Transcript Getting Boys to Read: A Look at the Research and the Books

Carrie Lynn Cooper, Dean of Libraries
Kathy Watson, Education Librarian
Eastern Kentucky University
Research on boys and reading
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Examining the issues and data
How to teach reading in a way that speaks to boys
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Programming and Ideas
Selecting books that appeal to boys
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Understanding preferences
Getting to know some new books
What now? Positive steps toward progress
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Success is up to you
An interesting observation…..
“Most librarians would confirm that there is
little or no evidence of a gender based
reading difference between 3 yr olds at story
hour- Many boys attend story hour, happily
participate and love books. Clearly, by the
time boys reach adolescence something has
changed. A great deal of what changes is
how we approach reading with boys. The
Only 43% of middle class white college students are male. (American Council on
Education, King)
Girls out performed boys in all 40 countries. (Program for International Student
Assessment Study, 2003)
According to US Dept of Education data, girls scored higher than boys in reading in
every year in every age category for the past thirty years.
Across the school age years, boys are an average of one and a half grades behind girls in
reading. (Taylor, 2005)
In 1996, the US Department of education reported that 11th grade boys scored at the
same level as female eight graders in writing and reading.
In 2002, 70% of elementary school students eligible for special needs instruction were
male. (Skarbrevik)
What observations have you made
about boys and literacy?
 There is a strong correlation between brain development and the
reading gap. (Sullivan, 2009)
 Why are we hesitant to acknowledge the differences in older
children?
 How do we treat children while this brain lag exists?
 Boys are more physical and their brains thrive in a stimulating
environment. Usually, classrooms and schools do not always
welcome stimuli.
 John Scieszka www.guysread.org
 Lack of Male Role Models- 75% of teachers are women; 90% of
elementary school teachers are women. We need to challenge
men to read in public, and to share reading with boys. We need
to encourage our boys to teach.
Men read in isolation. Women read in
groups- for socialization. (Smith and
Wilhelm, 2005). It’s imperative that we
make reading instruction social if we
want boys to enjoy reading.
Boys may claim not to be readers when, in truth, they
spend a good deal of time reading in their private lives.
What they refer to as reading is what they do at school:
assigned reading of pieces of literature that are too
long, too hard, and unconnected to their lives.
Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men. Jeffrey Wilhelm and
Michael Smith, Heinneman, 2002.
•They don’t like the reading
materials being offered
•They perceive reading as a
feminine activity
*Canadian Council on Learning, February 2009
 Provide what boys like to read  Don’t grade pleasure reading or
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and give them choices.
Give them male role models 
who read for pleasure and
expose them to reading at an
early age.
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Make reading fun. Use
humorous texts and encourage 
laughter.
Make reading active and break
up the routine.
Give boys a purpose for
reading. Connect it to their
lives and interests.
discuss it to death.
Provide time during the
school day for independent
reading.
Use the “Power of Story” to
build interest.
Make reading non-threatening.
It should be neither too hard,
too long, nor should it cause
embarrassment.
 Nonfiction books and nonlinear, visual texts such as Web sites,
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magazines, and newspapers
Biographies
Comic books and graphic novels
Video game guides
Texts that serve a purpose (humor, how-t0, informational, and
stories to which they can relate, and that allow them to get away)
Sports fiction, mysteries, action/adventure/survival stories,
stories with male protagonists, and fantasy and science fiction
Short texts that they feel competent to read
Anything that connects with their daily lives, interests, and
imaginations
 Do as I do, not as I say.
 Be a reading role-model
 Give the boy a book.
 Make sure that boys are exposed to plenty of texts that
interest them. Give them access to libraries, book fairs,
classroom books and magazines, and give them a chance to
own their own books.
 Make time.
 Provide time within the school day for pleasure reading, and
structure the time, not the reading.
 Make reading social.
 “Everything’s better when you do it with friends.” Allow time
for students to connect with and talk about their reading.
 Don’t give up.
 With patience, and texts that connect to interests and
passion, any child can get hooked.
 Kentucky Bluegrass Awards
 Battle for the Bluegrass
 Lunch and Learn
 Bring a Book to Lunch
 Birthday Book Club
 Guys Only Book Club
 What if We all Read the Same Book? Program
 SSR, DEAR, or other program that allows for reading
during the school day
 Knights of the Ring-program that sprang from role
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play games and fantasy stories
Sports-themed programs
Book discussion groups
Promote “junk” reading
Mystery programs
Storytelling
Read-alouds
Book talks
Audio books
Genre that generally appeal to boys:
• Non Fiction/Fact
• Edgy
• Visual
• Humor
• Sports
•Action/Adventure
•Fantasy and SciFi
•Grossology
•Books about boys
•Books by boys
Girls tend to read for clues to
interpersonal relationships; Boys
tend to read to understand the
world. (2009 Sullivan).
Humor
Captain Underpants
Series by Dav Pilkey
Chowder by Peter
Brown
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Burger Wuss by M.T.
Anderson
Magic Pickle by Scott
Morse
ScienceFiction
Fantasy
Grossology
What’s Eating You?
Parasites- The Inside
Story by Nicola Davies
Hugo Cabret by Brian
Selznick
What Stinks by
Marilyn Singer
Non Fiction
Fact Books
The Great Race: The
Amazing Round the
World Auto Race of
1908 by Gary
Blackwood
Raptor by Laubach
and Smith
Ghosts by Stephen
Krensky
Sports
Swindle by Gordon
Korman
Team Mates by Tiki
and Ronde Barber
The Story of Charles
Atlas Strong Man by
Meghan McCarthy
Out of Order by
A.M.Jenkins
Biography
How Angel Peterson
Got His Name by
Gary Paulsen
Blackbeard The
Pirate King by J.
Patrick Lewis
Muhammadali
Champion of the
Worldby Winter and
Roca
Children do not read to their
reading level. Children read to
their interest level.
(2009 Sullivan).
 Invite parents to school and get them involved. Reading at school alone, will
not lesson the gap.
 Decision makers need to provide at least $15 (or 20% of instructional budget)
per student for the library collections. Every day should be a book fair!
 Recognize a broader definition of reading. Reading novels is not the only
reading activity that defines a “reader.”
 Read Aloud- Find the time. You will be rewarded.
 Bring in male authors and illustrators.
 Collaborate with the school librarian.
 Ask them to suggest books
 Suggest books you see- take interest in the school library collections
 Get them involved in literacy instruction and lesson planning