This seminar will introduce how feminist theories have prompted a rethinking of educational practice and research, with a focus on schooling. It will examine the gendered experiences of people in educational organizations as students, teachers, and administrators. Differences by age, race/ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation will be discussed. Topics will include what counts as knowledge, feminist pedagogies, power relations in classrooms and schools, teaching in the context of diversity, and teachers as participatory action researchers.

OVERVIEW OF FEMINIST THEORIES & THE IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION:
Mon. July 5 Expectations, topics, assignments; Voices of change video
Wed. July 7 Overview of feminist theories
Fri. July 9 Overview of feminisms and education

GENDER & CURRICULUM:
Mon. July 12 What is worth knowing? ** learning contracts due **
Wed. July 14 Whose knowledge should be taught?
Fri. July 16 Changing the subject

FEMINIST PEDAGOGIES:
Mon. July 19 Visions
Wed. July 21 Theories into practice
Fri. July 23 Challenges

GENDER, MEDIA, & POPULAR CULTURE:
Mon. July 26 The "what about the boys?" story
Wed. July 28 Gendered childhoods and pop culture
Fri. July 30 Gendered images of teacher identity in pop culture

TEACHING IN THE CONTEXT OF UNEQUAL POWER RELATIONS:
Mon. Aug. 2 BC Day; no classes
Wed. Aug. 4 "Power over" issues in school
Fri. Aug. 6 The complex intersections of racism and sexism

TEACHERS AS PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCHERS:
Mon. Aug. 9 What is participatory action research?
Wed. Aug. 11 Researching (within the policy frame of) gender equity
Fri. Aug. 13 Wrap-up

Every student should come to class prepared to discuss the assigned readings. Class members will learn as much from the exchange of views inside the classroom as we will from analyzing the readings on our own. You will evaluate your own performance in class and assess what your marks for participation will be (out of 10). This assessment is due at the time you turn in your final assignment, with a one-paragraph explanation about how you evaluated your participation. I reserve the right to contact you and negotiate your mark (either up or down) if I seriously disagree with your evaluation.

Evaluation criteria:

• Did you read the assigned material and come to class having attempted to synthesize the readings, to identify concepts you didn't understand, to pinpoint where the author(s) seemed confused?
• Did you attempt to contribute to class discussion in a way that enhanced our understanding of the readings? (Measure yourself against your usual inclination for "speaking up," not against how much you talked in relation to how much other people talked.)
• Did you make an effort to speak?
• Did you avoid dominating discussion?
• Did you deal respectfully with others' questions, confusion, and discussion priorities?
• Did you use class discussion (regardless of whether you spoke) as an opportunity to expand your understanding of the topics at hand?

What follows are some suggested assignments, evaluation criteria, and (in part IV) sample outlines of learning contracts, with suggested weights for various assignments. You should think about the type of assignment(s) that would best suit your needs and then indicate in a short learning contract how much you would like to weight each assignment. Learning contracts will be due in class on July 12.

Example: Compare and contrast at least three of the feminist frameworks discussed in class and their implications for educational practice.

Evaluation criteria:

• easy to read (well organized, concise, proofread for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors);
• demonstrates understanding of the frameworks (identifies and summarizes key elements, explicates relationships among the frameworks);
• illustrates points with appropriate examples drawn from experience or readings;
• demonstrates informed judgment about the value of the various frameworks for specific purposes.

Select a reading that will be discussed in class and summarize the argument, discuss the implications for policy or practice, and present your critique. Each summary/critique should be turned in on the day a reading is first discussed.

Questions to guide your study of the readings:

• What is the author's main argument or point?
• Which feminist framework(s) does the author draw from?
• What type(s) of evidence does the author present? Does the evidence support the author's conclusions?
• What significance does the reading have for policy or practice?
• Briefly evaluate or comment on the reading. For example: What was your reaction to the reading? Were there themes with which you agreed or disagreed? Why? Were there points or concepts you did not understand? Did the author ignore or downplay a point you felt was relevant and important?

