grrlstories: Educational Activities

Amber’s story easily lends itself to a rich exploration of several important topics relevant to girls’ lives.

Whether you’re a parent, classroom teacher, or youth leader, you know the importance of engaging young people in a variety of in-depth learning experiences and activities that help them to "process" and to better understand the material being taught. While simply reading each story may be sufficient for some girls to prompt self-reflection and learning, others may need additional support.

Grrlstories.org offers this support through a variety of structured activities related to each Exploration Topic. Parents who wish to organize meaningful learning experiences for (and with) their daughters can use these activities at home. Teachers and/or youth leaders who wish to engage groups of young women in active learning and discussion can use them in the classroom.

Suggested Use: This is an excellent exercise to use in the early stages of group development. It is interactive and fun and is useful for getting participants to "think outside the box."

To provide an opportunity for girls to reflect on their own self-image and emerging identities.

To provide an opportunity for girls to be creative in representing and describing themselves.

To provide an opportunity for girls to express their hopes and dreams for the future.

1. Have the group "take a walk" outside (ideally, somewhere near a park, forest, open space, etc.) for an hour or so.

2. Instruct the group to search for some "object of nature" that reflects something about themselves. For example, a turning leaf might represent a person’s "change of life," or life stage for that person.

4. One by one have the group describe the object they chose and share how it related to their life.

6. Collect all of the objects and affix them to a poster board (or, find some way to display them collectively). (optional).

If the group does not have access to the outdoors, have the girls identify objects within the building.

Have the girls each select three different objects representing three different aspects of themselves.

Suggested Use: This activity is especially useful with a group of people who do not know each other very well. It is also a great activity to use to help build an appreciation for diversity within a group, bridge gaps between cultural understanding, and break down stereotypes.

To provide an opportunity for girls to reflect on who they are on the inside and compare it with how others view them on the outside.

To break down stereotypes and build understanding across various types of groups and perceptions.

1. Have each girl in the group reflect on who they are as a person. Have them answer the question, "What are the essential qualities that make you, you? Do not list physical characteristics" Have them write this down on a piece of paper.

2. Divide the group into smaller groups of two-each. If possible, assign "pairs" of girls who do not know each other very well.

3. Have each girl spend five minutes describing the other person – everything they "see" about that person, based only on what they see; not what they know about the person: physical attributes and outer appearances. Do not allow any dialogue to take place during this time. The girls should be taking their notes in silence.

4. After they list all of the physical characteristics they can think of, have the girls spend 2-3 minutes interpreting what they think these mean about the person. Write these down.

5. When the first "round" is finished, re-divide the group into another set of pairs so that each girl is paired up with a different person., repeat 3 and 4.

6. When the second "round" is finished, re-divide the group into yet another set of pairs, so that each girl is paired up with a different person again. Repeat steps 3 and 4. At this point, three different individuals have had an opportunity to identify "outer" characteristics of each girl.

7. Display all of the pillowcases around the room, each bearing the name of a group member. Make sure that the cases are not inside out.

8. Instruct the girls to go to the pillowcase with the name of the girl they described in the first round. Using markers, paint, pinned or glued construction paper, etc., have the girls spend 15-20 minutes "decorating" the pillow cases with their notes (allow for creativity, but be sure to remind them to leave room for 2 other girls to have their turn.

9. Repeat this step 2 more times, until all three rounds have been completed and documented on the outside of the pillowcase.

10. When this part is finished, have each girl find her own pillowcase. Have them turn the pillowcases inside out, and document their "inner" qualities on the inside of the pillowcases.

11. When finished, have each girl share their pillow cases from the outside-in. Have them first describe how others see them, and then have them turn the pillow cases inside out and describe how they see themselves. These can be displayed throughout the class for a period of time if appropriate.

12. Lead a discussion pointing out any differences between how others saw the person as compared with how the individual saw herself.

Use T-shirts instead of pillowcases. These can be worn and incorporated into additional activities.

Children and Youth: Materials for Adults Working with Kids Ages 5-12 Helping Your Children Learn to Manage Conflict
http://www.ncpc.org/10adu2.htm

Suggested Use: This activity is useful to use with girls who may be reluctant to make new friends. It also can help to encourage girls to consider new friendships with girls who are different from themselves. This activity can be condensed into a short-term activity, or it could be extended throughout the year, depending on your situation and interest. Conducting this activity may result in conflict. Youth leaders should, therefore, be prepared to handle any sensitive situations that may arise.

To help girls "see beyond" their traditional "types" of friends and experience new relationships.

A group of girls with willing friends who are not currently a part of the group.

Begin the activity with a discussion about friendship and have the girls share some information about their friends. Have the girls talk about the extent to which their friends are alike or different from themselves.

Have the girls identify one friend (or acquaintance) who is most like themselves and another friend who is completely different from themselves.

Have the girls invite these individuals to the group on a scheduled day for this activity.

