Hey everyone! The middle school I work at is thinking about separating the math classes so they are all boy and all girl. I was curious if this was being done already at anyone's school and if so, how is it going. With this being my first year teaching, I'm not sure what I think about this yet. I'm curious what you veteran teachers (especially veteran math teachers) think about this idea. Thoughts???
I know at the school I teach (charter K-12), the middle school is separated into boys and girls. They only have homeroom together from my understanding. All classes are split. My neighbor's daughter is in middle school and she seems to love it!
At a previous (K-12) school I worked in, they seperated the junior high and high school kids for language arts. It was a very positive move. They got more participation in both classes. They did not want to seperate everything, but in this case, it worked great!
We have seperate math and English classes for Grade 9 applied students. I do agree in theory it brings up some significant questions. I don't know if I was a principal if I'd choose it. However, it does seem to work really well for our students.
We've done this for years in grades 7-8. The 6th grade teachers don't seem to like it all that much . . . or don't see a difference, I guess is a better way to put it. The 8th grade teachers see a huge difference in the advanced groups, and overall it's a positive in math. All of the 7th & 8th grade math and language arts classes are gender grouped when the schedule allows for it. I teach all-male language & reading, and I really like it. Our students are mixed-gender for the rest of their day.
There has been a lot of studies done about this... it has nothing to do with "seperate but equal", but everything to do with increasing participation. The theory is that the students will not feel pressured to perform for the other gender, so in most cases, they are more willing to do things that in mixed classes. Boys will give answers more, are more willing to participate in role playing or choir, etc. Girls will not worry so much about what the boys think and will be more willing to give answers, etc. I would love to do it, but our school board would not ever allow it. Not even as a trial.