A reflective journal is less structured than the summary/critiques mentioned above. Use it to record tentative questions, beginning insights, conflicts between beliefs and new understandings, and so on. You might express yourself through drawing, poetry, and diagrams in addition to conventional prose.

Evaluation criteria:

• relates concepts and ideas from class discussions, readings, and course themes to examples or incidents in your own life
• describes new understandings
• raises thoughtful questions
• articulates your beliefs in relation to various gender and education issues and documents how they might be changing or deepening

Example: Interview one person knowledgeable about a gender and education topic that interests you. Analyze what you have learned and then reflect upon the new questions that arise from your inquiry.

Examples: How does a set of reading(s) we have discussed enlarge your understanding of a personal experience? Use one or more of the concepts presented in class to analyze something you care about. Write about a possible error in some strongly held belief of yours related to a topic we have touched upon in class.

Negotiate an alternative assignment (e.g., design a lesson plan related to a topic or theme introduced in class; develop an initial question for an action research project related to gender and education).

NOTE: You may work together with other members of the class on any assignment; if you elect to do this, you will receive a group mark.

Required text: Kenway, Jane, & Willis, Sue (with Blackmore, Jill, & Rennie, Leonie). (1998). Answering back: Girls, boys and feminism in schools. New York: Routledge. <Note: this text is referred to below as Kenway et al., Answering back.>

Optional background reading:

British Columbia. Ministry of Women's Equality. (1998). Women count: A statistical profile of women in British Columbia (3rd ed.). Victoria: Author. <available for free from author; http://www.weq.gov.bc.ca>

Kaminer, Wendy. (1993, October). Feminism's identity crisis. Atlantic Monthly, pp. 51-53, 56, 58-59, 62, 64, 66-68.

Tavris, Carol. (1992). Speaking of gender. In The mismeasure of woman (pp. 287-312). New York: Simon and Schuster.

Briskin, Linda. (1998, May 31-June 1). Using groundrules to negotiate power in the classroom. Centering on the margins: The evaded curriculum. (pp. 1-8, 48, 80). Canadian Association for the Study of Women and Education (CASWE) International Institute Proceedings, University of Ottawa.

Video: Voices of change [NFB, 1995, 92 min.]

Elliot, Patricia, & Mandell, Nancy. (1995). Feminist theories. In Nancy Mandell (Ed.), Feminist issues: Race, class, and sexuality (pp. 3-31). Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall Canada Inc.

Bannerji, Himani. (1997). Geography lessons: On being an insider/outsider to the Canadian nation. In L. G. Roman & L. Eyre (Eds.), Dangerous territories: Struggles for difference and equality in education (pp. 23-41). New York: Routledge.

Kenway et al., Answering back, Introduction (pp. xi-xxi).

Acker, Sandra. (1987). Feminist theory and the study of gender and education. International Review of Education, 33, 419-435.

Kenway et al., Answering back, Ch. 1: That mysterious gap "between hope and happening" (pp. 1-31).

WEEK 2: GENDER AND CURRICULUM (July 12-16)

Gaskell, Jane, Arlene McLaren, & Myra Novogrodsky. (1989). What Is worth knowing: Defining the feminist curriculum. In Claiming an Education (pp. 32-62). Toronto: Our Schools/Our Selves.

Kenway et al., Answering back, Ch. 3: Knowledge (pp. 64-95).

Ellsworth, Elizabeth. (1994). Representation, self-representation, and the meanings of difference. In R. A. Martusewicz & W. M. Reynolds (Eds.), Inside/out: Contemporary critical perspectives in education (pp. 99-108). New York: St. Martin's Press.

Martin, Jane Roland. (1995). The radical future of gender enrichment. In J. Gaskell & J. Willinsky (Eds.), Gender in/forms curriculum: From enrichment to transformation (pp. 157-173). New York: Teachers College Press.

