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Literacy

Thanks to all of you who have responded to my post about boys and literacy. Thanks to author Rosanne Parry for sending links to two great sites that are filled with ideas, suggestions, and book recommendations specifically for boys.

Guys Read  is a website with a mission - “to motivate boys to read by connecting them
with materials they will want to read, in ways they like to read.”

Created by children’s book authorJon Scieszka, this site includes a great list of Guy’s Picks books for all ages, as well as everything you need to do to start your own Guys Read Group. Highly recommended!!!

Guys Lit Wire is a blog ”helping you find the reading material YOU want. ” Though the blog is big and messy and hard to follow, it is loaded with great resources and suggestions.

Check out these resources, and please send us YOUR suggestions.

Topics: Boy Friendly Schools, Literacy | 1 Comment »

A thought provoking article in a recent Weekly Standard magazine points out that there are far more women than men in college these days. The article, Boyz n the Book: Johnny can read, but won’t and who can blame him? (by Mary Grabar) states that “a generation ago, women made up less than half of students. …In 2005 that made up 57 percent of fall enrollments, and the Department of Education estimates the gender discrepancies will increase every year in the foreseeable future.”

Why? The article suggests that the problems that boys are having with reading create a set of problems with study habits and school performance that affects their future success in school.

And, it suggests that their reading problems may be connected to a lack of male influence, and books written to appeal to their interests. “Socially … boys have few male reading role models at home or at school.”

Boys like action, danger, competition, conflict, tests of strength, and strategy,” in their play and their books. This may explain their love for video games, especially those that “present a quest in which the imperiled hero tries to find clues or treasures so he can go on to the next level.” But, the article points to a “lack of ‘masculine’ books that appeal to boys on such topics as sports, war and competition.”

Research on children’s reading interests “consistently shows that boys like to read nonfiction, especially historical nonfiction, (biographies, books on important wars/battles), adventure stories, books on sports, books on facts, and science fiction. Yet, most of the books assigned in school are novels or memoirs.”

Pair this with the fact that most librarians and teachers are women; that mothers read to children more frequently than fathers, and that “those responsible for promoting reading … promote those virtues that appeal to girls, … games and books that tend toward the virtues of cooperation and sensitivity,” and a possible answer to why boys don’t read as much as girls (and therefore are less academically successful) begins to take shape.

The research in this article makes it clear that if we are to encourage boys to love reading, they need books that provide masculine themes and role models. They need stories about soldiers, heroes, male athletes and adventurers. They need to find what they love in books … AND YOU CAN HELP.

Please share your answers and comments here – click on the COMMENT button below. Thank you in advance for your responses.

Topics: Boy Friendly Schools, Literacy | 4 Comments »