Helping Boys Learn

Happy Teachers Day! Have you thanked a teacher yet?

Schools often get a bad rap, particularly where boys are concerned. In many places, school has become a sit-down-and-shut-up kind of place, a place where recess and gym are being phased out in favor of more...worksheets. Is it any wonder that so many boys are doing so poorly in school?

But this Teachers Day, I want to focus on the educators and authors who are working to make our schools a better place for our sons. People like:

• Dr. Marcus Jackson. Dr. Jackson is the principal of Pointe South Elementary in Jonesboro, Georgia. He's also the author of "Because My Teacher Said I Can," a children's book that celebrates the power of encouragement. I've had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Jackson a couple of times, and let me tell you this: He is determined to help his boys -- the students in his school -- succeed. His school is in one the poorest areas of the state, yet his students' reading and writing scores are among the highest in the state. Inspired by Dr. Jackson, the boys at his school read -- and Dr. Jackson doesn't care what they're reading. "When it comes to reading, we allow students to choose their books," he says. "My boys, if they want to read about Muhammad Ali or baseball and Babe Ruth, that's OK. We'll get to the novels, to To Kill a Mockingbird, later." 
• Dr. Allison Carr-Chellman.  Dr. Carr-Chellman, a professor of education at PennState, is talking honestly about some of the ways today's classrooms are hindering our sons. Check out this video where she discusses how zero-tolerance policies can inhibit boys' writing, She also talks about ways schools can use video gaming to get boys excited about learning.
• Richard Whitmire. Richard's book, Why Boys Fail: Saving Our Sons From an Educational System That's Leaving Them Behind, was just honored as one of the Top 5 Educational Books of 2012.
• Michael Gurian. Some parents of boys are unimpressed with Michael Gurian; they think he focuses too much on unproven or questionable claims of brain-based differences between boys and girls. But as a mom of four boys, I'm convinced that boys are wired differently than girls. (Note: "different" does not mean "better" or "worse.") His book, The Minds of Boys, helped me understand my sons and the challenges they face in society, and for that, I am grateful. 
• Leonard Sax. Leonard Sax is a medical doctor and PhD-level psychologist who write and speaks frequently about boys and education. His books include Why Gender Matters and Boys Adrift.
• Peg Tyre. In 2008, Peg published The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School and What Parents & Educators Must Do. Her latest book, The Good School: How Smart Parents Can Help Their Kids Get the Education They Deserve, picks up where The Trouble with Boys left off.

Who else should we add to our Helping-Boys-Learn list?

Expectations

I am concerned about grade level expectations which are enforced without any true understanding of when children are actually ready to acquire the skills being covered...

When I asked for your learning concerns, Andrea answered. So today, let's talk about grade level expectations.

According to the Louisiana Department of Education, "A grade-level expectation (GLE) is a statement that defines what all students should know and be able to do at the end of a given grade level."

What concerns Andrea (and many others) is the "all" in that sentence. ALL children in Louisiana Public Schools, for instance, are expected to "decode simple one-syllable words" and "read books with predictable, repetitive text and simple illustrations" by the end of kindergarten. But what if child is not biologically ready to read by the end of kindergarten?

Well-established research has shown that different areas of the brain mature at different times in males and females. The part of the brain that handles language typically matures earlier in girls than in boys -- so much so, in fact, that the language area of the brain of a five-year-old boy is comparable to that of a three-and-a-half year old girl. Is it fair, then, to place five-year-old boys in classrooms with five-year-old girls and expect both sexes to read by the end of the year?

At age five, boys are also typically more impulsive and active than five-year-old girls -- characteristics that don't exactly bode well for a study of the written word.

And yet, some boys read by the end of kindergarten. Some girls don't. At what cost? Do we truly know the benefits or harms of pushing a child to achieve skills before he is naturally ready? We do know this: any early advantages gained in kindergarten tend to even out around 4th grade. In other words, it makes no difference whether a child learns to read "early" or "late."

Thirty years ago, American kindergartens were focused on play, not literacy. We learned to read in 1st grade, not kindergarten. Even that, in hindsight, seems rather arbitrary. Who decided, years ago, that children should know how to read by age 6? Why? (For the record, I'm going to do some digging. Hopefully, I'll report back soon with answers.)

What do you think of grade level expectations? Do you feel they help or hamper students? If you homeschool, do you worry more about grade level expectations or the readiness of the individual child?

