Reading is for the Boys (and Girls)!
A Webquest about Boys and Reading
Introduction Research Background Task Process & Resources Self-Assessment Conclusions & Credits

Introduction

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them."

--Mark Twain

"In my third period English Language Arts class, I have 18 boys and 8 girls." Heard in the office or teacher's lounge, this comment brings many responses -- most often along the lines of "Bless your heart." Why is that? And why does it seem so much more difficult to get boys "turned on" to reading than it is for girls? Why is it that boys have a harder time than girls in ELA classes? Why do boys as a group perform significantly lower than girls on state and national reading and ELA assessments? Why do teachers (even our rare male teachers) have more difficulty engaging boys in the texts we typically explore? And, most importantly from the teacher' point of view, what can we do about it?

While the issue of boys and reading is obviously complex and multi-faceted, classroom teachers can address aspects of instruction and text selection to encourage boys to read -- and to enjoy it. In You Got to Be the Book, Wilhelm (1997) found that students had to engage with the text responsively before they could move to critical analysis. This confirmation of the need to comprehend and relate to a work in order to own it for understanding supports response-based teaching and underscores the need for texts that engage boys. Both the selection of text and the instructional activities that teachers use with students can strengthen this engagement.
Introduction Research Background Task Process & Resources Self-Assessment Conclusions & Credits

 

Research Background

"The data [from our study of boys and reading] in fact, challenge us to rethink our answers to the most fundamental questions we ask as teachers: Why do we teach? What do we teach?  How do we teach?"

 -- Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Reading don't fix no chevys.

What Teachers Need to Know


If you are interested in some of the research that underscores this problem and shapes the possible solutions suggested in the Task and Process and Resources sections, read below.
 

One of the first questions we have to ask is, aside from teacher perception, "Does a real problem exist?" After all, every teacher knows boys who love to read, who perform well in English class, who might even consider majoring in English and perhaps teaching it one day. While we must always be wary of statistics and generalizations, evidence of a problem does exist. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (http://www.nces.gov), teen females have outperformed teen males on reading assessments at a relatively constant rate from 1971 - 1999. The reading scores for 19 year old males (and females) have stayed "about the same" during these years, while the scores of minority and other groups have risen, making the gender gap the most immovable discrepancy in literacy proficiency. (http://nces.ed.gov//programs/coe/2001/section2/indicator10.asp )

A similar gap appears in North Carolina state assessments. "A higher percentage of females than males, in their respective ethnic categories, performed at Achievement Level III or above in reading and mathematics" on the High School Comprehensive Test in 2000-2001. In reading, the gap in 2000-2001 grew slightly from the year before, with 66.8 % of females performing at or above Achievement Level III both years, while the percent of males performing at or above Achievement Level III decreased from 56.6 in 1999-2000 to 56.3 in 2000-2001. The gap in the English I End-of-Course Test (given in grade 9) scores reflects approximately the same discrepancy as the Comprehensive Test (given in grade 10), with 73.2% of females and 63.5% of males performing at or above Achievement Level III in 2000-2001. Furthermore, while female students performed better on End-of-Course Tests across the five core courses (English I , Algebra I, Biology, Economics, Legal and Political Systems, and U.S. History), the combined scores gap is much smaller, moving from one point in 1998-1999 to 0.2 points in 2000-2001. (The North Carolina state testing results 2000-2001, http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/testing/reports/green/index.html#01greenbook  )

Encouragement for boys as readers can benefit girls as well. Rather than pitting boys' needs against girls', or reinforcing the very stereotypes that can discourage boys from reading traditional literature, many researchers suggest comparing this to the problem of "girls in math." Through exploration of proficiencies and attitudes, math educators developed new approaches that serve both girls and boys in the math class. In Teenage Boys and High School English, Pirie discusses the issue as a gender continuum, examining boys' and girls' identification with stereotypically male and female characteristics. He cautions teachers not to treat all boys (or girls) as if they were the same and adds, "We must be prepared for the likelihood that strategies intended to help boys will also benefit many girls." (2002, p. 19) Given the room girls also have for growth as reported in the statistics above, educators will be well advised to embrace such unintended consequences.

