Performing Gender in the Elementary Classroom

Authors

Gail Masuchika Boldt, University of IowaFollow

Abstract

This paper raises questions about teachers’ interventions into children’s exchanges around gender in elementary classrooms. Masuchika Boldt argues that gender is ever-present in the classroom and children are constantly making assertions about the meaning of gender and the authenticity of their own and others’ gender performances. She speaks to the question, “If a teacher does interpret this exchange as being at least in part about gender, what, if any, response is called for?”

Author Biography

Gail Masuchika Boldt was an elementary school teacher in Honolulu, Hawaii, from 1990 to 1997, and a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) from 1993 to 1999. She left elementary teaching in 1997 to spend more time with her newborn, and from 1997 to 2001, supervised student teachers for UHM. Gail began at the University of Iowa as an assistant professor in elementary education in 1999. The narrative materials in this and previous publications come from her years of classroom teaching and teacher education.

Recommended Citation

Masuchika Boldt, G. (2004). Performing Gender in the Elementary Classroom. Occasional Paper Series, (12). DOI: https://doi.org/10.58295/2375-3668.1217