For decades, there have been ongoing debates and books written about the differences between males and females, including the way they learn. This year, Bay Minette Intermediate School is going to get a first-hand look at these differences as it tries its first gender-based classroom with gender-appropriate names for their classrooms, The Pirates and The Princesses.
But BMIS is not the first in Baldwin County to use gender-based learning. The idea came from Foley Middle School Principal Lee Mansell when she was routinely looking at ways to increase students’ test scores. It was after she discovered in a book study, Leonard Sax’s book, “Why Gender Matters,” and learned of the national program, the National Association for Single Sex Public Education. But even before Sax, there was author Michael Gurian. Mansell read his book in July, “Boys and Girls Learn Differently.” She hand-picked the book from the state’s book list that year. After that, she made a proposal in April for what would be a three-year pilot program and hired Sax as a consultant to train the entire faculty.
Upon establishing the class, parents started signing up right and left for their children to be placed in the new gender classroom. As it turns out, now about one-third of Foley Middle School consists of single gender classrooms.
The word of success spread fast and a short timeLater, a group of teachers from BMIS was sent to attend the NASSPE in Columbia, SC to receive strategies, learn of legal ramifications of the program and to observe several middle schools where this was already in effect.
One criterion is that parents must volunteer their children to be in a gender classroom. And according to Mansell, this is not a problem. In fact, she has a lengthy waiting list for the classes. The popularity has grown since she started the first class three years ago with one class of each gender in the fourth grade. It has since expanded to include both fourth and fifth grade classrooms.
After Bay Minette Principal Abby Hamilton and teachers, Danielle Watson, Jennifer Smith, Shannon Garret, and Shelly Stewart observed Foley last year, they were convinced to give it a try at their school. According to Hamilton, the plan is to start with the fourth grade and move through sixth grade.
With only a month into the school year, teachers of the gender classrooms are already seeing a big improvement in both classrooms as far as student achievement. And when the two classes ordered frogs for their science projects, responses were quite different indeed. The boys were excited to find out how the frog eats its stomach while the girls reportedly think the idea “gross.”
More than just book-learning is going on in these classrooms. They’re learning about social etiquette and preparing to be ladies and gentlemen. So far, the boys have invited the girls to a mixer to watch a high school play, pulling out their chairs for them as the girls accepted graciously while the boys displayed their “ladies first” training.
According to the students, the adjustment period has been minimal. In fact, some students expressed their opinions rather strongly. “I like it a lot. The focus is easier. Girls mess up our focus. We (boys) can work together. We get to do more boy stuff. And like on a project, we have different responses,” said Andrew Williams
Bryan Kittrell also expressed what he saw to be advantages of being in a classroom with all boys. “We get to play football if we’re good the whole week sometimes. You get to make more (new) friends and have a lot of friends from the last year,” said Kitrell.
Brendon Mayo had additional comments about the competition debate. “Girls don’t bother you all the time (in gender classrooms),” said Mayo.
The girls’ responses were similar but with a different emphasis. One girl focused on the aspect of noise. “It’s quieter in our class,” said Jordan Johnson.
Similarly, Kylie Golden agreed and had some comments to add in the discussion. “I like it because there’s a lot of girls that are our friends in there. The difference is because you don’t have a lot of boys, we can talk about things that only relate to girls,” Golden said.
The interesting part is that research has found that the need for discipline has decreased and test scores have increased. Not only that, but parent-involvement has also increased. Many teachers feel there is a lot to be said about “comfort level” in a classroom. According to research, the physical and mental differences between the girls and boys indicate a need for changes in their environments. Such changes include, for example, altering the lighting. Research indicates girls respond best to warm (gold-tinted) lighting while boys respond best to cool (blue-tinted) lighting.
What it boils down to in the single-gender classroom is that the teacher is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of both genders and supply what they need to improve their education. For some, this may be more inclusion, for others, it may be more breaks to work off some energy.
For more information about gender-based classrooms and single-sex learning, visit Sax’s web site at genderdifferences.org or singlesexschools.org.
