NH literacy journeys

I found myself remembering little moments from Tom’s visit yesterday as I drove home. The graph of worldwide gender differences in literacy in 4th grade was an amazing collection of statistics. Why don’t we honor the natural development of boys in literacy, which clearly is not at the same pace as girls? No wonder boys sometimes feel that reading and writing are just not for them… no one wants to keep trying something that is too difficult or frustrating.I also thought about Tom’s statement that the math gap between boys and girls has been shrunk to 3 points on the NAEP assessment since we identified it in the ’60’s. The writing gap is 40 points. It seems like that ought to get a little attention in this world. Did you know in 30 hours of televised debates between candidates this political cycle education has received just 21 minutes of that time?And lastly, I am still thinking about volume. How do we increase the amount students are reading? What gets in the way?I look forward to your responses.Penny

Tom Newkirk says in one of the articles I put in your box to prepare for his visit to our school, “By now, the difficulty that boys as a group experience in school literacy is no longer news. Boys fall behind girls in reading and writing early on, never to catch up. By the end of high school, the gender gap in writing is huge. In fact, it’s as large as the achievement gap between whites and blacks in writing (NCES, 2002). Difficulty with reading and writing tasks plays a role in the dramatically higher high school dropout rate for males, particularly black males (Greene & Winters, 2006). It also partially accounts for the fact that 57 percent of college students are now female and only 43 percent are male, a reversal of the percentages in 1970 (U.S. Bureau of Census, 2005). This gender gap is most pronounced among Hispanic and black populations, in which the college graduation ratio of females to males approaches 2:1 (Hacker, 2003).”For boys, these numbers can translate into feelings of shame and embarrassment and, ultimately, to self-defeating strategies of avoidance and resistance (Boldt, 2006). During independent reading time, look for the boy flipping through the pages of National Geographic magazine–he’s becoming a master of “fake reading.” Or look for the anger that arises when the teacher assigns a reading task. “This is stupid!” the student exclaims. Or look for delaying tactics during writing time–the pencil always breaks, the paper that’s always mangled. In high school, these students find ways of familiarizing themselves with a book’s plot without ever reading the book.”For these boys, a difficulty has turned into an identity. Many come to identify themselves as nonreaders, as nonwriters–indeed, as nonstudents. They choose a self-protective strategy that conceals their difficulty with literacy. By doing so, they enter a downward spiral. Because they have mastered avoidance tactics, these boys don’t get the reading practice they need; as literacy tasks become more difficult, the gap widens, and their avoidance becomes ever more necessary.”…To keep boys on the literacy train, educators need to ask Gene Kranz’s question, “What’s good?” What positive cultural, artistic, and linguistic resources can we tap into to improve literacy instruction for boys?”We know the boys Newkirk speaks of. We have them in our classrooms. So I ask you, what Newkirk asks, what’s good? What works? What engages the reluctant boys you work with? Let’s share and learn from each other…