Understanding and Educating the Minds of Boys April 2011 Kelley King Tim Coble NESA

1. Understanding and Educating the Minds of Boys April 2011 Kelley King Tim Coble NESA Spring Educators’ Conference

2. How do we commonly describe the “ideal student”?

3. Things I most enjoy about the girls in my class… They want to please the teacher Verbal Neat, good penmanship Organized Do their homework Longer attention span

4. Things I most enjoy about the boys in my class… Sense of humor High energy, active Creative Out-of-the-box thinkers Risk takers Challenge the status quo

5. A Snapshot: Boys in School • On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) writing test, 26 percent of 12th grade males scored below basic, compared with 11 percent of females. Just 16 percent of males achieved at the proficient/advanced levels, compared with 31 percent of females (Kleinfeld, 2009). • In reading, one-third of 12th grade males scored below basic on NAEP, compared with 22 percent of females; fewer than one-third of males (29 percent) were reading at the proficient/advanced levels, compared with 41 percent of females (Kleinfeld, 2009). • Boys receive two-thirds of the Ds and Fs in schools, but fewer than one-half of the As (Kauchak & Eggen, 2005). • Girls are more likely to attend and graduate from college. In 2003, there were 1.35 females for every male who graduated from a four-year college and 1.30 females for every male undergraduate (Goldin, Katz, & Kuziemko, 2006). • These and many other gender gaps for boys have been widening over the last decade (Cataldi, Laird, & KewalRamani, 2009; Chudowsky & Chudowsy, 2010).

6. …minority girls (76 percent) are much more likely than minority boys (57 percent) to choose a good education as their top goal; minority girls (69 percent) like school the most, and white boys (49 percent) like it the least. 1997 Metropolitan Life survey

8. State Test Score Trends Through 2007-08, Part 5: Are There Differences in Achievement Between Boys and Girls? (Center on Education Policy, March 2010) Boys Project www.boysproject.net PISA data: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/31/28/46660259.pdf

9. Do classrooms nurture the nature of boys?

10. Source: Daniel Amen www.amenclinics.com

11. The Testosterone Factor

12. Bridge Brain http://www.bbc.co.uk Search: Sex ID 1 in 5 females 1 in 7 males

13. The Male Brain:Verbal vs. Spatial

14. Bringing on the visuals does all this…. • Increase blood flow to spatial cortical areas of the brain (Gurr, 1994) • Improvements in reading and creativity (Eisner, 1998) • Enhance problem-solving (Longo, 1999) • Higher college entrance scores (College Board 2000) • Increase attention/focus (Ramachandran & Hirstein, 1999)

15. A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words

16. …..Even in the upper grades!

18. Visuals for: *Pre-Writing *Assessments

19. Visual Texts • Comic Books • Graphic Novels

20. The Male Brain:Sensory

21. Implications for….. • Tone of Voice • Brevity • Seating

22. The language of pictures and the language of words are equal. • Pictures are a universal language. • Drawing pictures is a lifeline, not just a hook.

23. “The connection between art and writing, between the language of pictures and the language of words, is an ancient and natural one.”-Beth Olshansky, 2008

24. From pictures to words…. • Talk about their picture • Questioning techniques used • Brainstorm charts: focus on the “doing”

25. Implications for Early Childhood

26. The Male Brain:Neural Rest State

27. How does movement help learning? Movement activates most of the brain! (Jensen 2001) Improves attitude and decreases stress (Bazzano 1992) Better balance = better reading (Palmer 1980) Following directions (Mohnaty & Hejmadi 1992) Improved academic learning (Corso 1997)

28. General Movement Ideas • Class set of clipboards • Opportunities to stand • Stretch breaks • Get own supplies • Focus balls • Therapy band on chair, velcro on desk • One-legged stool

29. Content-Integrated Movement Ideas • Rotating Stations • Ball Toss Review • Snowball Fight • Continent Scramble • Phonics Phitness • Flyswatter Review • Acting Out • Killing the Blue • Vote With Your Feet

30. Using music • Relaxing • Energizing • Transitioning • Stimulating sensory detail & emotion

31. www.songsthatteach.com www.songsforteaching.com www.rockhall.com

32. The Male Brain: Stress Response and it’s effect on behavior & learning

34. The Male Brain:Relationships

35. Aggression Nurturance Involves physical interaction, tough talk, competitive games, and aggressive nonverbal gestures.

36. Empathy Nurturance Understanding how someone else is feeling and really identifying with that person and those feelings.

37. Pecking Order ?

38. “(Boys) need a father figure, a role model, a comedian, a scholar, a sports enthusiast, a gamer, and a disciplinarian. If you want the boys to jump through hoops for you, you better be prepared to be there for them...it's all about respect.” -Ian Dawson, 8th grade teacher

39. The Male Brain:Hormones&Motivation

40. Increasing Boys’ Engagement • High interest • Relevant to their outside lives • Competition

41. “A good book for a boy is one he wants to read.” (Moloney, 2002)

42. “Boys are faced with many contradictions between school literacy practices and societal expectations regarding masculinity.”From:Canadian Adolescent Boys and Literacy Study

43. Topics that appeal to boys • Aggression-themes, violent scenarios • Action-oriented, competition • Superheroes • Gross or slapstick humor • Stories reconstructed from TV & video games

44. Use healthy competition in the classroom • Make it relevant to their outside lives • Outside-of-school interests/topics • Pop culture references • Solve real problems • Engage their body in learning = movement!! • Team-building • Connecting with older males

45. Resources Baron-Cohen, S. (2003). The essential difference: The truth about the male and female brain. New York: Basic Books. Brizendine, L. (2010). The male brain. New York: Broadway Books. Chudowsky, N., & Chudowsky, V. (2010). State test score trends 2007-08, Part 5: Are there gender differences between boys and girls? Washington, DC: Center on Education Policy. de Munck, J. C., Goncalves, S. I., Faes, T. J., Kuijer, J. P., Pouwels, P. J., Heethaar, R. M., & Lopes de Silva, F. H. (2008). A study of the brain’s resting state based on alpha band power, heart rate and fMRI. Neuroimage, 42(1): 112-121. Gurian, M., Stevens, K., and King, K. (2008). Strategies for Teaching Boys and Girls. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Kleinfeld, Judith. (2009, June). The state of American boyhood. Gender Issues, 26(2): 113-129. Marzano, R., Pickering, D., and Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement. Alexandria: ASCD. Whitmire, R. (2010). Why boys fail: Saving our sons from an educational system that's leaving them behind. New York: Amazon.

46. Durica, Karen. An Unleveled Playing Field: The Ways in Which School Culture Undermines and Undervalues Boys’ Writing. Colorado Reading Council Journal, Spring 2004. Gurian, Michael and Kathy Stevens. With Boys and Girls in Mind. Educational Leadership, November 2004. Gurian, Michael. Learning and the Brain.American School Board Journal, October 2006. King, Kelley and Michael Gurian. Teaching to the Minds of Boys. Educational Leadership, September 2006. King, K., Gurian, M., and Stevens, K. Gender-Friendly Schools. Educational Leadership, November 2010. Me Read? No Way! A practical guide to improving boys’ literacy skills.www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/brochure/meread/meread.pdf Me Read? And How! Ontario teachers report on how to improve boys’ literacy skills http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/meRead_andHow.pdf

47. Looking at our work throughadifferent lens

48. Thank you! Kelley King kelley@gurianinstitute.com Tim Coble tcoble@asd.edu.qa