Graveline, F. J. (1994). Lived experience of an aboriginal feminist transforming the curriculum. Canadian Woman Studies, 14 (2), 52-55.

Davies, Bronwyn. (1993). Knowledge and the subjects of reading and writing. In Shards of glass: Children reading and writing beyond gendered identities (pp. 38-63). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.

WEEK 3: FEMINIST PEDAGOGIES (July 19-23)

Briskin, Linda. (1990). Feminist pedagogy: Teaching and learning liberation. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women.

hooks, bell. (1994). Introduction; Engaged pedagogy. In Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom (pp. 1-22). New York: Routledge.

Luke, Carmen. (1996). Introduction. In C. Luke (Ed.), Feminisms and pedagogies of everyday life (pp. 1-27). Albany: State University of New York Press.

Coulter, Rebecca Priegert. (1995). Struggling with sexism: Experiences of feminist first-year teachers. Gender and Education, 7 (1), 33-50.

Novogrodsky, Myra, Kaufman, Michael, Holland, Dick, & Wells, Margaret. (1992, April). Retreat for the future: An anti-sexist workshop for high schoolers. Our Schools/Our Selves, 3 (4), 67-88.

Chilly Climate Collective. (1991). Some possible difficulties and suggestions that may help. The chilly climate for women in colleges and universities: Facilitator's manual (pp. 17-20). University of Western Ontario.

Kenway et al., Answering back, Ch. 5: Emotion (pp. 130-163).

WEEK 4: GENDER, MEDIA & POPULAR CULTURE (July 26-July 30)

Gram, Karen. (1997, September 27). Trendspotter: Boys no longer dominate schools academically or socially, says educator Patrick Clarke. Vancouver Sun, pp. D10-D11.

Clarke, Pat. (1998, October). Did somebody say social revolution? [BCTF] Teacher, p. 6.

Kenway et al., Answering back, Ch. 2: Success (pp. 32-63).

Jackson, David, & Salisbury, Jonathan. (1996, March). Why should secondary schools take working with boys seriously? Gender and Education, 8 (1), 103-115.

Giroux, Henry A. (1997). Are Disney movies good for your kids? In S. R. Steinberg & J. L. Kincheloe (Eds.), Kinderculture: The corporate construction of childhood (pp. 53-68). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Williams, Steven D. (1998). Reading sexuality in popular music. Radical Teacher, no. 52, 25-30.

Weber, Sandra, & Mitchell, Claudia. (1995). More than words: Drawing out the gendered nature of teacher identity and work. In their "That's funny, you don't look like a teacher": Interrogating images and identity in popular culture (pp. 33-53). London: Falmer Press.

Note: Monday, August 2 is BC day; university closed

Kenway et al., Answering back, Ch. 4: Power (pp. 96-129).

Henry, Annette. (1996, Winter). Five Black women teachers critique child-centered pedagogy: Possibilities and limitations of oppositional standpoints. Curriculum Inquiry, 26 (4), 363-384.

Rezai-Rashti, Goli. (1994, Spring). The dilemma of working with minority female students in Canadian high schools. Canadian Woman Studies/Cahiers de la femme, 24 (2), 76-82.

Ng, Roxana. (1993). "A woman out of control": Racism, sexism, and the "inclusive" university. Canadian Journal of Education, 18 (3), 189-205.

Kelly, Deirdre M. (1993, Spring). Secondary power source: High school students as participatory researchers. The American Sociologist, 24 (1), 8-26.

Lock, Robyn S., & Minarik, Leslie Turner. (1997). Gender equity in an elementary classroom: The power of praxis in action research. In Sandra Hollingsworth (Ed.), International action research: A casebook for educational reform (pp. 179-189). London: Falmer Press.

Kenway et al., Answering back, Ch. 6: Responsibility (pp. 164-198).

Haig-Brown, Celia. (1997). Gender equity, policy, and praxis. In L. G. Roman & L. Eyre (Eds.), Dangerous territories: Struggles for difference and equality in education (pp. 233-254). New York: Routledge.

