Project by: Zoe Karp (9th Grade), Margaret MacGillivray (9th Grade)
Project Advisor: Jane Belton
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Zoe – Kelly O’Shea and Margaret – Charlene Cruz-Cerdas

Over the course of our time at LREI, we’ve both been very interested in feminism and the ways it presents itself in our lives and our school. For this project, we read two pieces feminist literature, The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, and The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, because we believe they offer two different perspectives of feminism, one fiction and one non-fiction. After reading the books, we each constructed a piece of writing, an opinion editorial for the newspaper, about the ways the books apply to us and this school. Through this project, we gained a new perspective on feminism that we can apply to our everyday lives.

Initial Reflections:

Zoe: Margaret and I have always been interested in this topic, and it’s something we really enjoy talking about together. I’m really hoping to get a wider understanding of how feminism applies to me and to this school. I think The Beauty Myth especially will help with that because it explicitly discusses the topic of women in the workplaces. I initially was drawn to this topic was because we had recently been noticing some of the things in this school that aren’t completely fair or equal in relation to gender, especially how classes are run. Many of the classes I’m in allow some of the boys to goof off and not focus on their work while the girls are expected to do exactly what has been instructed without any problem.

Margaret: Zoe and I are both very interested in the topic of feminism, for me mostly because it holds a strong presence in my life. Reading the Handmaid’s tale, a dystopia, helped me to focus on the ways women are oppressed in the society we live in today. I found that it’s themes of female voices being drowned connected in some ways to my life (while not quite as extreme). I believe that The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, as it is more similar to the world we live in, will more directly connect to my life and our school. I look forward to reading it, exploring themes that come up and hopefully allowing me to notice ways that I don’t fight against sexism that I face.

Experiences:

Zoe: I’ve experienced many different forms of sexism on this community, especially in the classroom settings. In classes where we do a lot of discussions, the male-identifying students are permitted to call out and say whatever they want, when the female-identifying students are made to raise their hands and filter what they’re going to say.

Margaret: I believe that there is a sexism prevalent in our LREI community, especially during class. In class, boys have certain privileges that girls do not experience. One of those privileges is the ability to call out. I have found that there have been times where I am raising my hand patiently while boys are calling out. Because of this, my voice is sometimes drained out in the classroom. In addition, I feel as though there are higher standards for girls as there are boys in our school.

Margaret and Zoe’s Newspaper Article:

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PROJECT PROPOSAL

Please write a description of the project you are proposing. Why do you want to take this on, and what do you hope to learn?

Over the course of our time at LREI, we’ve both been very interested in feminism and the ways it presents itself in our lives and our school. For this project, we want to read 2 pieces feminist literature, The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, and The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, because we believe they offer two different perspectives of feminism, one fiction and one non-fiction. After reading the books, we will construct a piece of writing, an opinion editorial for the newspaper, about the ways the books apply to us and this school. Through this project, we hope to gain a new perspective on feminism that we can apply to our everyday lives.

Critical thinking, creativity, citizenship and courage are essential LREI learning values. Explain how you’ll draw on at least one of these values to complete your proposed project?

Being inclusive of all people in our school, regardless of race or gender, is important when thinking about citizenship. We hope to increase awareness in our grade and community, and prompt others to be good citizens as well. Through reading these books, we also hope to learn about the courage it takes to be a feminist and stand up for your rights, and hopefully we will be able to gain that same courage.

What is your proposed outcome? How will you be able to demonstrate successful completion of this Project? How do you plan to share your learnings with the larger LREI community (e.g., exhibit of work, poster of learnings, performance, etc.)?

By the time we’re done with our project, we will have written a newspaper article for the Knightly News about the books we read and how it can apply to everyone’s lives. Hopefully through this article we will be able to help inspire the people in our community to stick up for themselves and their rights, especially the women that are overlooked in day to day life.

Please provide a general outline that indicates your work plan for the trimester? What are some of the key project benchmarks (i.e., goals that will help to ensure that you finish the project)?

First week back from break, we will meet with our advisor to discuss our project and make a more specific outline. So far, we know that we want to start by reading the books, which will take about 3 weeks, every week during x-block, we will meet with our advisor to discuss our progress and what new ideas we have.

When do you plan on meeting?
Once a week during x-block on Mondays