Empowering Girls
to
Take a Chance
Laurie LaMondie, Joan Plavchan
Woodward Elementary
“It is very hard to be a female
leader. While it is assumed that
any man, no matter how tough, has
a soft side . . . any female leader
is assumed to be one-dimensional.”
Billy Jean King
Name Pantomime
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Participants stand in a circle, arms distance apart. Ask each person
to think of an verb and action which starts with the same letter as
the person's first name e.g., "Jumping James".
The person does the action and yells out their actionname. Everyone then repeats the action and the action-name.
This requires pretty high level of instructor energy and drama,
people are pretty shy to start with. Really encourage everyone to
join in and say the name and action of everyone else.
To really drill names home, go around again, it should be faster and
really get the blood moving.
For participants who say "I can't think of anything", I say "Keep
thinking, we'll come back to you". If they still don't come up with
anything, I ask the group to help.
Note I don't allow duplicate verbs either - must use a unique verb.
Smart girls
aren’t cute.
Breaking the Stereotype
In 1992, Mattel Toys put the first talking
Barbie doll on the market.
Barbie's first words were, "Math class is
tough." Mattel thought they were simply
expressing the feelings of most school-age
girls. Many parents and teachers, though,
thought Barbie should keep her mouth
shut.
As a result, Barbie stopped talking.
The Road to Success
Setting the Tone
Teachers are risk-takers
Provide positive female role models
Incorporate literature with strong
female characters
Challenging Our Girls to be Risk
Takers….
Include in your classroom:
 frequent use of cooperative learning opportunities,
 frequent individualized learning opportunities,
 use of practical problems in assignments,
 frequent use of hands-on opportunities,
 frequent use of competitive motivational
strategies,
 frequent activities oriented toward broadening
views of mathematics and physical sciences.
Have High Expectations for Girls
Avoid
rescuing girls. Encourage girls to make an
imperfect product, to get dirty, disheveled, and
sweaty in pursuit of a goal; to make big,
interesting mistakes.
Encourage
risk-taking and problem-solving.
Don't be too eager to solve a girl's problems
for her. Learning about options and
consequences is a necessary and valuable step
for all youth on their road to becoming
confident and mature adults.
High Expectations cont…
Expect
and advocate for homework that
includes complex problem-solving and requires
analytic skills beyond simple computations.
Stress
the importance of math and science
even if these are not your own strong points.
Being positive about math and science and
communicating that they are important
enhances the chance for girls to seek math and
science as attractive learning and career
opportunities.
Social Lives
Drama
Talk,
Talk, Talk
Cliques
Building relationships
” Every great dream begins with a
dreamer. Always remember, you
have within you the strength, the
patience, and the passion to
reach for the stars to change the
world.”
Harriett Tubman
Room setup
Dim
lighting
Personal space
Cooperative
Grouped
Softer voice
Multi-tasking
Organization
Discipline
Delayed
response
Personal
contact
Teacher
Hugs
pleasers
Smiles
Tone
Group
is important
points
Character building
Words
questions
 Cooperative
learning
 Buddy reading
 Playing teacher
 Reading
 Overhead/board
 Solving
problems in front of the class
Questions?
For any further questions feel free to
email:
Laurie
LaMondie =
lalamond@volusia.k12.fl.us
Joan
Plavchan =
jplavcha@volusia.k12.fl.us