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• 16May2012

  Help! There’s a boy in my class!

  Posted by Jim Sells

  Being a man I know a lot about being a boy. Over the last 10 years this awareness has been quite an asset to my role as manager of the National Literacy Trust’s Premier League Reading Stars programme which helps young people to enjoy reading.

  But I know for many female teachers and librarians boys can sometimes seem like a different species. . .  I once heard a practitioner ask: ‘But how do we speak to boys?’ This and many other questions will undoubtedly be addressed by the commission on boys’ reading we are currently leading at the Houses of Parliament. In the meantime here are my top tips for recruiting boys to be part of Reading FC (not the Premier League Club in Berkshire you understand).

  There is a belief that boys don’t like fiction. It is true that lots of boys and men especially enjoy non-fiction, particularly autobiographies, but I have seen boys go crazy for fiction – the right fiction for them. It’s all about finding material that appeals to them. Ask them what things they like, what interests them. I once overheard a boy, taken to a library, walking past a display of football books say: ‘I never knew there were books about football!’ but he knows now and now he wants to read them.

   Reading 1, Disinterest 0.

  Unsurprisingly, much is down to the quality of the teacher and their ability to introduce the right material in a subtle, non-confrontational or ‘cool’ way to the boys. For many of us males if someone tries to force us to do something, it will become a badge of honour, a call to arms (we like war), to go the other way. So in this game, we as literacy professionals need to trust that boys have worthwhile opinions. We need to listen to these opinions, be seen to listen to them and be seen to act on their input, if we are to win boys’ trust. And while we may need more male teachers to act as role models and even teach, in my experience it actually doesn’t seem to matter what gender the teacher is. It is about their enthusiasm and their ability to listen as well as tell. Any teacher who can listen to their boys, who can see past their leg-twitching, gazing-out-the-window, snot fascination behaviour and understand the route to communicating with them (simple, straightforward, direct) will succeed in finding ways to get them motivated.

  Reading 2, Disinterest 0.

  The culture of masculinity has a lot to answer for. Education is the female domain and men and sons don’t do well among their peers to be seen as ‘good at learning’. Good at sport, yes. Encouragingly, competition, promotion of reading by ‘masculine’ role models (footballers, wrestlers, members of the armed forces, etc) and the knowledge that, as boys grow into men, girls like intelligent males, could be used to shift this perception. Real men read.

  Reading 3, Disinterest 0.

  Meeting authors, especially those who have experience of things that boys like such as football (e.g. Tom Palmer, Dan Freedman). They instantly respect them, want to be like them, and enthusiastically read everything they have ever written. They can even be inspired to write.

  Reading 4, Disinterest 0.

  Girls are made of sugar and spice and all things nice. Boys are, well, made from different stuff. And because girls are often naturally conscientious they will usually want to complete the task. They want to please the teacher. Boys want to know why they should do the task. What’s in it for me? Why should I bother? And actually, when you think about it, why NOT tell us? Happily, IF YOU CAN ENGAGE THE BOYS, THE GIRLS WILL BE THERE TOO.

  Reading 5, Disinterest 0.

  Some practitioners’ views of what is ‘proper reading’ still need to be challenged. Let the magazines, comics and websites rain down! Nearly half of young people have been criticised for reading texts not regarded as valid by a professional or parent. No wonder these same young people don’t consider themselves readers while of course they are. We need to give them the self-perception of a reader otherwise we are sticking them on the other side of a wall. All reading develops literacy skills and children you can get to read under their own steam will then go on to read a wider variety of texts.

  Reading 6, Disinterest 0.

  (Frankly this is looking like a rout. It’s like being at Upton Park when we beat Brighton and Hove this season.)

  Acknowledge your weaknesses. This will not make you vulnerable, but will level the playing field. You will not lose your authority, but you will empower the pupils. For example, some teachers feel unsure of their ability to deliver the Premier League Reading Stars programme as they know little, or next to nothing, about the beautiful game. This is, of course, how many boys secretly feel about lessons. Out of their comfort zone. Panicking. (‘I can’t do this but I can’t show weakness so I’ll cause trouble instead and hope I look cool.’) So let them teach you about football; in return you will show them how reading is the route to them knowing more than anyone else about the game.

  Reading 7, Disinterest 0.

  Get competitive. Let them feel biggest, fastest, tallest and strongest. At reading. Make Bribery and Corruption your new bedfellows: reward them. Try things like representing house points as splatted zombies, or coupling points with a football sticker. Our Premier League Reading Stars wall chart, which rewards reading with the opportunity to put a sticker on the chart, is one of the most popular aspects of the programme. Simple but effective.

  Reading 8, Disinterest 0.

  Yes I know it’s not all about football. But I have three things to say about football: 1) It’s the greatest cultural influence that this country has. Working with football was conceived by the National Literacy Trust in 1996 primarily to address the literacy challenges of White working-class boys. What do most of them love? Do I need to answer that? So lace up your boots and use it. 2) It’s also the most popular sport for girls. Fact. 3) Okay, maybe some people don’t like football but you can use any sport or cultural phenomenon. Adapt everything and anything that appeals: basketball, wrestling, motocross and speedway, military, IT or music. Ask them. It tends to be stuff with energy, hardware and kit.

  Reading 9, Disinterest 0.

  Above all think about how you can make reading and literacy enjoyable and relevant. Get creative and you’ll get a better response. Try interactive learning: have a lesson outside, move about, bring in kit. Use multimodal learning: get them to create a storyboard and film, design a magazine or matchday programme. Use their interests and influences but don’t assume what these are.

  Reading 10, Disinterest 0.

  Game over, whitewash.

Tags: Children, Early Years, Young People

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