"The forces acting on them–both internal and external–had led them to sacrifice relationship, whether by betraying love or silencing themselves, and to maintain the hierarchy that elevates masculine over feminine, straight over gay, man over woman." - Carol Gilligan and Naomi Snider, Why Does Patriarchy Persist? (2018)
Cultivating Resilient Masculinities: A three-part workshop series for co-ed and boys schools
Workshop I: Gender and Masculinity 101
In this introductory workshop, we lay the foundation for understanding the challenges and possibilities for creating healthy and successful school environments for students. By exploring our own individual and collective expressions/thoughts on masculinity and gender, the faculty works collaboratively to outline a clear path forward for learning and communal growth. As we discuss in depth during this first session, understanding gender and masculinity is key to building strong relationships with boys and young men. The professional community also works through key texts and are exposed to data-driven research to inform the work ahead.
Workshop II: Shaping School Culture
Through inductive methodologies based on discovery, observation, and professional insight, the school community articulates the lived experiences of boys and young males throughout the school year. Faculty generated “gender maps” and narratives/storytelling act as tools to understand the student experience through their eyes on campus. The workshop also works to demystify the homosocial interactions of boys that develop over time in order to construct new frameworks for positive interaction between students.
Workshop III: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Learning
In this exciting exploration of school learning, we merge already existing efforts to teach boys about gender, masculinity and feminism and explore other avenues that make sense for the individual, particular needs of the school program and mission. Teaching staff and leadership brainstorm core learning values that become benchmarks for integration and significant learning experiences concerning gender identity. This workshop leads to an ongoing initiative with TaW and the school to see these programs to fruition and measure success.
In this introductory workshop, we lay the foundation for understanding the challenges and possibilities for creating healthy and successful school environments for students. By exploring our own individual and collective expressions/thoughts on masculinity and gender, the faculty works collaboratively to outline a clear path forward for learning and communal growth. As we discuss in depth during this first session, understanding gender and masculinity is key to building strong relationships with boys and young men. The professional community also works through key texts and are exposed to data-driven research to inform the work ahead.
Workshop II: Shaping School Culture
Through inductive methodologies based on discovery, observation, and professional insight, the school community articulates the lived experiences of boys and young males throughout the school year. Faculty generated “gender maps” and narratives/storytelling act as tools to understand the student experience through their eyes on campus. The workshop also works to demystify the homosocial interactions of boys that develop over time in order to construct new frameworks for positive interaction between students.
Workshop III: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Learning
In this exciting exploration of school learning, we merge already existing efforts to teach boys about gender, masculinity and feminism and explore other avenues that make sense for the individual, particular needs of the school program and mission. Teaching staff and leadership brainstorm core learning values that become benchmarks for integration and significant learning experiences concerning gender identity. This workshop leads to an ongoing initiative with TaW and the school to see these programs to fruition and measure success.
Facilitators
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Georgina Emerson is the founder and director of Teach About Women. She holds a BA in History and MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College as well as a degree in History from L’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. The focus of Georgina’s work is curriculum design and providing collaborative professional development for K-12 teachers who want to make equity work part of every aspect of school life. She’s interested in the liberatory power of intersectional, anti-bias pedagogy across departments. In the words of bell hooks, “I celebrate teaching that enables transgressions–a movement against and beyond boundaries. It is that movement which makes education a practice of freedom.” In addition to giving workshops and hosting book clubs, Georgina is currently at work on a book and high school curriculum on the history of women, gender, and power.
Follow Georgina on social media @TeachAboutWomen or read her blog. |
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Jason Ablin has over 30 years of experience in education and leadership. He has served as a teacher, principal and head of school. He holds national certification in leadership coaching and mentoring from the National Association of School Principals and has been mentoring new leaders throughout the country for over 15 years. He consults with schools on gender equity, positive faculty engagement, and school culture. He also partnered with top developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience researchers at USC to bring research findings effectively into the classroom. He has written for the journal, Mind, Brain and Education. As a lecturer at the Fingerhut Graduate School of Education, he teaches master’s degree classes in pedagogy and inclusion and trains teachers to create gender fair classrooms. He is also the director of the school's Mentor Teacher Training Program. His book, Balancing the Equation: How Schools can Bring Gender Equity to All Their Students is due out from Routledge Press in Spring 2022. He received his A.B. in Political Science from Vassar College and his M.A. in English and Pedagogy from New York University. A native of the Lower East Side in New York, Jason now lives in Los Angeles for the past 29 years with his wife and two daughters.
Read his blog, Educating Gender, or buy his book, The Gender Equation, here. |
Explore these ideas and more at our monthly book club for parents & teachers of boys!