In their intensive study of boys literacy lives in and out of school, Smith and Wilhelm summarized gender and literacy research, including the following observations:

Of course, the source of the problem is neither simple nor easy to define. Like Smith and Wilhelm, Pirie relates biological as well as social aspects to the issue. Biologically, boys develop language skills more slowly than girls, although the differences appear to fade over time. However, studies have also shown that women use more areas of the brain together, while men tend to use more focused, specific areas for tasks. Connections between language and emotion centers in the brain, as well as evolutionary developments (from roles of women as caretakers / men as hunter-gathers into our currently shifting roles) influence relative confidence in self-expression and character appreciation, both of which are aspects of reading comprehension and analysis. (Pirie, 2002; Smith and Wilhelm, 2002)

Socially, boys have few male reading role models at home or school. Most librarians and teachers are women; mothers read to children more frequently than fathers. Boys often express distaste for reading as a passive, even feminine activity. Peer pressure may discourage boys from reading as well as prevent them from responding openly to questions that reveal their interest in reading and/or emotions and characters. "If reading or other literate activities are perceived as feminized, then boys will go to great lengths to avoid them. This is particularly true if the activities involve effort and the chance of failure, for incompetence and expending effort are also seen as unmasculine." (Smith and Wilhelm, 2002, p. 13).

Text Selection

For several years now, attention has been paid to finding books that appeal to boys by being more "masculine" (i.e. focusing on sports, war, competition, etc). This approach, however, brings up questions of stereotypes and reinforcing behaviors or attitudes which may not benefit students. Just as teachers should avoid "feminizing" boys by discouraging masculine characteristics, so too should they resist "choosing books that match stereotyped views of boys' interests and capacities [that] may perpetuate those stereotypes and deny alternative interests." (Millard, as described in Smith and Wilhelm, 2002, p. 14)

Taking a simpler approach, author Jon Scieszka has created Guys Read, "a literacy program to connect boys with books they will want to read." (http://www.guysread.com/) Based on Scieszka' own experience as well as input from "Guys Read voters," the site recommends books that boys say they like. Implicit in the site is the notion that by reading more books that interest them, "boys become better readers, better students, better guys." (http://www.guysread.com/) Pirie affirms the need for resources such as Guys Read by pointing out that although girls often discover good books to read by word of mouth, boys "almost never recommend books to each other." (2002, p. 80).

Smith and Wilhelm (2002) also found that allowing students choice in their reading selection broadened text types read in class and encouraged boys' interest in reading itself. However, they also caution teachers to maintain a balance of self-selected and teacher-recommended or required books so that students can nurture interests they bring to school as well as be encouraged to develop new interests. Boys' interests not only transcend the stereotypes but also are "surprisingly rich and varied." (Smith and Wilhelm, 2002, p. 94) While boys would resist reading much of the assigned text for class, oftentimes they would read similar types of texts on topics that interested them or on the recommendation of a respected peer or family member. "While the boys were passionate about the literate activities they pursued outside of school, they usually saw school literacy as a tool, not something to be passionate about." (Smith and Wilhelm, 2002, p. 94) While discouraging in some ways, the boys' attitudes do offer an opportunity for teachers to bridge the gap by helping them make connections -- even passionate connections -- with literature read for class.

Wilhelm reflects in a later article, "The reason that certain text types (like nonfiction) and features of texts (visuals) tend to engage boys has much less to do with the text itself, and much more to do with the connection these features encourage readers to make to the world." (2002, p. 16) These features include length of text, visual elements, level of challenge, edginess, realism/believability, immediacy, appropriate levels of challenge, and humor (Wilhelm, 2002, Smith and Wilhelm, 2002). Guys Read and many book recommendation websites focus on Young Adult texts which meet those criteria.

Pedagogy
Through instruction, teachers can create or reinforce connections that Wilhelm (2002) describes. Boys who see the relationship between the text read and their current lives are more likely to be engaged and to respond to the text. (Wilhelm, 2002) English teachers take for granted that by studying literature, we are studying life. However, boys are more likely than girls to connect literature with television or movies rather than with other written text or with life. (Pirie, 2002)  Using think-alouds, front-loading or pre-reading strategies, inquiry projects and socializing activities are ways in which teachers can encourage boys to see connections between literature and life.