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca --> go to "Programs and Services," then "Gender Equity Programs"

Cassidy, Barbara, Lord, Robina, & Mandell, Nancy. (1995). Silenced and forgotten women: Race, poverty, and disability. In Nancy Mandell (Ed.), Feminist issues: Race, class, and sexuality (pp. 32-66). Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall Canada Inc.

Gaskell, Jane. (1992). Gender Matters from School to Work. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Gaskell, Jane, & McLaren, Arlene Tigar. (Eds.). (1991). Women and education: A Canadian perspective. 2nd ed. Calgary, Alberta: Detselig Enterprises Limited.

Jaggar, Alison M., & Rothenberg, Paula S. (Eds.). (1993). Feminist frameworks: Alternative theoretical accounts of the relations between women and men. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Martindale, Kathleen. (1995). What makes lesbianism thinkable?: Theorizing lesbianism from Adrienne Rich to queer theory. In Nancy Mandell (Ed.), Feminist issues: Race, class, and sexuality (pp. 67-93). Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall Canada Inc.

Morra, Norman, & Smith, Michael D. (1995). Men in feminism: Reinterpreting masculinity and femininity. In Nancy Mandell (Ed.), Feminist issues: Race, class, and sexuality (pp. 185-207). Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall Canada Inc.

Ng, Roxana, Staton, Pat, & Scane, Joyce. (Eds.) (1995). Anti-racism, feminism, and critical approaches to education. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.

Reynolds, Cecilia. (1995). The educational system. In Nancy Mandell (Ed.), Feminist Issues: Race, Class, and Sexuality, Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall Canada Inc., pp. 272-293.

Stone, Lynda. (Ed.). (1994). The education feminism reader. New York: Routledge.

Weiner, Gaby. (1994). Feminisms in education: An introduction. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Bourne, Paula, McCoy, Liza, & Novogrodsky, Myra. (Eds.). (1997). Gender and schooling (special issue). Orbit [Ontario's magazine for schools, published by OISE/UT], 28 (1), 1-72.

Bryson, Mary, & de Castell, Suzanne. (1995). So we've got a chip on our shoulder!: Sexing the texts of "educational technology." In J. Gaskell & J. Willinsky (Eds.), Gender in/forms curriculum: From enrichment to transformation (pp. 21-42). New York: Teachers College Press.

Bryson, Mary, & de Castell, Suzanne. (1998, September). New technologies and the cultural ecology of primary schooling: Imagining teachers as luddites in/deed. Educational Policy, 12 (5), 542-567.

Canadian Teachers' Federation. (1994). Thumbs down! A classroom response to violence towards women. Ottawa: CTF.

Diller, Ann, & Houston, Barbara. (1996). Women's physical education: A gender-sensitive perspective. In A. Diller, B. Houston, K. P. Morgan, & M. Ayim (Eds.), The gender question in education: Theory, pedagogy, and politics (pp. 179-198). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Gaskell, Jane, & Willinsky, John. (Eds.). (1995). Gender in/forms curriculum: From enrichment to transformation. New York: Teachers College Press.

Kenway, Jane. (1997). Backlash in cyberspace: Why "girls need modems." In L. G. Roman & L. Eyre (Eds.), Dangerous territories: Struggles for difference and equality in education (pp. 255-274). New York: Routledge.

Luttrell, Wendy. (1997). Schoolsmart and motherwise: Working-class women's identity and schooling. New York: Routledge.

Sleeter, Christine. (1996). Power and privilege in White, middle-class feminist discussions of gender and education. In Multicultural education as social activism (pp. 199-215). Albany: SUNY Press.

Weiner, Gaby. (1994). The gendered curriculum: Producing the text. In Feminisms in education (pp. 97-120). Buckingham: Open University Press.

Briskin, Linda, and Rebecca Priegert Coulter, eds. (1992, Summer). Special issue: Feminist pedagogy. Canadian Journal of Education, 17 (3), 247-389.

