Lisa Espinosa, Seventh Graders and Sexism

As someone with a sociology background and genuine passion for it, I tend to read classroom experiences through a sociological lens, especially when it comes to how students make sense of identity, power, and norms. With this, I chose to read Seventh Graders and Sexism by Lisa Espinosa from Rethinking Popular Culture and Media. After teaching 6th and 7th grade social studies, I've become overwhelmingly aware of how visible gender norms and sexism are in everyday school life. I always knew these truisms existed, but I was surprised by how often they show up in student interactions, expectations, and even humor, often without being named directly.

Espinosa (2016) focuses on what sexism looks like in a real middle school classroom, not in dramatic or extreme moments, but in everyday patters of student behavior and interaction. She describes how gender expectations are constantly being communicated through peer culture, school routines, and even seemingly small classroom exchanges. One of her key observations is that students often do not recognize these patterns as "sexism" at all, instead they categorize them as normal or just "how things are."

In her classroom, Espinosa (2016) noticed clear differences in how students expressed their future and identities. Many girls described their hopes in terms of relationships or being taken care of, while boys more often focused on education and careers. She also observed differences in participation, where girls more likely shared their ideas in question form, while boys spoke more directly and assertively. Even peer language reflected gender hierarchy- phrased like calling someone "a girl" were sometimes used as insults, reinforcing negative associations with femininity.

Espinosa also describes how these patterns are not accidental, but learned through multiple influences: media, family expectations, peer interactions, and school culture (Espinosa, 2016). To help students engage with these ideas, she uses classroom discussions and media analysis. Curated texts help students connect their own experiences to broader social messages about gender.

What stood out to most was how deeply embedded these norms are in everyday life. Students are exposed to sexist and heteronormative ideas constantly, and then reproducing them in subtle ways. Students are great at recognizing sexism and gender norms as large societal issues, but they still struggle connect it to their daily interactions. Espinosa points out that students explicitly named that the problem just seems to big and abstract, so it becomes easier to overlook behaviors that sustain it.

It is important to mention that despite her experience, Espinosa (2016) does not present students as passive. Her goal is to help them question stereotypes about gender and rethink assumptions about feminism, masculinity, and identity. Rather than treating sexism as something that is simply "out there," she frames it as something that can be examined and challenged within school environments. 

Reference

Espinosa, L. (2016). Seventh graders and sexism. In E. Marshall & Ö. Sensoy (Eds.), Rethinking popular culture and media (2nd ed., pp. 153–161). Rethinking Schools.

Exploring New Digital Tools: Padlet & Blooket

I decided to explore two digital tools that I have never used before, Padlet and Blooket. Even though I had never used either one myself, I felt like I was constantly hearing about them. Many of my co-workers talk about them, I see them mentioned online, and they see to come up often in conversations about classroom technology and student engagement. Since they seem so popular, I wanted to check them out.

Going into this, I assumed both tools would be more difficult to use than they really turned out to be. After exploring them, I found that they were pretty easy to navigate and each had its own purpose. Padlet felt more focused on collaboration and sharing ideas, while Blooket seemed designed to make learning more interactive through games. 

Padlet Tutorial

After exploring Padlet I came to find that is basically an online collaborative board (similar to a website) where users can share ideas, resources, pictures, videos, and other content all in one place. I would describe it as a digital bulletin board where many people can add their contributions and interact. 

Step 1: Create an Account

• First, create an account and log in. This will allow you to access the Padlet homepage that has several templates and options to get started. 

Step 2: Create a Padlet

• Click on "Make a Padlet" to see different layout options. Examples include:
• Wall: displays all posts in a grid
• Stream: shows posts one after another
• Canvas: allows flexible organization/ ability to move things around
• Timeline: organizes information in order

Step 3: Add Content

• To add content, you must press the (+) button. This allows the user to upload text, images, videos, links, documents, or audio. This part is very similar to crafting a social media post.

Step 4: Share the Board

• After the board is created it can be shared through a link, QR code, or email invitation

Blooket Tutorial 

While still a useful tool, Blooket is a game-based learning platform that turns questions and quizzes into interactive games. This allows students to participate in games that make review activities more engageing, rather than simply answering questions on a worksheet or quiz.

Step 1: Create an Account

Step 2: Find or Create Questions

• Users can create their own question sets or use question sets that have already been created by others. These can be found by typing a topic into the search bar or browsing through pre-made categories (ex: Social Studies, Science, etc.)

Step 3: Preview the Questions

• Looking through question sets help to give an idea of what students can actually see during gameplay

Step 4: Choose a Game Mode

• After selecting a question set, click "Host," and different game mode options will appear.
• Different game modes like Gold Quest, Cafe, Factory, Racing, and Classic Quiz-style games will come up. Each game looks different and has a different theme, but the content stays the same.

Step 5: Adjust Game Settings

• After starting the game, there are several settings that can be changed. Settings include:
• Time limits
• Number of questions
• Randomizing Questions
• Showing student names
• Homework mode vs. live play

Step 6: Host and Join the Game

• Once "Host" is clicked, Blooket generates a game code that participants can use to join on their own devices. 

Final Thoughts

After exploring both tools for the first time, I am glad I finally have a better understanding of what they are and why I hear people talk about them so often. I can definitely envision using both in my classroom, but I was especially drawn to Padlet because of how collaborative and flexible it feels. Padlet seems to be a great contender for my Final Project, in which I hope to create a space that is more collaborative and personal for students. I can see students using it to brainstorm solutions to community issues, share perspectives on current events, collaborate on covoc action projects, or organize ideas for larger class discussions. While Blooket seems like a fun way to increase engagement and review content, Padlet stood out because I could immediately see connections to the types of collaborative and project-based work that happens in Civics. 

Final Project Brainstorm

 For the final project I am interested in exploring ideas related to student apathy and civic engagement in my 8th and 10th grade classrooms. One challenge I consistently notice is that many students do not necessarily feel disconnected from civics, but rather see it as something larger than them and beyond their influence. Government and democracy can feel like systems controlled by adults, politicians, institutions, or people with power, rather than by students and their communities. Students have demonstrated that they understand civic concepts for the purpose of completing assignments, but they do not always recognize how civic systems and decisions shape the realities they encounter every day, like school policies, community resources, social issues, and their rights. Because of this, they struggle to see themselves as individuals with agency or as people who can make meaningfulness change. My observations sometimes convey to me that students can become passive participants in civics education because democracy can feel like something that happens around them rather than something they can actively participate in. 

While I am still brainstorming, I am leaning toward final project ideas that bolster student voice, participation, and how they are personally implicated in civics. I am considering creating opportunities for students that allow them to explore their civic identities and make stronger connections between classroom content and their lived experiences. It is my hope that my project helps students could reflect on questions related to the communities that have shaped them, the issues they care about, and where they observe power and decision-making in their daily lives. 

I am not set on what tech I would use, but there are many platforms that I have not used before that I am planning to explore, such as NotebookLM, blogger, ClaudeAI, and more. I will do some more research and gain experience with these platforms  to see how these tools might support inquiry, creativity, collaboration, and reflection in ways that align with my beliefs about learning. Ideas in the works include:

1. Digital We the People/ Congressional Simulation

• Digital portfolios for sorting evidence
• Asynchronous discussion spaces
• Multimedia responses (videos, podcasts, infographics)
• Reduce dominance of outspoken students

2. Civic Identity and Digital Storytelling

• Explore personal civic identities
• Connect civic concepts to students' lives
• Create digital stories or media projects

3. Digital Civic Discussion Hub

• Online space for civic discussion
• Multiple participation formats (written, audio, video)
• Discuss current events and community issues