Carrollton is the only all girls K-12 school in Florida, so it’s not surprising that walking around campus, you see many girls and female educators. However, you will, occasionally, also see a male teacher.
According to Mr. Eddens, who is the seventh and eighth grade art teacher, “It doesn’t feel odd to me at all. I like being in education, and I like being in learning environments.”
In addition, Mr. Eddens sees benefits to teaching girls, specifically. “Girls want to interact with their teachers, and they are interested in their teachers’ lives and how they feel,” he said.
The students also enjoy having male teachers. Emma Gueits ’29 says that English teacher Mr. Pollock is one of her favorites “because his class is just fun.”
Mirentxu Lago ‘29 also felt engaged in her P.E. class taught by Coach Andres. “He’s funny and makes class enjoyable,” she said.
Male teachers think about gender and their teaching differently. Mr. Pollock thinks being a male teaching girls affects his teaching style in some ways. “I try to think of what girls may do in their regular days that I can refer to when I give lessons,” he said.
But for Upper School P.E. teacher Coach Andres, being a male isn’t as important. “Really it doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “I feel like a teacher, and that is it.”
Studies have shown that students benefit from having teachers of different genders. They need diversity and different teaching styles “to better understand how to interact with adults who are different from themselves positively.”
Finnleigh Vasquez ’29 agrees. “I do think having different teaching styles helps me learn better,” she said.
But many students don’t really pay attention to whether teachers are female or male, just their teaching styles and personalities, including how they interact with the students. Students often prefer certain classes based on interests as well. “I think [the experience] differs because of the subject, not the gender of the teacher,” said Stella Espinosa ’29.
Coach Andres thinks relationships and respect are what are most important. “I think it depends on the relationship that we have,” he said. “It’s if you respect me or not, and I hope you respect me.”
At the end of the day, all teachers male or female, deserve respect, and students can learn from everyone if they open their minds to different ways of learning and seeing the world.
