Boys and Books
New IRA title offers idea for engaging young boys in reading
“Boy Trouble.” “Struggling School–Age Boys.” “The Boy Crisis.” These are the titles of three recent articles in the latest flurry of attention to the gender gap-the stark reality that, on average, boys in the United States read less often and less well than girls.
Much of the coverage revolved around Peg Tyre’s new book, The Trouble with Boys, an expanded version of the ideas stated in her article by the same title, which created quite a stir when it was published in Newsweek in early 2006. Although the mass media attention to boys and reading may be recent, teachers have been struggling to help boys find pleasure in reading and researchers have been studying this issue for many years now.
One such educator and researcher is William G. Brozo, a professor of literacy at George Mason University and the author of the popular IRA book To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader: Engaging Teen and Preteen Boys in Active Literacy. He also serves as coauthor with Debby Zambo, who teaches educational psychology and reading at Arizona State University, of the brand-new IRA title Bright Beginnings for Boys: Engaging Young Boys in Active Literacy. This extends the concepts from To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader to younger readers who are just beginning their literacy journey.
During a keynote presentation at the Montana State Reading Council conference in October, Brozo noted that he prefers using the term “imperative educational challenge” rather than “crisis” when talking about boys as readers. He added that we should frame our discussions about boys in the context of providing “more responsive literacy instruction and interactions for all children.”
Still, boys present a special challenge. Brozo noted the following facts about boys’ reading and writing, gathered from a variety of sources:
- By fourth grade, the average boy is two years behind the average girl in reading and writing.
- Boys score significantly lower than girls on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading and writing assessments.
- Boys make up 70% of special education classes and are four times more likely to have ADHD than girls.
- Boys are 50% more likely to be retained a grade than girls and are three times more likely to be placed in reading/learning disabilities settings.
- Boys around the world score less well than girls in reading and writing and have lower motivation to read and write than their female counterparts.
What can be done? In Bright Beginnings for Boys, Zambo and Brozo say that boys will have great potential as active readers when they
- Are viewed as a resource with unique imaginations, abundant curiosity, and the capacity for self-regulation and sustained attention.
- Become engaged readers because of responsive instruction that is sensitive to the achievement and motivational challenges they face.
- Have print encounters upon entering school that capture their unique and burgeoning male imaginations and build strong literate identities.
- Are exposed to books with positive male characters that serve as both entry points to reading and templates of honorable masculinity.
“As we learn more about gender differences,” Zambo said in a recent interview, “we see that the way many boys are taught to read goes against the way they love to be, which is playful and active.” Repetitive drilling on basic skills can lead to boredom, inattention, and behavior problems. The question teachers ask is, “How can we help boys learn basic skills in a way that is active and motivating for them?”
In their new book, Zambo and Brozo assert that by harnessing young boys’ unique abilities and interests, preschool and elementary-grade teachers can get boys excited about reading and put them on the road to school success. Drawing from extensive research and 30 years of combined experience in classroom, the authors provide perspective on what makes boys tick, how to get boys interested in literacy and learning, and how to get parents and community members involved in boys' literacy learning.
Zambo and Brozo offer concrete ideas drawn from best practices for helping boys experience successful early interactions with print and develop self-regulatory skills. For one thing, they advocate teaching with picture books that contain messages of positive male values such as cooperation, courage, honesty, perseverance, respectfulness, responsibility, and tolerance.
Using these books, they believe, will not only keep boys more engaged as learners, but will help give them a realistic and constructive view of what it means to be an honorable male. Using positive male characters to teach boys is a key feature of this book, but the value of these characters does not stop there. Characters featured in Learning From a Character boxes are used to help adults working with boys consider their beliefs about them. Male characters from picture books are used to teach all of us about boys’ cognitive, literacy, social, and emotional strengths and needs.
Each chapter of Bright Beginnings for Boys features real-life “About a Boy” examples, including questions designed to stimulate reflection or discussion. The book also includes an extensive appendix of books that demonstrate positive values for boys. “Boys need the right stuff, at the right levels, in the right ways,” Brozo said. This book is designed to help make those connections.
“The whole underlying spirit of the book is the notion that we need to take a step back and think about what we are doing in the classroom with young boys,“ Zambo said. We need to teach basic skills in an active way that connects to boys’ interests, and we need to help boys feel comfortable within the classroom community.
“Reading is so much more than discrete skills,” Zambo concluded. “Reading is so powerful. It is transformative. We want to give that to all boys.”
Bright Beginnings for Boys contains many
practical ideas for engaging young boys in reading. One is a strategy
called My Bag, which invites students to share who they are and what
they like to do outside of school.
With My Bag, students put items in a bag or other small container to represent their
out–of–school interests and activities. For instance, one young boy’s
bag held photographs of his family, a baseball, a book of Garfield
cartoons, and a toy telephone.
The boy’s tutor discovered that he loved to talk with friends and family on the phone. She used this
interest by holding pretend telephone conversations about stories with
him—a strategy that helped the student feel comfortable in discussing
what he had read.
Teachers can use My Bag information in many ways, such as helping to identify books students might enjoy.
Here are some new books and other resources pertaining to boys and reading:
- Bright Beginnings for Boys: Engaging Young Boys in Active Literacy is available from IRA for $24.95 ($19.95 for IRA members). You also can order a discounted package that also includes To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader.
- The Trouble With Boys by Peg Tyre, published by Crown, 2008.
- Best Books for Boys: A Resource for Educators by Matthew D. Zbaracki, published by Libraries Unlimited, 2008.
- Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment by Emma Walton Hamilton, published by Beech Tree Books, 2008.
Websites
Boys and books. (2008/2009, December/January). Reading Today, 26(3), 8.