Ridge View High Workshop January 16, 2009: Teachers

Teaching Boys

• Is there a "boy crisis" in education? If so, why have boys dominated SAT scores (girls have a higher average on the newest writing section, but boys have maintained higher scores in math and reader throughout history of the test)?

• Avoiding "crisis" rhetoric and "deficit" thinking and practices. How do we acknowledge and address the impact of poverty without stereotyping, without seeing those in poverty through a deficit lens?

• Can we (and should we) address literacy and educational concerns separated by gender?

• How are boys different than girls?

• What are "learning styles" and "multiple intelligences"? Or, why we should accept there is not one-size-fits-all for any student to learn, regardless of gender. . .

• What are the literacy goals we should have for our boys? (Hint: Passing the state tests or scoring high on the SAT should not be our goals.)

• What should literacy (reading and writing) instruction look like in schools? (Not quiet and still classrooms, not worksheets, and not simply doing as they are told.)

• How can we implement best practice in literacy instruction for boys in a highly standardized educational climate? (Choice, workshops, authentic products)

• What are some current issues we should know about?:

(1) Poverty and education, literacy (the failure or deficit language and practices)
(2) Single-gender classrooms
(3) Young adult literature
(4) Game culture
(5) Graphic novels/ comics