Girls, Worms, and Body Image: Chapter Response

 I chose this chapter because it explains a time when the author dissected gender stereotypes with the seven and eight year olds in her classroom. These children are very similar to the age I teach and I have had struggles with talking to them about gender stereotypes. However, I do feel that the content presented in this chapter is relevant to any teacher, as long as it is modified effectively. 

I remember hearing students say things like "boys are just better at sports" and "boys are smarter". I was at a loss for how to show them that these statements weren't true, other than just telling them. Telling is all well and good, but I wanted to show them why those statements were harmful and why they were patently incorrect. 

This chapter was incredibly helpful for me. Not only did it emotionally impact me as I really related to this teacher's experience, but it gave me actual strategies to combat gender stereotypes in my early childhood classroom. 

In her classroom, this teacher had a discussion about Barbie and what she teaches us is true about women. Below is a picture of the Barbie doll that matches what she described in this chapter:

The students noticed that the doll was thin, blonde, blue-eyed, wearing a dress, heels, and fancy jewelry. The students also noticed that the doll was white. Most of all, they noticed that she didn't look like them or any woman they knew. One male student even said, after exploring Barbie and some makeup advertisement, "It is telling women that they have to be skinny, wear lipstick, and wear high heels." (144).

I was deeply impressed by the comments made by several of the students, but I wasn't surprised. Elementary schoolers can and should have deep conversations about nuanced topics, especially those that impact them and their peers. This chapter showed me one way to talk about sexism and racism with young children and hopefully empower them to be advocates for themselves and others when they hear stereotypes, whether it be in school or outside of school. 

Digital Tool Tutorial: Blooket for student engagement and automaticity

 My favorite digital tool to use with my students is Blooket! We use this for class competitions and to practice our fast math facts. I think this would also be incredible for sight words. 

1. Go to blooket.com and sign in as an educator. Don't pay for pro, just sign in with your google account!

You should hit the turquoise sign up button!

2. Select teacher 

3. Verify your age 

4. The authenticate through google for the easiest connection to your school account!

5. Your home screen should look something like this, with the exception of the set that I made for my students. 

6. Next, have your students log in the same way that you did, but they click student instead of teacher. 

7. Then hit discover on the side tab. This is my favorite way to find low-lift activities that engage students and get them to practice their fast facts and sight words!

8. Scroll down until you see the Blooket Curriculum bar. From here you can select your subject. 

9. Once you select your subject, you will be able to use the drop down menu to select your grade level and narrow down what you are looking for in your subject (I have selected ELA, so the ELA options are listed below. 

10. Once you select your Blooket, you will get an overview of the questions. In this one, students will select the correct digraph for the picture from multiple choies. 

11. Then, you hit host game!! It's the turquoise button again. 

12. You will have an option of what type of game to pick. My favorite is gold quest. Closest to a Kahoot, so it's familiar and simple, but with some fun random elements to get extra points!

13. Hit the purple host button!

14. Students will then enter the code and be able to play together :)

In my opinion, Blooket is a great back pocket activity and students often view it as a reward. I think it is incredibly helpful for students to grow their automaticity with both math facts and letter sounds. It also has grade level options for almost any teacher!

Final Project To Do List

1. I know what I want to change but I have to narrow it down!!! Write down everything and choose by gut feeling of what strikes a chord with me. 
2. If I don't have a gut feeling, make a pro and con list (I love these)
3. Write my belief as shown by and connected to what I want to change
4.  Choose my tool based on my belief and what I want to change
5. Explore my chosen tool
6. Make an outline for my narrative (organized by change, belief, and how)
7. Fill in my narrative 
8. Pick my pictures 
9. Record!!

This how I feel about choosing between ideas... Hopefully my pro and con list will help me!! I do them a lot in my personal life and I love them. 

Final Project Ideas!!

 My students are the best kids in the world. They are also kids who struggle a lot and they have extremely varied needs. For my entire first year of teaching (this past year), I taught second grade math and I modified every single exam by hand based on the particular student. Some students got the same exact modified exam, but I had to reproduce it by hand for each student. I want to figure out a way to create leveled and differentiated exams using an internet tool so I don't have to reproduce them by hand. I'm thinking about finding a good PDF editor that I can use to modify my exams online so that I can print multiple and I don't have to take hours doing the same thing over and over. 

Another idea I had was creating virtual field trips for my students. Our budget only allows for us to take one field trip per year and kindergarten ALWAYS only goes to the zoo. I think there is so much more that students could experience by using a virtual tour on the smartboard and on their tablets provided in class so that they could experience something new without a cost barrier to them, the school, or their families. 

Here is a screenshot of virtual tour of the Museum of Natural History:

You can truly go anywhere in the museum with this tour and they update it frequently with new exhibits!! My students would never be able to access this museum without this technology. 

I could also use a website like MetaSteps to do a class project where I guide them through creating a museum of our class. 

I am not quite sure which idea I want to choose! I will think about both and their impacts on the students I teach. I want to choose the one that will be most applicable to my kindergarten students for the upcoming year. 

I feel inspired by my belief that all students deserve an equitable educational experience and watching the videos made me streamline my brainstorming process. I was influenced by Anaiz's project from 2025 because her project was directly related to kindergarteners and the unique struggles that they face being totally new to school and that became a jumping off point for me when I was brainstorming.