Boys and reading - radio talk

Here is a short useful talk on boys and reading from the International Reading Association's "Reading Radio" http://www.jackstreet.com/jackstreet/WIRA.Billboard.cfm

Why Boys Lag Girls in Reading / How to close the gap
Some notes from the talk...

• What the research / evidence says - anecdotal evidence from teachers and parents, gender differences studies, US studies / reports, international literacy assessment PISA and PIRLS etc
• Why be concerned - long term impact - high literacy gives the edge - life opportunities
  
• Perceptions that literacy and masculinity are incompatible - preponderance of female readers in boys' lives, societal messages "boys need to active, physical..." doesn't leave a lot of time for repose and quiet mood needed to be a thoughtful reader
• Positive male reading role models very important - archetypes - different ways to be male... in the real world and in literature, eg fictional characters, people from history...
  
• 88% of elementary school teachers in the USA are women - young boys need to see men with active interesting lives who include reading and literacy as part of their lives
  
• Bookclubs - good example - "Books and balls" - athletic coaches including some reading elements after training - talking about what they are reading etc
  
• Important not to see boys as a problem but as a resource - finding out what are their interests, in and out of school, and then create as many opportunities for boys to have encounters with texts that match those interests... "My bag" - with items that represent their interests /hobbies, share them, then find texts and reading resources matching them
  
• Parents - more trips to public libraries, bookstores- being in a book environment will inevitably lead to more encounters with books - open up, look through, being around books and being exposed to them...
  

William G. Brozo is a Professor of Literacy in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He has taught reading and language arts in the Carolinas. He has written numerous articles on literacy development for children and young adults and authored several books including, To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader: Engaging Teen and Preteen Boys in Active Literacy (International Reading Association)