Ralph Fletcher and boys' writing...

Ralph Fletcher has written about the particular needs of boys in becoming writers...

"In general, we have sanitized the writing classroom (no weapons, no war, no blood, no farts) to such an extent that there’s not much left for boy writers to sink their teeth into. It’s boring! I hoped to widen the circle for boy writers. We need to get them engaged if we want them to become stronger writers."

Here is his website http://www.ralphfletcher.com/index.html

Have a look at the Teacher handouts for some good quotes http://www.ralphfletcher.com/teacher.html
and also the Tips for young writers http://www.ralphfletcher.com/tips.html

He has written a book Boy writers : Reclaiming their voices http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewprd.asp?idProduct=9033&r=n157w&REFERER= and you can read the first chapter online

or more at Google books http://tiny.cc/BoyWriters

"At the heart of Ralph Fletcher's Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices lies the provocative notion that writing instruction isn't about teaching writing; it's about teaching writers, and upon this central premise Fletcher bases all of his ideas about how to nurture boys in the "dangerous, supervised sport" (p. 49) of writing. "

Teachers have submitted examples of boys' writing which Ralph has commented on at the Stenhouse blog http://blog.stenhouse.com/index.php?s=Fletcher&searchbutton=Go!

National Library CIS collections have books by him on writing autobiography and poetry.

There is an inverview with Ralph Fletcher on a good website called "Getting boys to read"

http://www.gettingboystoread.com/content/interview-ralph-fletcher