Setting Boundaries

Joyce Grant, of Getting Kids Reading, had a great post yesterday about why boys don't like school. She recently attended a Leonard Sax seminar and wrote a great summary of the biologically-based learning differences between boys and girls.

She also wrote about boundaries. I love point # 7:

Boys understand boundaries. Instead of saying, "no throwing snowballs," make some boundaries. "Snowball throwing within this area only." Boys get "inbounds vs. out-of-bounds." And they're good with it.

We can't outlaw boy behavior. We can't outlaw running and screaming and jumping. We can't ban all violent play, and we can't stop them from wrestling. If we do that, we send boys the message that their internal impulses are somehow wrong, and that's just, well, wrong.

We can, however, set some boundaries. We can help them redirect their energies. We can suggest, for instance, that they leap off the playground instead of off the couch. We can give them play guns (or not) while letting them know that it's not OK to point a weapon at someone in anger. We can provide safe spaces and sane boundaries (such as no hitting the head or groin)when they start to wrestle.

Providing boundaries recognizes and respects boys' innate needs, while teaching them basic social behavior. Providing boundaries allows boys to experiment with their power and strength in a safe way. Providing boundaries helps boys grow into confident men.

The next time your boys are driving you crazy, don't simply outlaw the behavior. Work with your boys to develop some boundaries instead.

Smokeless Tobacco: Ick!

A new study out today finds that increasing numbers of teen boys are using smokeless tobacco products, such as snuff and chewing tobacco. According to a report by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, between 2002 and 2007, there was a 30% increase in the number of boys ages 12-17 who admitted to using smokeless tobacco products. Teen boys in the South and Midwest, particularly in rural areas, were especially likely to have used smokeless tobacco products.

Unfortunately, many teen boys think smokeless tobacco is somehow safe -- or at least safer -- than cigarettes. But nothing could be further from the truth. Check out these myths (from www.ucanquit2.org):

• MYTH: Smokeless tobacco products are a safe alternative to tobacco smoking with none of the risk for serious illness.
• FACT: Smokeless does not equal harmless. The list of serious illnesses connected to any form of smokeless tobacco is almost too long to print, but it does include mouth cancer, cancer of the pancreas, tooth loss, and bone loss around the roots of teeth.

• MYTH: When you chew tobacco you spit the nicotine, and all the other poisons, out with the chew.
• FACT: When chewers place snuff or smokeless in their mouth, cheek, or lip, they give nicotine a free pass to do its nasty thing. A high dose of nicotine enters the bloodstream from the mouth and is then carried throughout the body. From there it takes its toll on many parts of the body, including the heart and blood vessels, hormones, metabolism, and brain. The amount of nicotine absorbed from a can of spit tobacco is equal to the amount delivered by three to four packs of cigarettes. Nicotine is absorbed more slowly from smokeless tobacco than from cigarettes, but more nicotine per dose is absorbed from smokeless tobacco than from cigarettes. Also, the nicotine stays in the bloodstream for a longer time.

• MYTH: A little dip or chew won’t hurt you.
• FACT: Even a little smokeless tobacco has enough nicotine in it to get you addicted if you keep using it. Don’t be fooled by thinking you can use just a little and not get addicted. Smokeless tobacco contains nicotine, the same drug that makes cigarettes addictive. If you hold an average size dip or chew in your mouth for 30 minutes, you get as much nicotine as you do from about three cigarettes. It is so addicting that some smokeless tobacco users sleep with it in their mouths so they keep getting nicotine through the night.

• MYTH: Good gum care will offset the harmful effects of dip or chew.
• FACT: There is simply no evidence that there is anything you can do with floss, toothbrushes, mouthwash, or toothpaste to undo the toll you take on your teeth and gums when you make the decision to dip or chew. Brush and floss as much as you want, but there’s no way it will undo the harm of smokeless tobacco.

Unfortunately, these facts alone may do little to dissuade your teen from using smokeless tobacco, since teen boys are, by nature, risk-takers. Add in the fact that boys in groups tend to do things they wouldn't do alone (as Dr. Leonard Sax writes, "A boy is much more likely to do something dangerous and stupid when he's in a group of boys than when he's by himself."), and your best bet is a) modeling healthy behavior and b) being aware of what your son and his friends are doing.

If that's not enough, send him over to www.trashyourcan.org. There are some graphic pictures, but some stories are best told in the first person.