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New approaches urged to get boys to read
Submitted by Mastodon on Thu, 2012-06-28 01:02
Article here. Excerpt:
'Educators have long struggled to motivate boys to read on their own. Boys tend to be more active, hands-on learners and would rather clean their rooms than read Little Women, educators say.
But the stakes are high to get boys nose-deep in books, especially in the summer when kids who don’t read can lose ground on their reading skills. Boys have consistently lagged behind girls on state and national reading and writing exams, a gap that widens by the time they reach high school.
Under a new reading requirement recently approved by state legislators, third-graders who aren’t reading at grade level must be held back by the 2013-14 school year. In the 2010-11 school year, the most recent for which results are available, 22.3 percent of Ohio’s third-grade boys failed the reading exam.
Part of the problem is that teachers — many of them female — have steered boys into books that the teachers are interested in.
“Boys like to read things that don’t appeal to adults or girls,” said Scott Jones, a fifth-grade teacher at J.W. Reason Elementary in Hilliard. He led a district training seminar last week on helping boys become independent readers and expressive writers.'
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From the article: "Under a
From the article:
"Under a new reading requirement recently approved by state legislators, third-graders who aren’t reading at grade level must be held back by the 2013-14 school year"
That's alot of boys that are going to be held back (currently 22%). if I were a parent in that state, I would not stand for it. I never understand why legislators spend so much time on things like this that can never be upheld. I know the goal is to be tough on academic standards or to at least look like you are, but as soon as they realize it's not working they will create all kinds of loopholes. It even makes it tough on schools to function with all the legal mandates. This is a punitive "solution" coming from people that probably have no understanding of boys and reading.
The article also mentioned the age old complaint about not enough books that focus on boy's interest. I think this is a complaint from the 1950's that keeps getting repeated. Go to any bookstore in the children's section and you will see many book series devoted to boys perspectives and boys interests. There are at least as many "boy's books" as there are "girl's books.
In discussing boys and reading with men I consider "book smart" and by that I mean they have good study skill and did well in college, they all tell me that they did not read much in elementary school, and that reading skills came later. This makes alot of sense to me, when I learn about male and female brain development in the early ages. I feel like schools are all the "female schedule" when it comes to what skills are expected of students.
I homeschool my boys (age 7) and during reading time I allow them to do other activities such as coloring, word search puzzles or even put together Legos (Legos requires the ability to follow step-by-step illustrations from a book, with no words). All of these require sitting quietly, concentration, imagination and visual interpretation. My opinion is that if boys can master these skills early on they wil likey be good readers when the time comes.
BTW - my boys are good readers, I just can't imaging using the reading on demand approach, or expecting boys to read that have not yet learned to sit quietly and concentrate.
Fixed
Sorry, thanks.
No child left behind... except if their a boy
Odd that they implement no child left behind to ensure children aren't held back, then create an exception that will disproportionately impact boys. Get rid of the whole thing or none at all.
No Child Left Behind needs to go
No Child Left Behind needs to go! It may look good, but like this reading thing in the article it is all punitive and does nothing to address the real issues. For me the issue is: do the schools teach and test to boys' development level and skill strengths? I don't think so. I do not want boys punished for not learning or testing the way girls do. That's what holding them back does, or requiring them to give up other stuff like recess or elective classes in order to pass someone's high stakes test.
High stakes testing punishes teachers and schools for not getting students to pass the test. What you get is teaching to the test, and not a well rounded education. Children, especially elementary ages, are very unique and can be all over the scale developmentally, and not all of them respond to the same testing methods.
Please note: The testing companies also make the curriculum. So when a state decides to implement a "test" they also purchase the curricula to match up to it. These are multi-million dollar contracts for the testing companies. There are only three big testing companies for English speaking countries. These testing companies contribute to politicians to get the go ahead for high stakes testing mandates.
The Bush family has a personal relationship with McGraw family (of Mc Graw-Hill testing and curriculum company). They have a friendship that has lasted 3 generations. McGraw-Hill pushed for No child Left Behind because they made millions off school contracts selling their tests and curriculum as required by NCLB. and Neil Bush (Brother of George W Bush) is also heavily invested in the testing industry. NCLB was more about self-serving to the Bush family and their buddys and flowing money to Texas than it was about improving education. And I am a die-hard republican so it pains me to say all this. You know what calculator some of these high school math tests required? A specific calculator made by the company "Texas instruments" (based in Texas) and you know where most the independent scoring companies for all the nations tests are located? In the state of Texas. For those of you that don't know the Bush family is from Texas! and many of their family members are Texan politicians. By implementing NCLB they made alot of money for their home state and the Bush family.
I'll get off my soap box
Source: http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/whatsnu_bush-mcgraw.html
I don't trust schools and I don't trust high stakes tests. NCLB does disproportionately impact more boys than girls.
PS- many of these tests have not even been accredited or independently evaluated to use as "high stakes".
BTW - What the fastest way to
BTW - What the fastest way to improve test scores? Get rid of the students that are most likely to fail the test.
Google the words TEXAS MIRACLE TEST SCORES
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500164_162-591676.html
In high school it is easier to get the boys to drop out than it is to get them to pass the test.
I know the article is on younger children, but I am sure they will find a way to get boys to disappear.