Lesson Overview:
The professions of reporter, pilot, doctor, or lawyer are no longer thought of as the exclusive domain of men. In this lesson, students research how professions such as nursing, clerking, and teaching have changed gender dominance over the past 150 years in the United States. They identify some pioneers who broke professional barriers and explore new opportunities that could open up in the future. The power of advertising in both print and video is discussed. In a culminating activity, the students create a scene, an ad, or a poster to recruit people into nontraditional jobs.
Length of Lesson:
Four 45-minute periods
Instructional Objectives:
Students will:
- identify professions associated with certain genders.
- discuss historical changes in gender dominance in certain professions.
- identify and research gender role-breaking pioneers.
- write a report on an individual who broke gender roles.
- select a profession that has not broken the gender bias.
- discuss how print and video advertisements try to persuade its audience.
- illustrate a recruiting poster, ad, or scene for the profession to attract gender role breakers.
Supplies:
- VCR or DVD Player
- Video Camera
- Video Cassette Tapes
- Journals
- Sketch paper
- Colored pencils, markers, and/or crayons
- Newspapers
- Glue
- Scissors
- Classified employment ads from magazines and newspapers
- Videotaped commercials for job recruitment
Instructional Plan:
Warm Up
Select a boy and a girl to read, "The Southpaw," by Judith Viorst in Free To Be…You and Me. The dialogue is written in the form of torn notes passed between a girl who wants to pitch on a baseball team and the boy who won't let her until all the boys abandon him. Ask the students if there were any times in their lives when they wanted to play a game, buy something, or do something and were told, "That's not what boys/girls do."
Guided Practice
Explain how things have changed for people in a variety of professions over the years. Give examples from your childhood and your parents childhood. For example, since "The Southpaw" was written in 1972, girls are allowed to play in Little League Baseball teams. In the 1940s and early 1950s, women played baseball professionally. In the 1996 Olympic Games, the U.S. Women's Team won the Gold Medal, but today, there are no plans for a women's professional baseball league.
Write the following words on the board:
- scientist
- secretary
- nurse
- clerk
- athlete
- elementary school teacher
- writer
- doctor
- lawyer
- artist
Survey the class to see whether the students think of a certain gender when they read the above words. Discuss the results and ask why certain jobs made them think of a particular gender. Distribute the Vocabulary handout and discuss the definitions. Explain that many professions have changed over the years. Ask the class if they would be surprised to find out that 150 years ago, these were considered men's professions?
Independent Activity
Have students research write a report on people who broke through gender biases. Distribute the Research Topics handout. The handout contains some general background information on the change in gender roles in certain professions over time, examples of women in a variety of professions, and suggestions for research topics. You may use it in class, have the students do independent research on each of these professions, or use the summaries as guides for more research for the students. Alternatively, you may wish to write the names of the professions on strips of paper and hand them out to individual students or a group of students. Have students write a report on what they researched. Allow at least one class period for research and another to finish the report and prepare it for presentation.
After students research and report on the gender role-breakers and gender issues in general, have the students brainstorm a list of professions that seem to be male-dominated or female-dominated. List students' ideas on the board. Create a Venn diagram to show professions that are stereotypically male, stereotypically female, or gender-neutral.
Have the students look at classified employment ads in the newspaper or magazines. Also have them look at posters used to recruit workers (a good example is the famous Rosie the Riveter poster emblazoned with "We Can Do It!"). They may also view commercials that solicit job applicants (such as military recruitment commercials). Ask students to consider the following questions as they examine the ads:
- What catches the eye?
- What would persuade someone to come to work for that company?
- Do the ads look attractive?
- Are people happy, serious, or having fun?
- What qualifications do you need to work for that company, in terms of education, skills, etc.?
Divide the students into small groups and explain that they will be creating a poster, a scene, or an advertisement recruiting nontraditional workers. (For example, an auto mechanic is usually thought of as a man, so students might design an ad that would encourage a woman to train for the job. Conversely, they might design an ad for a day care center recruiting male workers.)
Make sure you discuss with students what exactly would enhance the presentation, composition, and persuasiveness of their ads. You may wish to create some sample ads that are not effective in order to show students what NOT to do.
Conclusion
Give the students at least two class periods to create their scene, poster, or ad. When the students have completed their work, the posters and ads should be displayed around the room. Have the students use the Self-Assessment Rubric to evaluate their finished ad or poster and their group process.
Assessment:
Use the Assessment Rubric to evaluate student participation. Have students use Self-Assessment Rubric to evaluate themselves.
Sources:
Print:
- Bullard, Sara. Teaching Tolerance. New York: Main Street Books/Doubleday,1996.
- Colman, Penny. Girls—A History of Growing Up Female in America. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2000.
- Head, Judith. America's Daughters—400 Years of American Women. Los Angeles: Perspective Publishing, 1999.
- Keenan, Sheila. Scholastic Encyclopedia of Women in the United States. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1996.
- Thomas, Marlo et. al. Free to Be You and Me. New York: Running Press, 2002.
Web:
Authors:
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Mary Beth Bauernschub, Teacher
Kingsford Elementary School
Mitchellville, MD
