Reading Don't fix no Chevys

1. Kristin Cielocha and Dan Hogan ReadingDon't fix no Chevys

2. Meet the Authors • Michael W. Smith • Professor at Temple University • Taught high school for 11 years • Consultant for NCTE • Other notable book: • Going with the flow: How to engage boys (and girls) in their literacy learning • Jeff Wilhelm • Professor at Boise State University • Taught middle & high school for 15 years • Other notable book: • Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension: Using Drama Strategies to Assist Improved Reading Performance.

3. Summary of Research on Gender and Literacy Achievement • Boys take longer to learn to read • Boys read less • Boys tend to be better at information retrieval and work-related literature • Girls tend to comprehend narrative texts and most expository texts significantly better

4. Summary of Research on Gender and Literacy Attitude Boys: • provide a lower estimations of their reading abilities • value reading as an activity less • less interest in leisure reading • Declare themselves as “nonreaders” • Spend less time reading & express less enthusiasm • The older they get, the more designate themselves as “nonreaders” (about 50% by high school)

5. Summary of Research on Gender and Literacy Choice Boys: • & girls want & do read different things • More inclined to read informational text • More inclined to read magazines, newspapers, graphic novels, & comic books • Resist reading stories about girls • More enthusiastic about reading electronic text • Enjoy reading about hobbies, sports, & things they might do • Tend to collect series books • Poetry is less popular • Read less fiction • Enjoy escapism & humor • Some groups very into science fiction or fantasy

6. Summary of Research on Gender and Literacy Response Boys: • Appearance of book & cover important • Less likely to talk about or overtly respond to their reading • Prefer active responses to readings • Tend to receive more open & direct criticism for weaknesses in their reading & writing • Require more teacher time in coed settings

7. Who They Worked With • They worked with 49 boys • 1/3 were high achieving, 1/3 were average, and 1/3 were low • 32 were European American, 10 were African American, 5 were Puerto Rican, 2 were Asian American • Students were different schools • Urban high school • Regional suburban high school • Rural middle school and high school • Private all boys middle school and high school

8. How They Did Their Study • They started with having the boys do the Ranking of Activities worksheet • Then they conducted interviews with the boys to discuss how the boys did the rankings. • They created fictional profiles of males and their literacy practices for the boys to read and comment on. • Each boy kept on-going reading logs of all the ways they interacted with literacy during the day.

9. Activity Ranking Sheet Please rank the following activities in the order that you like them. Put a 1 next to the activity you like most, moving down to a 14 for the activity you like least. ___ Listening to music ___ Hanging out with friends ___ Playing sports ___ Playing video games ___ Doing something mechanical, like fixing an engine ___ Drawing, painting, or cartooning ___ Reading a good book ___ Watching a favorite sports team on TV or at the stadium ___ Surfing the net ___ Learning something new about a topic that interests me ___ Working on a hobby (Please specify your hobby) ___ Going to school ___ Watching television or going to the movies ___ Other ( Please specify _____________)

10. Structure of Their Book • The front and the back inside covers list the participants, the type of school they went to and grade, their race/ethnicity, and their school performance. • Then, after each chapter, they included a section called “Meet the Crew” where you get to know each participant more in depth. • To get to know the boys in this study more AND try out a strategy that works well with boys (and girls), we’ll do “The Hot Seat”

11. Their Findings: Why Do We Teach? Rethinking their goals • New definition of literacy Caring • Teach kids? Or Teach subject? • Teach responsively (make adjustments) • Recognize them as individuals & make connections • “We can’t teach them to care, even though doing so seems to be a prerequisite…”

12. Their Findings: What Do We Teach? • The power of inquiry • Inquiry projects allow for “flow” • “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter” • Requires a feeling of competence and control of skills for a task. • How inquiry challenges the traditional • Authors call for change from teacher/information centered instruction to student-centered model • How these findings challenge us • Move away from only teacher-selected projects to allow more choice. • Include students in developing grading criteria to promote more motivation and competence.

13. Their Findings: What Do We Teach? • The Selection of Texts • Look at nontraditional texts • If too hard, will turn off • Nonliterary texts could bridge the gap to literary texts • Shorter texts • Humor? • Choice – more & wider variety -know more about pop culture texts

14. Their Findings: How Do We Teach? • Frontloading • “The boys’ insistence on the importance of being competent and on being faced with an appropriate challenge bring home the need to do much of our teaching BEFORE we ask students to read texts.” • Use more pre-reading strategies to develop a sense of competence. • Making Reading Social • “Boys stressed how working with others provided intrinsic motivation. “ • Tap into funds of knowledge that exist in students’ homes.

15. Our Reactions • It seems obvious that we should care about our students and get to know them… • …But maybe we can be more attentive to things like music/ TV shows they are listening to, going to kids’ events even non-school related activities. • It seems obvious that boys would enjoy shorter texts versus longer texts... • …But we could reevaluate what is “good reading material” to include internet, newspapers, magazines, graphic novels, etc. • It seems obvious that boys would enjoy an action-filled text over a descriptive text… • …But we could consider using more-appealing texts in class. • It seems obvious not to make broad generalizations about boys… • …But we could get to know our students’ interests a little better.