Boys and Reading

Are you familiar with the research by Jim Trelease and Stephen Krashen. You must take some time (from your busy schedule) to read these books. They are FULL of research.


Trelease creates a very bleak timeline, he states, "we start with 100% enthusiasm but we lose most of our readers by the forth grade. I am have concluded that that readership is mostly boys!!!.

As far as I'm concerned, we are not losing readers because these boys were never readers in the first place. What we have lost is their enthusiasm. Once we've lost that, we nearly lose all hope. I strongly believe that we don't even develop our boys into readers to begin with.

Here's a resource I recently came across, Thomas Newkirk's Misreading Masculinity: boys, literacy and popular culture"
http://www.amazon.com/Misreading-Masculinity-Literacy-Popular-Culture/dp/0325004455/sr=8-1/qid=1171464093/ref=sr_1_1/104-9490765-3626305?ie=UTF8&s=books

Connecting Boys with Books:what librarias can do by Michael Sullivan
http://www.amazon.com/Connecting-Boys-Books-What-Libraries/dp/0838908497/sr=8-1/qid=1171464964/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-9490765-3626305?ie=UTF8&s=books
I was thrilled to find discuss using gaming in the library to attract the boys to the library.

GAMING IN THE LIBRARY

I was fortunate to be in a school that did not have a policy (as most schools do) against playing games in the library. I had many kids throughout the day that came to the library to play Shogi (Japanese chess) , Go (another Japanese board game), mancala (a game from Africa/Mideast possibly Egypt), Chinese Checkers and I even allowed them to play Runescape. Unfortunately, most teachers get completely agitated when they see kids playing games in the library. These are the teachers that don't want kids in the library during the prep time. When they happen to come to the library, THEY talk, but when it come it the kids, they expect them to be drop dead quiet!

Getting the boys into the library was just the beginning of my relationship with them. I really got to know these kids and often took the time to discuss books with them. I had often given these kids books I picked up at my favorite second-hand outlets. In addition, Runescape provided a terrific environment for these kids.

This blog is a work in process. However, I'd really like to get some "Supportive discussion" going on about these issues.