Britzman, Deborah P. (1993). Beyond rolling models: Gender and multicultural education. In S. Knopp Biklin, & Pollard, D. (Eds.), Gender and education (pp. 25-42). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Bryson, Mary, & de Castell, Suzanne. (1993). Queer pedagogy: Praxis makes im/perfect. In S. de Castell (Ed.), Special issue: Against the grain: Narratives of resistance, Canadian Journal of Education, 18 (3), 285-305.

de Castell, Suzanne, & Bryson, Mary. (Eds.). (1997). Radical in<ter>ventions: Identity, politics, and difference/s in educational praxis. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Ellsworth, Elizabeth. (1989). Why doesn't this feel empowering? Working through the repressive myths of critical pedagogy. Harvard Educational Review, 59, 287-324.

Gore, Jennifer. (1992). The struggle for pedagogies: Critical and feminist discourses as regimes of truth. New York: Routledge.

hooks, bell. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.

Lewis, Magda. (1993). Interrupting patriarchy: Feminist teacher in the classroom. In Without a word: Teaching beyond women's silence (pp. 145-180). New York: Routledge.

Luke, Carmen. (Ed.). (1996). Feminisms and pedagogies of everyday life. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Luke, Carmen, & Gore, Jennifer. (Eds.). (1991). Feminisms and critical pedagogy. New York: Routledge.

Maher, Frances A., & Tetreault, Mary Kay Thompson. (1994). The feminist classroom: An inside look at how professors and students are transforming higher education for a diverse society. New York: Basic Books.

Manicom, Ann. (1992, Summer). Feminist pedagogy: Transformations, standpoints, and politics. Canadian Journal of Education, 17 (3), 365-389.

Roman, Leslie G., & Eyre, Linda. (Eds.) (1997). Dangerous territories: Struggles for difference and equality in education. New York: Routledge.

Weiler, Kathleen. (1991, November). Freire and a feminist pedagogy of difference. Harvard Educational Review, 61 (4), 449-474.

Acker, Sandra. (1995-96). Gender and teachers' work. Review of Research in Education, 21, 99-162.

Acker, Sandra. (1994). Gendered education. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Biklen, Sari Knopp. (1995). School work: Gender and the cultural construction of teaching. New York: Teachers College Press.

Casey, Kathleen. (1993). I answer with my life: Life histories of women teachers working for social change. New York: Routledge.

Coulter, Rebecca Priegert, & McNay, Margaret. (1993). Exploring men's experiences as elementary school teachers. Canadian Journal of Education, 18 (4), 398-413.

Goodman, Jesse, & Kelly, Tom. (1988). Out of the mainstream: Issues confronting the male profeminist elementary school teacher. Interchange, 19 (2), 1-14.

Henry, Annette. (1998). Taking back control: African Canadian women teachers' lives and practices. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Sattler, Cheryl L. (1997). Talking about a revolution: The politics and practice of feminist teaching. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.

Sattler, Cheryl L. (1995, Spring). The restrained revolution: Feminist teachers and high schools. Educational Foundations, 9 (2), 5-32.

Weiler, Kathleen. (1988). Women teaching for change: Gender, class and power. South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey.

Connell, R. W. (1996, Winter). Teaching the boys: New research on masculinity, and gender strategies for schools. Teachers College Record, 98 (2), 206-235.

Epstein, Debbie, Elwood, Jannette, Hey, Valerie, & Maw, Janet. (Eds.). (1998). Failing boys? Issues in gender and achievement. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Frank, Blye. (1994). Queer selves/queer in school: Young men and sexualities. In Susan Prentice (Ed.), Sex in Schools: Canadian Education and Sexual Regulation (pp. 44-59). Toronto: Our Schools/Our Selves Educational Foundation.

Mills, Martin, & Lingard, Bob. (1997, July). Reclaiming the "what about the boys?" discourse for gender justice in schools and society. Social Alternatives, 16 (3), 51-54.

