I started my first class today to become a High School teacher. While I am sure that this will create many posts on my experiences, I was interested in a few things that were brought up today.
I appreciated many tips that the professor offered for helping with keeping control in your classroom, but one stuck with me. She told us that Men were never to meet alone with students in the classroom. Why only men? Are only Men perceived to be sexual predators? Is it a sexual thing or a power thing? How does gender factor into this? As someone that is often perceived as a man, I listened to the statement with a sense that I should heed her warning too. I believe that all teachers need to be careful with meeting with students alone. It bothers me that the idea exists that teachers cannot be trusted to meet with their students alone, but it is good to have an open door policy for your own protection. We do live in a sue-happy society that encourages people to seek out others perceived to have harmed children and punish them. I think that women can be just as harmful as men when dealing with children. We should be monitoring all teachers and children to see how they are affecting each other.
Also, we talked about professional dress. I realize that I will need to dress professionally, but I keep getting the feeling that I will need to wear more "womanly gendered" attire. Sometimes I hate wearing feminine things and feel like a football player in a dress when I put one on. I hate wearing purses and only put on a little makeup. I don't want to grow out my hair and will have to figure out many ingenious ways of hiding my tattoo. My mom shakes her head whenever we talk about it as a family. This is one of the reasons that I want to be sensitive to how long I want to be a teacher. I think all of this bureaucracy will get to me after awhile.
Teaching is dominated by White, middle class, women. If Men perceive that they need to be watched while working in the field, aren't we as a profession sending them a message that they shouldn't enter the field?
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2 comments:
Merv,
I don't have any comments about this entry specifically, just that I'm really glad you're doing this, and keep it up!
Kentucky Experience Project
i am a high school teacher that is definately not middle class. i feel pretty counter-cultural and it is a strange fit working in that environment. while was born female and strongly identify as a woman, the school where i work has SO MANY GLB (T?) teachers. most of the teachers are very liberal as well. i realize this is not the way every high school is, but i have felt very surprised as a first year teacher.
that being said, as a person with 2 facial piercings, 4 visible tattoos and a very non traditional sense of fashion, i have fit in very well. i think most schools are looking for passionate teachers, not just middle class white women. and things will only continue to get better.
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