Reaching the Reluctant Male Reader

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Reaching the Reluctant Male Reader

• May 23rd, 2006
• Student Success Teacher Meeting

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Why Should SSTs be Interested in Male Literacy

• Boys who are reluctant readers do not do well in
  any subject area (especially English and the
  social sciences)
• An interest in reading can help male students
  feel more connected to school and other students
• On average, male students do not do as well on
  the OSSLT and as a result are in danger of not
  graduating
• Future careers, even those in the trade areas
  depend on literacy skills

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CRISIS IN THE SYSTEM

• As the latest Newsweek Magazine has implied, boys
  are slipping through the cracks.
• The statistics seem ominous..

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The Achievement Gap

• 30 years ago 58 of university students were men
• today it is 44
• As Michael Thompson states in Raising Cain,
• Girl behaviour becomes the gold standard. Boys
  are treated like defective girls.

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Boys Reading, Research and quotes 1

• Programme for International Student Assessment
  (PISA) The results of the PISA assessment
  conducted in 2000 show that girls performed
  better than boys on reading in all countries and
  in all Canadian provinces
• Me Read No Way pg4

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Boys Reading, Research and quotes 2

• Only 55 of boys passed both the reading and
  writing parts of the grade 10 literacy test.
•  (Pirie 3)

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Boys Reading, Research and quotes 3

• It's not that boys can't read, they just don't.
  Study after study reveals that boys read less
  than girls. And according to the U.S. Department
  of Education, school-age boys tend to read a
  grade and a half lower than girls.
•  (Sullivan )

So how do we encourage them?
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Boys Reading, Research and quotes 3

• According to the Progress in International
  Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) in 2001,
  fourth-grade girls in all of the 30 plus
  participating countries scored higher in reading
  literacy than fourth-grade boys... Similar
  findings show up in the U.S. National Assessment
  of Educational Progress(NAEP) scores, as well as
  in studies in New Zealand, England, Wales,
  Scotland, and and Northern Ireland.
•  Reading Today Aug/Sep2004

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Boys Reading, Research and quotes 6

• On average across OECD countries, 46 of boys
  said they read only if they had to, compared with
  just 26 of girls.
•  Organization for Economic Cooperation and
  Development The OECD Observer. Paris Jan 2002.

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The Reluctant Teenage Male Reader 1

•  boys who were considered to be problem or
  highly reluctant readers in the classroom had
  very literate lives outside of school. Teachers
  should try to bridge the gap.
• Reading Dont Fix No Chevys Smith, Michael
  W,  Wilhelm, Jeffrey D

So have we been using the wrong criteria to test
them?
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The Reluctant Teenage Male Reader 12

•  70 of males see reading as Something I do
  just for school
• Survey of Identified Reluctant Male Readers Adam
  Scott CVI September 2005

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Reading Attitude Survey
Survey of  Identified Reluctant Male Readers on
Statements about Reading Done September 2005 at
A.S.C.V.I.
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The Reluctant Teenage Male Reader 3

•   reading seems passive and lonely (to boys
  in the classroom setting)
• Pirie 76

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The Reluctant Teenage Male Reader 3

•  Dave Pilkey, author of the Captain Underpants
  Series, comments about his comics when he was at
  school ... Some were torn up by angry teachers
• Guys Read (132)

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The Reluctant Teenage Male Reader 3

•  I summon(ed) up all my twelve-year-old courage
  and ask(ed) the librarian if the library has any
  wrestling magazines .. She looked like she was
  about to stroke out at the mere mention of a
  wrestling magazines in her library.
• Patrick Jones Author of "Connecting Adults and
  Libraries" quoted in Guys Read (127)

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The Reluctant Teenage Male Reader 3
 Michael Gurian, an educator and the author of
Boys and Girls Learn Differently! A Guide for
Teachers and Parents (Jossey-Bass,2002),writes
that boys' brains engage in less cross
hemisphere activity than girls'. In other words,
boys use only half of their brain at any
giventime. That means that when boys read, they
need an extra jolt of sound, color, motion, or
some physical stimulation to get their brains up
to speed. "
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The Reluctant Teenage Male Reader 3

•  as many boys claim when they are writing these
  adventures (fantasies of power, adventure and
  friendship) they feel themselves physically
  inside the stories. Rather than denying the
  physical needs of boys, writing can employ that
  energy
• Misreading MasculinityBoys, Literacy and Popular
  Culture by Thomas Newkirk (178)

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The Reluctant Teenage Male Reader 3

•  Humour was their favourite genre. Reading off
  computer games was the most popular thing to read
  followed by riddles, jokes and comics.
• Survey of Identified Reluctant Male Readers Adam
  Scott CVI September 2005

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Reading Interests Survey
Fiction Non- Fiction humour 95 games 90
riddles jokes 95 magazines 67 comic books
81 art 67 adventure 67 sports 67 picture
books 62 music 62 fables 19 diaries or
journals 14 folktales 19 romance 0
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The Reluctant Teenage Male Reader 3

• It's tough to be a guy. Half the time, we're
  not allowed to be ourselves. And even if we are,
  we're sort of expected to apologize for it.
• Gordon Korman Young Adult Author (talking about
  being a boy) Guys Read (140)

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Reading life cycle of a boy 1

• Studies show both boys girls age 0-5 are read
  to the same amount by parents

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Reading life cycle of a boy 2

• Research shows by the age of 8 Girls have a
  higher interest in reading

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Reading life cycle of a boy 3

• Boys ages 12-14 are trying to find their male
  identity. Research shows.
• Many see reading as feminine.
• Peer pressure to be cool and not to read.
• Educators and parents may discourage boys from
  reading things they like to read.

