WEBVTT

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My name is Kimberly Robinson, and I am the Associate Principal of Teaching

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and Learning at Hillcrest High School.

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Six years ago, when I first came to the school,

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there was only one teacher of physics, Daniel Brown.

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He had a couple of sections of regular ed physics, one section of pre-AP

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and one section of AP physics with about three or four kids in it.

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And we've just undergone just a metamorphosis in that area.

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We have one and a half teachers now.

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Classes are quite full.

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We have three pre-AP sections and one AP section with about sixteen to eighteen kids.

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And then about five sections of regular.

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So that's what-that's 100 percent more kids,

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probably more than that if we were to just really do a pure average.

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And very heterogeneous classes with regard to gender and ethnicity.

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So in both of those areas, I think, we've made a lot of gains with the students feeling like,

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"This is a course I can take and be accepted and be expected to learn-and learn."

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The first thing that teachers need to do to encourage young ladies to get into the sciences

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and math is to be very deliberate in how they introduce their course to the young ladies.

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There's a lot of different dynamics that are going on with the students in your class,

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and one is that this is sometimes very intimidating to females, more intimidating than males,

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just because of historical issues that -or experiences

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that the females don't come to the class with.

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And for that reason, the teacher has to be very deliberate

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about the activities they engage in initially.

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And what they're going to have to be deliberate about is this:

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making sure that the students get an opportunity to gain some confidence

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in their ability to do the work of the class.

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Because, if they can get the students there, they're ready to be taught.

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And they have to overcome that intimidation, often times, that this is something new for them.

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They have to overcome that before the kids are ready mentally to be taught.

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As a chemistry teacher, what I noted is that my kids would come in sometimes very ready

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to do the course but not with a confidence they needed to be successful.

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So I had to engage in very deliberate actions to get them confident enough for me to teach them.

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Because kids, irrespective of what we say, they're very perceptive.

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And because they're human, they like to know that their teacher believes they can do the work.

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And if the teacher will set the limit, they're going to come up to that.

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Irrespective of what that is, they're going to.

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So just be encouraging, let them believe that-let them know

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that you believe they can do the work and give them an opportunity

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for success initially so that they're ready to learn.

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You're going to have to start with recognizing-being just very honest with yourself,

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and recognizing if you come to the table with a bias, you know.

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And I had to deal with myself with regard to that because I thought -

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I think that I had a natural,I guess,

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proclivity to think that a male student is going to do better.

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And I'm a female, and I thought that.

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So I had to deal with some issues that I had and challenge them

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and refine them so that I could deal with every student as an equal individual

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and give them what they need to make it in my class.

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So that when-I could speak honestly and say, "You can do this work."

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This message has got to get to the elementary and middle school teachers.

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I mean, it has to-that if you do nothing else,

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show the kids that you believe they can do the work, irrespective of their gender

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or what they look like when they come in the classroom.

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Just demonstrate that, that one thing.

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That one thing.

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And then they come to class ready to learn.