Boys Will Be Boys, And Girls Will Be Readers

I am borrowing this title from David Booth because it caught my attention just as much as the topic about boys' literacy does. It's a topic close to my heart because I have a three year old son who always does things that prompt people to say to me "Relax, boys will be boys." Nothing malicious is meant by that. It just means he fits the stereotypical rough and tumble, sports-minded, bull-in-a-china-shop image that fits the word "boy" like a glove. Unfortunately, when I hear that phrase, the teacher in me automatically thinks, "Uh-oh, what is he going to be like at school?!"

I should relax because he just turned 3 years old, but the teacher in me can't help to compare his early literacy interest to his sister's. I know what you're thinking because the mom in me is telling me not to compare them too, but right now the teacher seems to be winning! I started reading to both of my children right from the day they were born, I actually packed children's books to bring to the hospital so that I could do that. I wouldn't say that the differences were instantaneous but I will say that by the time they were a month old they had already developed a preference for certain books which was demonstrated by whether they turned away or towards my voice for certain types of books. I would say that my daughter liked almost anything but as soon as she was able to talk she would say things like "I like the way these words sound together" and she would choose more descriptive, flowery language. My son liked short and sweet and exciting-- or anything sports related or musical. When she had tummy time as a baby, she would reach for and taste the colourful board books rather than toys set in front of her and my son always reached for a ball or hockey stick.

What I need to remember as a parent and as a teacher is that regardless of the differences between boys' and girls' reading habits, how do we keep boys interested in reading? How do we make sure that they value reading and can interact with print in meaningful ways as well as the girls?

Two fantastic documents, Me Read? No Way! and Me Read? And How!, have been published to help us figure that out. There were some interesting pieces of information that will help me as a parent and teacher, and the great thing is that girls will benefit from them too!

• Balanced instruction helps boys (explicit and the tasks are clearly explained, modelled, practiced and given timely feedback)
• Boys enjoy literacy activities in the form of games, friendly competitions, and debates
• Boys like to solve problems so set the purpose for reading, make the learning real and authentic, get kids thinking critically about what they are reading
• Allow partner reading: it's difficult for boys to read without sharing
• Also provide plenty of rich topics for discussion- be sure to explicitly teach accountable talk
• Boys love electronic and graphic forms of literacy 

Some resources for/about boys' literacy:

www.guysread.com

Learning Through Literacy

Ontario Ministry of Education- boys' literacy

Some research on boys' literacy

Motivating Boy Writers

“The ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.”

- Autobiography of Malcolm X, 1964

Life is like a box of chocolates...does it have to be for reading?

Forrest Gump made the phrase "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get" famous. I actually like to know what I am going to get when I bite into a chocolate and I am no different with books. I don't mind branching out and trying new things but I want to know what's coming. I also want to feel like I chose to be adventurous, I don't want the decision to be forced on me. Shouldn't we extend the same courtesy to our students when it comes to reading texts?

We need to provide a wide variety of genres, provide texts that represents the diversities of the students in our classrooms, and provide texts that match the interests of students in our classroom. Doing so allows students variety and choice for their independent reading time.

That places a great deal of responsibility on us as teachers for providing diversity in the texts we select for read aloud and guided reading. Sometimes it seems as though we are performing a juggling act when we are trying to keep in mind: student interest, representing all students, thinking about critical literacy, social justice, issues of equity, the big ideas from the curricula, and making the learning cross-curricular! The resources abound but where do we begin?

What I have learned is that selecting diverse texts about relevant life issues is not a series of lessons, rather it's an approach to teaching. So you begin with your expectations and big ideas in mind and you select texts that help you teach about the reading comprehension strategies while you talk about fairness, justice, environmental issues, friendship, etc. Whew! Changing your mindset from "yet one more thing to teach" to thinking of this critical literacy as a lens through which to view the text makes it seem a lot less intimidating.

Without pressure or intimidation, I relaxed and discovered that the resources for diversity in reading resources abounds! I have listed some websites that I have enjoyed browsing so far. Let me know what you think!

The Literate Learner (key concepts can be found on slide #*) 

Website for culturally diverse texts (this site is free, easy to navigate, has a variety of genres/languages/age group targets)

50 Books for Social Justice

Books that celebrate cultural diversity (these books are subdivided by age/grade levels)

It's a slam dunk!

"Learning a new language is a lot like learning to play an unfamiliar sport or musical instrument. Time, practice, making and learning from one’s errors, and a keen desire to succeed, are all part of becoming proficient in an additional language."
- Supporting English Language Learners: A practical guide for Ontario educators (page 49)

Our school has a very unique group of English language learners (ELLs) because they are not interested in assimilating with the rest of the students in their class. That is not to say that I think they should have to, as much as I find it puzzling when I am trying to plan group small group instruction: should I encourage mixed, more diverse groups or should I respect their desire to work together with those they are clearly more comfortable with? As I read through the very helpful Guide developed by Ontario educators to help teachers best support our English language learners, I was not able to come up with the best answer for this question. What I did discover though were several useful tips and strategies to use as I coach my students who are learning the "sport" that is called English. 

