroom composed of children with similar learning styles. impacted
   4. The main idea of "Boys are Struggling Academically", is that girls do better academically and hence go off to college because they have developed better social skills than the boys.
   5. The main idea of "The truth about Boys and Girls" is that boys are not improving academically as fast a girls are but they are better in math and science than women. On the other hand, girls are better and writing and organizing.
2. Level 2: Sources After 2010. Choose 5 of the 8 new articles I provided, or search the web for others. Any combination is also fine. In the bubbles below, record the main idea of each.
   1. The main idea of " Better to be Lucky than Good: The Persistent Gender Gap in Standardized Testing" is that although boys score higher on the SAT and ACT than girls, in the year 2012 girls did significantly better than they usually did. It may have been luck because all of the material on standardized testing is not taught in class.
   2. The main idea of "Math, Reading Gaps by Gender Persists, Global Study Finds" is that boys perform better in math than girls do, but girls outperform boys in reading. This has been a trend for years now.
   3. The main idea of "Math Anxiety Gets Fresh Look, Different Twist in New Research" is that when it comes to testing in Math girls have proven to get quite anxious which could easily be part of the reason why they do not score well in Math; It not a mental incapability, it is just fear of testing in that subject.
   4. The main idea of " A Closer Look at Why More Women than Men are Going to College" is that the reason why more girls go to college than boys is because they are enrolled into more academically challenging high schools, opposite of the school preference of boys.
   5. The main idea of "Gender Gaps Alter Benefits of Extra-Curricular Activities, Study Finds" is that extra-curricular activities provide a some sort of benefit academically for both sexes but the benefits are different.
3. Level 1: At least three connections go in bubbles on this level. What have you found to remain the same throughout both time periods (before 2010 and after 2010) concerning girls' and boys' ed? Write these connections in boxes/bubbles on this level.

   Annotations:

   • Here is where you show evidence of your thinking. Connect the pieces about boys and girls' education that you have found to be the same in sources before 2010 (which we read for the discussions) and in sources you found dated after 2010.
   1. Most articles felt that either boys and girls were being shortchanged, and that gender-based education was the wrong focus.

      Annotations:

      • Boys are Stuggling.... The Problem with Gender Based Education...  The Gender Gap in Standardized Testing.
      1. Isaac feels that gender may be the wrong issue here.
   2. Girls have better behavior than boys and minority boys have the worst behavior out of all other races of boys.

      Annotations:

      • "Asian Boys Beat American Boys at Behavior"(Ross Brenneman)  "The Truth About Boys and Girls" (Mead) 
      1. I (Hope) feel that girls enjoy going to school more than boys because they are naturally more calm than boys. Boys love recess, girls like to write letters to each other in class, and most boys could care less about their handwriting because they just want to get the assignment finished. Thats just the way it is typically.
   3. The idea that boys were better at Mathematics and Science, while girls were better at writing and organizational skills.

      Annotations:

      • Robelen, Greene,
      1. Myself and Hope's schools had different breakdowns on the topic. Isaac's school had girls doing better in all subjects in general while Hope's experience lined up nicely with the above connection.
4. Level 3: What differences in the updated information did you find? Compare articles dated after 2010 to those dated before 2010. Record at least three.
   1. In pre 2010 guys were having a harder time passing the SAT due to the writing portion, while the girls are not having such problems. Post 2010, it is argued that boys overshadow girls on the SAT categoricallly.

      Annotations:

      • Pay Closer attention, boys are stuggling Tom Segal: Be lucky....
   2. In prre 2010 there is a comparison only between the behavior of African American and Hispanic boys in contrast with the behavior of Caucasian boys. In post 2010 the comparison is taken between African American boys and boys in China; a broader spectrum to look at. All in all, African American boys tend to have worse behavior than all other races of boys.

      Annotations:

      • "Asian Boys Beat American Boys at Behavior"(Ross Brenneman)  " The Truth About Boys and Girls" (Mead) 
   3. In pre 2010 boys outperformed girls in all grade levels of math and science, but in post 2010 only in certain grade levels did they outperform girls in math and science.

      Annotations:

      • "Math, Reading Gaps by Gender Persist" (Erik Roberlin) "The Truth About Boys and Girls" (Mead) 
   4. Level 4: Look at sources dated after 2010 that your group found for this week's discussion posts. On this level, show at least two likenesses (to the right) and two differences(to the left) you found as you studied these and ANY other works we have studied in the course. Cite your findings.
      1. "A Nation At Risk" , a book about educational reform talks about the excellence of boys in the subjects of math and science, similar to "The Truth About Boys and Girls" article.

         Annotations:

         • "The Truth About Boys and Girls" (Mead)   "A Nation At Risk" (  T. H. Bell) 
      2. "A Nation At Risk" focuses on the fact that there are many low performing schools in the U.S. and the answer to this problem is to require a certain standard for all schools and have everyone move up to that level, both teachers and children. However in " MLK's Final Words of Advice" he mentions that resolving the issue of poverty will solve the education problem that exists in low performing, minority schools.

         Annotations:

         • "A Nation At Risk" ( T. H. Bell)  " MLK's Final Words of Advice" (MLK Jr.) 
         1. "Math Anxiety Gets Fresh Look " talks about girls having anxiety in regard to math testing also says that because of their anxiety they avoid getting good paying jobs and having a nice life for themselves. Whereas "Landscapes of Learning" discusses how girls posses other qualities that make them viable member of the workforce; qualities that men don't have, like organizing, and social skills.

            Annotations:

            • "Landscapes of Learning: Sexism in Schools" ( Greene)   "Math, Reading Gaps by Gender Persist" ( Robelen) 
      3. "Tinkering Toward Utopia" discussed the idea that the education system does not cater to minority boys. This is similar to "The Problem with Gender- Based Education", which discusses how minority boys are not being taught effectively also.

         Annotations:

         • " The Problem With Gender-Based Education" (no author) "Tinkering Toward Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform" (Tayak and Cuban)
      4. Level 5: What conclusion(s) have you drawn about girls and boys' education as a result of synthesizing all you have read for this assignment?
         1. Idea 1: There is nothing wrong with girls learning differently than boys because it is the teachers job to "kidwatch" each gender. No one gender has an advantage over the other, but they perform well according to what their personal interests are.

            Annotations:

            • http://www.hereiswhereifound.com.  A notation needs to be on each of your bubbles in this area - support what you believe!  For example, you could refer to something in "Savage Inequalities", in which case you would write: (Kozol, 1991)
         2. Idea 2: As far as behavior is concerned there is no real way to decipher why a certain gender acts out more than the other. In fact it is not necessary to add up the difference at all because it wont change anything. No teacher actually expects every child to have perfect behavior because that would just be unrealistic.
         3. Idea 3:Standardized Testing in high school is useless if there is a certain amount of material on it that is not presented to students in class. It is trickery to have a child miss out on graduating from high school when in actuality they started off with the odds against them because of a faulty test. It is as if they are being set up to fail. Shouldn't they at least be able to have confidence that they know all the material presented to them on the test?