7. Exploring What It Means to Be a Girl or a Boy

"Little girls with big ideas are much scarier than monsters." ~ Clementine von Radics

The Lesson

In adolescence, our students are exploring who they are, trying on new identities monthly, weekly, even daily. Often, they look to popular culture for clues about the kinds of persons they want to be. Books--like tv, movies, video games, and music--provide cues as to how they should dress, think, and act. For this reason, it is important that, as teachers, we consider the messages students receive from the books we read. Literature can help students explore what it means to be a boy or a girl (or neither). But left undiscussed, they can get the wrong impression about gender roles and expectations. Do the books they are reading reinforce stereotypes? Or do they disrupt them?

For this lesson, you are to read one of the following novels, focusing on how it situates boys and girls.

The Challenge

To help your students disrupt gender stereotypes, you will focus this challenge on the messages your book sends about what it means to be a boy or girl. You may choose one character to analyze. While it might make sense to focus on the gender of the protagonist, you are also free to choose a supporting character if something about their gender jumps out at you.

Once you have finished reading your novel, spend some time jotting down the stereotypes of whichever gender you are focusing on. Then, make a list of characteristics and events from the book that either support or disrupt the stereotype.

Questions to consider as you are analyzing gender:

What personality traits and behaviors show us that this character conforms to gender stereotypes?
What personality traits and behaviors show us that this character rejects gender stereotypes?
How do others respond to this character? Do their responses help the character conform or reject the gender stereotypes?
How does this character contribute to or change a social construction of gender?
Which gender stereotypes are most frequently reinforced by characters in books, and why?
Which gender stereotypes are most frequently resisted by characters in books, and why?
How do you wish young adult books were different in terms of how they contribute to the social construction of gender?

Once you have explored gender representation in your book, create a product that shares your insights and understandings with the rest of the class. The way you represent your thinking is totally up to you.

Post your response to your portfolio by 4:00pm on Feb. 27th.