The Perfect Storm
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Reading life cycle of a boy 4

• Boys ages 14-19 Secondary English classes
  stress fiction reading and usually emphasize
  novels that deal more with relationships as
  opposed to action and adventure . This according
  to research is not what reluctant readers like to
  read.

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Reading life cycle of a boy 5

• When boys graduate from high school their marks
  are lower than girls on average. More girls are
  accepted into Canadian universities than boys .

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Reading life cycle of a boy 6
 Generally, women are better readers as adults.
Boys see their father reading less than their
mother. Boys need male role models who read.
A 1996 study by Donald Pottorff, Deborah
Phelps-Zientarski, and Michelle Skovera("Gender
Perceptions of Elementary and Middle School
Students About Literacy at Home and School" in
the Journal of Research and Developmental
Education) shows that mothers are 10 times more
likely to read books than fathers
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So theres the problem

• The issue now revolves around possible solutions.

Reaching
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What Teachers Say
Allow students to choose their own novels.
Choice is a powerful tool. They will take more
ownership in their reading if they get to choose
what they read. Be Prepared! They may not
choose what we want them to choose. We need to
be open minded and respect the choices they make.
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What Teachers Say
Read what they are reading. Students
(especially those in applied and locally
developed classes ) feel more connected to the
teacher when they are reading the same books they
are. Obviously, better conversations about books
can occur when both student and teacher are
reading the same text.
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Orca Soundings Possibilities
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Extended Activities
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Other successes
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Offer New Materials

• Try comics! Most boys know Batman and wont be
  frightened about reading a new story on the caped
  crusader.
• As one grade 12 college boy reinforced, these
  comics were fun because I have watched it more,
  I grew up watching it on TV.

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As another boy added in the class, the story
captures you and makes you wanna keep reading.
The results were very positive!! Further
comments included
Comics are more like a movie on paper and tend
to be more exciting.
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And comics with an edge

• These sorts of comics relate better to my life
  and what really happens in the world.
• Ironically, this comic was Ghost World and would
  normally be associated as a female genre of comic.

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And what about Manga?
Japanese Graphic Novels proved equally
interesting in this class.
In a class of 24 students which included 16 boys
and 8 girls 8 boys preferred the traditional
comic. 8 boys, however, loved the introduction of
the Japanese graphic novel.

• A couple of comments in favour of the Manga
  approach
• they are more out there
• more into the story and not just a comic
• a whole new experience

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Other observations about Manga

• The girls also liked it, but preferred 5 to 3 the
  traditional format. Only one girl hated the
  unit. No boys disliked the unit.
• The one challenge to manga is how the novel is
  read--from right to left.
• With that in mind, the western formatted graphic
  novels were popular with all of the students who
  read the traditional comics.

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Summing up the experience

• If you look at the Planet Series from Japan
  compared to a Batman or other superhero type
  comic, you find that the depth and level of
  enjoyability are much higher because the Manga
  provides the easy read just as well as the comic.
  But the main difference is the content is much
  more detailed and much more like that of an
  actual novel. Manga provides more thought
  provoking and educational experience and
  definitely should be more prominent in our
  school.
• grade 12 male student January 2006

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Results
Differentiated learning!
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What Teachers Say
The reluctant, slow reader needs to have
adequate resources in order to succeed. Giving a
teenage, slow reader a childrens novel is not
the answer. Choose novels that are of high
interest but a lower reading level in order to
ensure maximum enjoyment. These students already
feel embarrassed about their low reading level.
Giving them novels that are meant for children
only adds to the humiliation
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CONCLUSION Strategies for Success
 CONTENT, it takes extra time and effort to
bring in new resources into the classroom but the
payoff is worth it.
 CHOICE, students enjoy getting ownership and
being actively involved in decisions about what
they are reading.
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CONCLUSION Strategies for Success
 VARIETY break the novel paradigm. The Ministry
doesnt want us thrashing the novel to death,
variety can reinforce all of the above
(newspapers, magazines, comics, graphic novels,
web sites, et cetera) .
 RELEVANCE TO LIFE - a lot of students like to
read manuals for mp3 players, games and
activities that they are interested in.
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CONCLUSION Strategies for Success
 MODEL IT- students appreciate it when they see
us reading with them, and learning from the
material too, reading is not hierarchical
experience, reading what they are reading
legitimizes the process.