Does being the minority gender affect learning/participation?

Given that these past couple weeks I've been in the category of people Anny mentioned who "don't have time to eat," this will be a rather short entry. I've decided to look into the topic of how being in the minority versus the majority in terms of gender affects how students learn, specifically in the 8th grade Spanish class I observe twice a week as well as in general.

In regards to the specific aspect, the first two hours of the class I observe have a first hour with 4 more boys than girls, and a second hour with 3 more girls than boys. These will be useful, and from my first observations at least, it appears that my idea that those in the majority form a "tyranny of the majority," and disproportionately participate in class. I'm especially interested in getting to observe my field placement teacher's sixth hour, however, which is composed of 20 girls, and only 9 boys. This observation of participation will hopefully be coupled by examining the grades of those in the majority vs. the minority, as well as possibly interviewing a few students to get their feelings about class participation.

As to the general approach, I've read several articles reviewing books over the years loosely tied to the subject that I've meant to check out, but have never had the time to (including and especially during the past two weeks). I'm thinking specifically of books examining gender bias in primary education, how it is geared toward girls' learning styles and has systematically left boys behind during the past few decades. This would certainly help explain why the entering class of college freshman now contains significantly more women than men in many large universities, which is a statistic I read somewhere that I also will dig up and post. I'm also interested, knowing several women who either are currently or were originally in undergraduate engineering programs, at looking at how women perform in math and science classes, this being spurred in part from the former dean of Harvard's comments two years ago to the effect of "women's brains are different from men, and are more likely to have an aptitude for languages and the humanities and not do well in math and the sciences." Given that I know only a quarter of the undergraduate engineers in U-M are women, this is something I want to read about that I'm sure other people have been looking into as well.

3 rules for my classroom

1. Be respectful, to everyone at all times. I think this is paramount in any classroom, because while we may not exactly be here of our free will, if we are civil to each other, this class will be a whole lot more fun and easy for everyone than if we were not. As a general rule, ask yourself before you do something questionable whether or not you would mind if you were teaching the class, and one of your students was doing what you're doing. So, specifically, if I or one of your fellow classmates are addressing the class, no one else is talking. Do not use foul language. Do not come into class late, unless you have a valid reason for doing so. Raise your hand if you wish to answer or ask a question, and wait for me to call on you. Most importantly, do not make fun of your classmates for trying to use the language. Everyone here makes mistakes, including me, and while it is good to correct each other, it is important that everyone feels safe in trying to use the language; NOT fearful that others will ridicule them. Other things probably fall under this general category as well, though they are not spelled out here. Punishments for breaking this rule range in severity depending on how badly the rule is broken, from having me point out that you have broken the rule (in private, after class), to being sent to the principal's office for the rest of the class period and taking a zero on any work due that day.

2. Follow the school's policies as outlined in your student handbook. There is nothing I can do about these; they are the law of the land while you're here. This includes things like not wearing hats in class; if cell phones or pagers go off, I have to send you home; and if you tell me you killed somebody, I must alert the proper authorities.

3. I will not accept late work. I will be judicious with all of my deadlines for having things done, and will alert you well in advance. If you're concerned that you aren't going to get something done ahead of time or that I haven't given the class enough time, talk to me in private or bring it up in class and I am certainly willing to consider moving the due date back (for everyone). However, once the date is set, and passes, I will not accept late work, because doing so would not fair to those who turned it in on time.