Mac an Ghaill, Mairtin. (1994). The making of men: Masculinities, sexualities and schooling. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Nayak, Anoop, & Kehily, Mary Jane. (1996). Playing it straight: Masculinities, homophobias and schooling. Journal of Gender Studies, 5 (2), 211-229.

Raphael Reed, Lynn. (1998, July-August). Power, pedagogy and persuasion: Schooling masculinities in the secondary school classroom. Journal of Education Policy, 13 (4), 501-517.

Salisbury, Jonathan, & Jackson, David. (1996). Challenging Macho values: Practical ways of working with adolescent boys. Washington, DC: Falmer Press.

Tyack, David, & Hansot, Elizabeth. (1988, April). Silence and policy talk: Historical puzzles about gender and education. Educational Researcher, 17 (3), 33-41. <see esp. pp. 37-38 on the "boy problem," circa 1910-1970>

Currie, Dawn H. (1998). Girl talk: Adolescent magazines and their readers. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Lee, Janet. (1991). Integrating popular culture into a pedagogy of resistance: Students respond to the sitcom of Roseanne. Feminist Teacher, 5 (3), 19-24.

Robertson, Judith P. (1997, Spring). Fantasy's confines: Popular culture and the education of the female primary school teacher. Canadian Journal of Education, 22 (2), 123-143. <study of 12 primary teacher ed students reactions to "Stand and Deliver">

Roman, Leslie, Linda Christian-Smith with Elizabeth Ellsworth. (Eds.). (1988). Becoming feminine: The politics of popular culture. London: The Falmer Press.

Taylor, Sandra. (1993). Transforming the texts: Towards a feminist classroom practice. In Linda K. Christian-Smith (Ed.), Texts of desire: Essays on fiction, femininity and schooling (pp. 126-144). London: Falmer Press.

Eyre, Linda. (1991). Gender relations in the classroom: A fresh look at coeducation. In Jane Gaskell & Arlene McLaren (Eds.), Women and education: A Canadian perspective (2nd ed., pp. 193-219). Calgary, Alberta: Detselig Enterprises Limited.

Larkin, June. (1994). Walking through walls: The sexual harassment of high school girls. Gender and Education, 6 (3), 263-280.

Rockhill, Kathleen, & Tomic, Patricia. (1995). Situating ESL between speech and silence. In J. Gaskell & J. Willinsky (Eds.), Gender in/forms curriculum: From enrichment to transformation (pp. 209-229). New York: Teachers College Press.

Cochrane-Smith, Marilyn, & Lytle, Susan L. (1993). Inside/outside: Teacher research and knowledge. New York: Teachers College Press.

Gore, Jennifer M. (1991, October). On silent regulation: Emancipatory action research in preservice teacher education. Curriculum Perspectives, 11 (4), 47-51.

Hollingsworth, Sandra. (1994). Teacher research and urban literacy education: Lessons and conversations in a feminist key. New York: Teachers College Press.

Hollingsworth, Sandra. (1997). Feminist praxis as the basis for teacher education: A critical challenge. In Catherine Marshall (Ed.), Feminist critical policy analysis I: A perspective from primary and secondary schooling (pp. 165-182). London: Falmer Press.

Lytle, Susan L., & Cochran-Smith, Marilyn. (1990, Fall). Learning from teacher research: A working typology. Teachers College Record, 92 (1), 83-103).

Noffke, Susan E., & Stevenson, R. B. (Eds.). (1995). Educational action research: Becoming practically critical. New York: Teachers College Press.

Noffke, Susan. (1997). Professional, personal, and political dimensions of action research. Review of Research in Education, 22, 305-343.

Tite, Rosanna. (1986). Sex-role learning and the woman teacher: A feminist perspective. Ottawa: CRIAW/ICREF.

Weiner, Gaby. (1989). Professional self-knowledge versus social justice: A critical analysis of the teacher-researcher movement. British Educational Research Journal, 15 (1), 41-51.

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