Wilhelm (1997, 2002) encourages teachers to use strategies that help students "see" the text through art and drama. In Symbolic Story Representation, for example, students create cut-outs of characters and backdrops and "walk" their peers through the story, adding their responses as they tell the plot. Drama activities give students opportunities to be active and to deflect their responses by taking on a persona of the character. Through this deflection, boys are more comfortable exploring characters and feelings. (Pirie, 46-48) Some drama activities include enacting scenes from plays and other texts, forming living statues or tableaux, writing and performing vignettes for missing parts of the story or for related conflicts, and role-playing. (Wilhelm, 2002, Pirie, 2002)

References

North Carolina State Testing Results 2000-2001: "The Green Book." (2002). North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Raleigh, NC.

Pirie, B. (2002). Teenage boys and high school English. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Scieszka, J. Guys Read. Retrieved February 6, 2003. Web site: http://www.guysread.com/

Smith, M. W. and Wilhelm, J. D. (2002) Reading don' fix no Chevys: Literacy in the lives of young men. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Trends in the Reading Performance of 9-, 13-, and 17-Year-Olds. Retrieved February 28, 2003 from National Center for Education Statistics. Web site: http://nces.ed.gov//programs/coe/2001/section2/indicator10.asp

Wilhelm, J. D. (2002, October). Getting boys to read: It’s the context! Scholastic Instructor, 16-18.

Wilhelm, J. D. (1997). You got to be the book: teaching engaged and reflective reading with adolescents. New York: Teacher's College Press.
Introduction Research Background Task Process & Resources Self-Assessment Conclusion & Credits

Task

"There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination."

-Denis Diderot

Working through the activities in this WebQuest, you will continue this exploration of adolescent reading gender gap. You will have a chance to
Introduction Research Background Task Process & Resources Self-Assessment Conclusion & Credits

 

Process and Resources

Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.

--John Locke

Step 1: Exploring Text Selection

Librarians, media specialists, English teachers, parents, all can be found on adolescent reading discussion forums asking, “What are good books for boys?”  Of course, some might say this question has as many different answers as there are boys.  However, Jeff Wilhelm has identified some common aspects to boys reading interests, "The reason that certain text types (like nonfiction) and features of texts (visuals) tend to engage boys has much less to do with the text itself, and much more to do with the connection these features encourage readers to make to the world." (Wilhelm, 2002, p. 16) These features include


Several websites have been designed to help boys (and their reading "cheerleaders") find books.   Because Young Adult Literature often meets several of the criteria stated above, several of the sites focus on YA books; however, others include more traditional and even classic titles.  Explore these sites and consider how you can include books “for boys” in you classroom.  In your notes, jot down a few titles that you know or that you want to explore further, along with a brief explanation of your interest in those particular works.

About selecting books for boys

 

Lists of books recommended for boys

 

Step 2: Exploring Instructional Strategies

The next step involves investigating research-based instructional strategies recommended for engaging boys in reading and response activities.  Some of these may be strategies you already use in your classroom, others may be familiar yet less frequently used, and some may even be entirely new to you.  For each type of strategy, explore the general information resources and then take a look at specific lesson plans by NC and other state’s educators to “see” how some teachers have incorporated them into their classrooms.  ("In the Right Direction" is a NCDPI HS ELA publication designed to support teachers with understanding and implementing the NC ELA Standard Course of Study)Take some notes to record your reflections about the strategies themselves and about how they may relate to the research on boys and reading.  (Some of the sample lessons incorporate more than one strategy, as does much great instruction!)

General Approaches to Boys and Reading Strategies 


Pre-During-Post Reading


Making Reading Social
 Response Strategies Using Discussion -- Web article from Literacy Matters, Education Development Center, Inc.

Sample lessons
Approaching Reading through Inquiry

Inquiry Approach -- Web page from Maryland State Department of Education site for Better English Language Arts

Sample lessons
 Incorporating Drama
Student choice

Sample lessons