Tools & Strategies

Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current Events Topic Summary On March 8, 2019 (International Women’s Day), the U.S. women’s soccer team filed a gender discrimination suit against the U.S. Soccer Federation, which governs soccer in the U.S. The soccer team’s complaint alleges pay inequities and inferior support and working conditions. In their statement released by the team, the twenty-eight players described “institutionalized gender discrimination” that…

Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current Events For Parents, Families, and Caregivers Topic Summary There was a recent survey that showed in U.S. families, boys are paid twice as much allowance as girls for doing weekly chores. The “average” boy earns a $13.80 weekly allowance and the “average” girl gets about half as much: $6.71. According to the research, boys averaged more allowance than girls because they were more often assigned chores that are more…

Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current Events For Parents, Families, and Caregivers Topic Summary In 1983, a social scientist named David Chambers published a research study on children’s drawings. The study gathered information from the late 1960s and 1970s in which teachers asked 5,000 children (in three different countries) to “draw a scientist.” One pattern appeared strongly: almost all of the scientist drawings depicted men. Through the study, Chambers was…

Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current Events For Educators | For Parents, Families, and Caregivers | Ages 12 and upTopic Summary In October 2017, Harvey Weinstein, a very powerful producer in the movie industry for decades, was accused of sexual harassment by more than thirty women—including famous actresses such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Beckinsale, Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan and Angelina Jolie, among others. Weinstein’s spokesperson said in a statement that Weinstein…

Table Talk: Family Conversations About Current Events For Parents, Families, and Caregivers Topic Summary Over the years, schools have implemented student dress codes to address a wide range of issues, some of which have been quite controversial. For example, in the late 1960s and 70s, young men with long hair were sometimes physically attacked by their classmates and, as a result, many schools required boys to wear their hair cut to their ears or shorter. In the 1990s, there was a push for…

Rosalind's Classroom Conversations, September 2014 For Educators | For Parents, Families, and Caregivers A few days before I started sixth grade at a private school, I went with my mother to buy uniforms. While she beamed, I miserably pulled the green and white striped dress over my head. I clearly remember the looks from people when I wore that uniform in “public.” It felt like I had a sign above my head that said, “I’m rich and a snob.” My mother, like many…

Table Talk: Family Conversations About Current Events For Parents, Families, and Caregivers | 7 and upTopic Summary In Spring 2015, two fourth grade students, Henry and Henriet James (boy/girl twins) who attend North Elementary in Somerset, MA, decided it was time to do something about their school’s lunch policy that required boys and girls to sit at separate tables on opposite sides of the school cafeteria. Henry and Henriet wrote an article in their school’s newspaper…

Rosalind's Classroom Conversations, April 2015 For Educators By Rosalind Wiseman The realization came upon me gradually, that is until it hit me over the head. In casual conversations, I noticed that more and more, girls were telling me they liked playing First Person Shooter (FPS) games. These are games a lot of parents and educators hate—the ones where the player holds a gun and runs around “killing” people. Then last fall I was presenting to 700 7th grade girls and…

For Educators Updated July 2019 In July 2019, Berkeley, California’s City Council announced their plan to remove all gendered language from their city code. Gender-specific pronouns like “he” and “she” will be replaced with “they” and “them.” Words like fireman will now be firefighter and “manpower” will be changed to “human effort.”  Berkeley City Council member Rigel Robinson, who sponsored the bill, said …