1. As with any student in our classroom, be sure to build a rapport with ELLs so that they are more likely to take risks.
2. At first it is important to focus on building pragmatic and social oral skills. For all instruction it is important to provide rich opportunities for accountable talk before, during and after the activity or reading. It is helpful if you provide opportunities for ELLs to talk through their ideas in their first language before asking them to share their thoughts in English.
3. It is essential to differentiate instruction for ELLs. Decide on accommodations and/or modifications depending on a student's language proficiency, prior knowledge, learning style and readiness or interest. Some instructional strategies to help accommodate your students in reading may include creating picture dictionaries or personal word walls, preteaching the vocabulary before reading and then recycling those new words in other subjects/contexts, and have them act out a response/answer to a text. The degree to which we have to modify or accommodate for a child will change over time, not unlike coaching in sports changes as the athletes develop in one area, the focus of the training shifts but the skills learn continue to be honed.
4. Teachers need to make content accessible for English language learners. We can help make the content more accessible if we build on the student's prior knowledge. There is a great quote from a Ministry of Ontario document called Many Roots, Many Voices on p.g. 17 "There may be a gap between what the schools expect and what students bring but that does not mean that these students do not bring anything...Effective teachers draw on these resources and build new concepts on this strong experiential base." Some other ways we can make reading more accessible are: provide dual-language resources, simplify the vocabulary and/or sentence structure, recycle new words, highlight new words/key words/intructions/key ideas, use nonverbal cues, use concrete examples (e.g., objects that will appear in the story) and visuals when discussing the text, provide wait time, and check often for comprehension.
5. Celebrate diversity! Everyone in the classroom is learning from English language learners as they are learning from us. I think the easiest way to do that in our reading program is to consider the variety of texts we are exposing our class to in modelled, shared and guided reading times- do your texts reflect the diversity in your classroom/community? I think that ELLs will feel more valued (which will foster more positive self-esteem) if we are reading texts that celebrate who they are. They should also have opportunities to read dual-language texts and texts written in their native language. There are many excellent cites to access such texts if those resources aren't available at your school. On example is a website for culturally diverse texts that you should stay tuned to my next blog to find out more about.
6. Create multilingual signs and bulletin board displays.
7. Provide visual supports or concrete materials to help connect the new learning. Avoid the use of figurative language or idioms as they cause confusion and frustration.

Accommodations that you make for English language learners will benefit all. In this game everyone wins! 

Differentiated Instruction is the Main Ingredient

While "variety is the spice of life," I'd say that variety is the main ingredient in today's classrooms. Students need to be exposed to a variety of resources, instruction strategies and modes of assessment to best meet their needs and build on their strengths. This student centred approach to teaching doesn't water down the flavour of an effective classroom- it enhances it!

Differentiated instruction means that students receive qualitatively different instruction based on their needs, not simply more or less of the same thing. It may require teachers to adapt all aspects of their literacy programming, including teaching strategies, content, resources, assessment methods, and student groupings.

(Literacy for Learning Report of the Expert Panel, 2004 p. 41) 

When I began teaching the paradigm was just beginning to shift from thinking of the curriculum as "what have I taught?" to asking "what have my students learned?" We are not covering the curriculum by frantically checking off one expectation at a time. That was shaky ground for those who like to check off an expectation and move on to the next one. But what about all of the students left behind because they didn't master the concept, even though you knew you taught it?


So what's this differentiated instruction really about? It's an approach to teaching, not an add-on. There are four ways we can differentiate:

• vary the content or topic, which means using diagnostic assessments to find out what your students already know and where their gaps are
• vary the process and the types of activities through which students learn
• vary the product that students demonstrate their learning
• manipulating the environment and altering your instructional approaches to meet a variety of learning styles

What makes differentiated instruction the main ingredient for an effective classroom? When you build on students' strengths, you are setting them up for success. They are more willing to take risks when they know that you want them to succeed and that you aren't waiting for them to fail. 


I work with students who are tentative learners. Already in grade one they have figured out that reading is hard for them and they don't think it is for others. At the beginning of the year, when I set a book in front of them they almost universally say "I don't know how to read." These fragile learners get to have 10 days of lessons that are designed to work within their known. Ten glorious days to build confidence in themselves as readers and to work on being fast and fluent with what they already know. The beauty of this is that when we meet for our eleventh lesson, they don't even notice the shift to one or two new pieces of learning because they know they are such good readers now! If differentiating my instruction to start where my students are at for ten days can make such a drastic shift in how my students view themselves as readers every time I start with a new group, how can I not believe that differentiated instruction works?!

"Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength of the nation." -- John F. Kennedy

To extend your learning on differentiated instruction:



“A Guide to Effective Instruction in Reading, Kindergarten to Grade 3”
http://www.eworkshop.on.ca/edu/resources/guides/Reading_K_3_English.pdf

“A Guide to Effective Literacy Instruction, Grades 4 to 6”
http://www.eworkshop.on.ca/edu/resources/guides/Guide_Lit_456_Vol_5_Reading.pdf

http://resources.curriculum.org/secretariat/march29.shtml


http://members.shaw.ca/priscillatheroux/differentiating.html