NH literacy journeys

So we’re heading into the homestretch here… Memorial Day weekend, spring sports awards, academic awards, scheduling courses for the fall… it feels like the end of the school year! I know I am happily anticipating mornings in my gazebo writing and thinking with my dog Cody snoring at my feet. I will be reading all kinds of things this summer. I wait for these days; I pile books up on tables in my house like mini towers. So I thought I’d share a few things I’ll be reading and have you post about your plans.

• Mosaic of Thought, 2nd edition, by Ellin Keene & Susan Zimmerman. I’ve skimmed it, but I haven’t really read it. I’m ready. The first Mosaic turned me upside down. 
• To Understand, Ellin Keene. (no, I’m not a stalker…just a fan) If you were in Santa Fe in January, you might remember Smokey saying this book was going to knock the socks off of the profession. I want to understand why.
• New Directions in Teaching Memoir, Dawn & Dan Kirby. Several of you know how much I want to write memoir. This ought to get me going. 
• Already Ready by Katie Wood Ray & Matt Glover. I have yet to find a book by this woman that wasn’t smart and beautifully written. I have learned so much about my high school students by looking at elementary writers. Now Katie has tackled pre-school writers. Can’t wait to find out what she and Matt know.
•  And betwixt all of that serious thinking I’ll be reading lots of young adult fiction and making a list of book talks for fall. Here are a few I’ll be reading: Street Pharm, Hole in my Life, Right Behind You, Zero, and Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment. These were all reviewed by my smart friend Karen Hartman, who directs the Denver writing project. 

So what’s on your list?And as a last word… thank you so much for being a part of this online community this year. I cherished our times together in class after school, but this blog took us even deeper. I was grateful for the way it slowed down the discussions we had in class. Have a great summer and I’ll see you in late August…Penny 

I’ve been searching for more information on the gender gap in literacy. It is pretty compelling. I’ve pasted in below some of what I found, plus Boy-friendly Teaching. 

• From a recent study reported by the National Bureau of Economic Research, “Overall, the data suggest that, “a large fraction of boys’ dramatic underperformance in reading reflects the classroom dynamics associated with the fact that their reading teachers are overwhelmingly female.” According to the U.S. Department of Education’s 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey, 91 percent of the nation’s sixth grade reading teachers, and 83 percent of eighth grade reading teachers are female. This depresses boys’ achievement. The fact that most middle school teachers of math, science, and history are also female may raise girls’ achievement. In short, the current gender imbalance in middle school staffing may be reducing the gender gap in science by helping girls but exacerbating the gender gap in reading by handicapping boys.”
• The Programme for International Assessment confirmed another trend in education, namely that there is a significant gender gap in reading and writing. Girls performed significantly better than boys on the reading and writing tests in all countries. Even in Finland, the top-ranked participant, there was a gender gap in the results in reading. Finnish girls scored 571 while boys scored only 520. In Canada the literacy gender gap was similar with girls’ scores being 551 and boys gaining 519. Girls in the USA scored only 518 but American boys lagged behind at 490. The same literacy gender gap was noted in all participating countries.
• Lower academic achievement can also have a negative impact on self-esteem. As the Canadians noted, ‘poor reading performance can have a profound effect on performance in other subjects’. Boys were marginally ahead of girls in mathematics but it’s language literacy that is essential to academic success.Those figures have numerous negative implications. A smaller percentage of boys than girls finish high school – another worldwide phenomenon. Even when the boys do graduate high school, a smaller percentage of them are now enrolling in college or University.One theory purports that schools simply don’t suit boys. Flinders University in South Australia interviewed 1,800 boys from 61 schools about boys’ declining rates of achievement and retention – another international phenomenon. 
• A summary of their main findings is that “most boys don’t value school; school work is boring, repetitive and irrelevant. Also, school … expects adult behaviour but doesn’t deliver an adult environment and there are not enough good teachers.”
• Boy-friendly TeachingThe 2000 PISA results were a shock, but one that lead to positive changes in curriculum and ways of teaching. To ensure greater academic success for boys, our literacy teaching strategies must be more engaging for boys.We must: 
• Allow greater choice in topics and the way assignments are completed, presented and assessed.
• Focus classroom activities on ways to harness boys’ energy.Ensure that lessons allow for movement rather than expect hours of sitting still and being sedate.
• Make learning more activity-centred rather than pen and paper
• Increase the range of literacy practices that are taughtEncourage team effort and collaborative learning. Boys can succeed when they contribute to part of a group project, rather than fail the entire task
• In selecting topics for reading and writing, see boys’ interest in real life tasks as a bonus not a deficit. Select more ‘how to’ books, non-fiction texts, comics, magazines based on their interests.
• Encourage students to create audio books, e-books, websites.

 This teaching is pretty challenging… always something new to learn.  Enjoy the sun! In fact, forget blogging… get out in it!