Divide up the group (into smaller groups of 2-3) so that each person ends up with someone they were not previously friends with. Note: Try to "pair" up unlikely groups of people, for example a "goth" girl with a "prep" girl. (optional).

Have each group spend time together, getting to know each other. Note: It is probably a good idea to have a set of structured questions for each person to ask of the other. You could have the girls construct those questions together, prior to the "visiting friends day."

Next, have the new groups of "friends" engage in some sort of activity together (e.g., a community service activity, producing something, scavenger hunt, etc.). It is helpful for this activity to be something that all parties can be proud of and view as an accomplishment.

Continue organizing structured activities and relationships over time (optional).

Have the girls respond to structured questions in a journal that ask them to reflect on the progress of their newly developing friendships. Be sure to include both individual and whole-group reflection.

If the group is new to each other, (and if in the early stages of group development), you can "pair" up the girls within the group.

Bring adults into the picture – Invite 2 of your own friends to join the process. Invite other adults involved in your program to do the same.

Are you smart?
This question probably brings to mind grades, test scores, and what other people say about you. Do you ace math exams? Are you an excellent writer? Do you do well on standardized tests? If you have these skills, then you've probably been called "smart" at one time or another. Truth is, math and language skills are only two of the kinds of intelligence a person can have. If you don't have these skills, don't worry. That doesn't mean you're not smart. In fact, you're probably just as intelligent as the straight-A student who sits next to you in algebra, but in other ways.

What is multiple intelligence?
For almost two decades Howard Gardner, a psychologist at Harvard University, has been developing the theory that people are smart in different ways. His theories are so popular that dozens of books have been written about them. Teachers all over the world use his ideas in their classrooms.
According to Gardner, there are seven different kinds of intelligence and most people have more than one kind. They are:

Intrapersonal
Learning about multiple intelligences can help you discover and develop your natural smarts. It can also help you strengthen the intelligences that don't come as naturally to you. After all, even geniuses have their weaknesses!

Suggested Use: Many girls, like Amber, begin to feel that it is "uncool" to be smart or, to be seen as smart among their peers. It is important for girls to realize that all people are smart in different ways, and to understand the ways in which they are smart, regardless of what they may currently think.

To understand the theory of multiple intelligences and its relationship to girls’ lives.

3. Discuss the strengths in the group, and how they are similar and different. Point out that each person in the group shows strengths in at least one area of intelligence.

Identify famous people who also share different types of intelligences with the group.

Suggested Use: This exercise can be very useful to help break girls from the habit of saying "I don’t know" and become conscious of its implications in different situations.

To raise consciousness in girls about the consequences of over-using the phrase, "I don’t know."

Lead a discussion around adults’ reactions to young people who say "I don’t know" in response to almost every question (when, if they tried they could respond intelligently).

Identify locations and situations where the girls can each visit (preferably group settings with both boys and girls together – a classroom is a perfect example).

Have the girls visit their site on at least 3 separate occasions, observing the class for at least 1-hour each.

Instruct the girls to listen attentively to the class. Give them a worksheet that has 2 columns – 1 for boys and 1 for girls. As they’re listening, have them count (keep a tally) of each time girls say "I don’t know" and each time boys say it (the actual wording of the phrase may vary).

When this is finished, count the totals for each column (and for each day) to discover who used the phrase more – boys or girls.

Hold a discussion about what the results mean. Ask the girls to think about the teachers’ reactions to the students every time they used the phrase.

Have the group repeat this process observing a group of younger children and a group of adults (in a professional setting). Ask the girls to compare and analyze the results.

Have the girls use an Excel Spreadsheet (or some other method) to produce graphs and conduct analysis of the results.

A new study confirmed that education plays a key role in improving women's lives. Among women who were college graduates, 95 percent said that things were going at least fairly well, compared with only 3 percent of the women who had not completed high school. In addition, women who take more than two college-level math courses often achieve pay equity with men, and in many cases, receive higher average pay than men. Find out more at http://www.academic.org/at_home.html

Blake, B.E. (1997). She Say, He Say. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. $14.95 ISBN 0-7914-3480-X 176 p.

Orenstein, P. (1994). School girls: Young women, self esteem and the confidence gap. New York: Doubleday. $23.50 ISBN 0-385-42575-9 335 p.

Suggested Use: This activity is useful to give some perspective on girls’ changing interests, tastes, and styles over time.

To encourage reflection on girls’ changing interests, tastes, and styles over time.

Large roll of butcher paper, magic markers, crayons, paints colored paper, scissors, etc.

1. Create a large timeline, depicting every 3 years for the range of years of the girls’ lives

2. Have the girls think back to the time when they were 3 years old and try to remember what some of their favorite things were at that time in their lives. What were there interests then? How did they dress at that time in their lives?

3. Then, have the girls think back to the time when they were 5 or 6 years old and try to remember what they liked and how they dressed then.

5. Have the girls write down what they remember. Note: You may want to have them bring in pictures of themselves for each of these stages.

7. Then, have the girls post their "maps" along the appropriate stage of each timeline.

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