The Challenge of Boys and Reading

We have known for a long time that girls seem to make a faster start in reading. Many have explained this by pointing to the fact that girls are usually faster to speak. They arrive at school more articulate and with more extensive vocabularies than boys. However, in the last 2-3 decades the gap between the literacy achievements of boys and girls has widened in favour of girls. Professor William G. Brozo who is co-author of the book 'Bright beginnings for boys' shared this summary of boys' literacy achievements (primarily American data) at an American Literacy conference in October 2008:

• By grade 4 an average boy is two years behind an average girl in reading and writing
• Boys make up 70% of special education classes
• Boys are four times more likely to have ADHD
• Boys are 50% more likely to repeat a grade than girls
• Boys are three times more likely to be placed in a reading disability or learning class

So we know we have a problem, but what do we do about it?

Helping boys to become readers

I have shared some of these ideas in a previous post (here) but I've developed them a little further here. Before sharing a list of specific hints, let me share what I see as four fundamental things about boys and literacy:

1. Boys are more likely to be attracted to books and reading when the books and the reading event (whether at school, or reading with mum and dad) offer opportunities to discover, experiment, explore, learn new things, make them laugh, consider the curious or unusual, help them to play, see how things work, share trivia tricks and facts with other boys, explore the unknown, and generally do interesting things.

2. Boys need to understand the value of story and storytelling from an early age. This can be acquired through early books, the stories you share with them (anecdotes, memories, tall tales etc), traditional stories and fantasy. Until boys value story, they will struggle to cope with reading.

3. Fathers and mothers need to learn how to listen to and read with your sons. Reading to and with you should be enjoyable, not boring or a chore. See my previous post on this topic (here).

4. Fathers have a key role to play in boys literacy and learning development (see my post on research in this area here).

At a more basic level:

• Boys need a lot of help choosing books that they will not only like, but which they will be able to read. Take the time to help your sons choose books, if they pick up a book with an exciting cover and find that they can't read it this will be a disincentive.
• Fathers have a special role to play in encouraging boys to see reading as a worthwhile pursuit. Fathers who read will have sons who read. Fathers need to read to and with their sons. A good way to do this with older boys who struggle is to read the first few pages aloud and then ask your son to read on. In this way you'll find that your son can read for longer and cope with harder books.
• Don't forget the importance of non-fiction - boys want to learn and non-fiction is often a good way in - try books about sea creatures, space, sport, transport, technology of any kind.
• There is also a place for riddles, joke books, cartoons, poetry and silly rhymes.
• Comics and magazines are also a good place to start - get them reading. But don’t forget that it is the quality of the story that will ultimately motivate boys to want to read and so quality literature is important to develop long-term readers.
  
• Online reading and research is also a good source of reading challenge for boys.

I hope I haven't given the impression above that only fathers can motivate boys to read. Let's face it, more often than not it is mothers who read more stories to their younger children. But there is an important place for men reading books to and with boys, and research evidence shows that fathers have a key role to play with boys' literacy and learning (see my previous post on this here).

Some sure fire starters for young boys

If you can't get your 3-5 year old boy to listen to a story try one of these ideas to turn around:

Read a book dramatically that lends itself to lots of action, loud noises and maybe a rumble half way through (when the wolf eats Grandma, or the boy gets falls out of the tree). Be dramatic, get their attention!

Read a story that they've heard before but mess up the story line as you go along. This is probably how writers invented fractured fairy tales. The first little pig built his house from straw, but he wasn't stupid, so he used super glue to hold the straw together. The wolf knocked at the door and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in." The pig replied, "No, no, no, I've used super glue, get lost." "Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow you're house down," roared the wolf. "Two chances wolfey, get lost" and so on. It doesn't matter if the story logic breaks down, they will still love it anyway.

Get out some dress-up clothes and get them involved in acting out the story. Try to involve all members of the family and have lots of fun. You can sacrifice the accuracy of the story in favour of having a great time.

Some books about Boys and reading

Some of the following books offer good general advice about boys and reading

'Bright beginnings for boys: Engaging young boys in active literacy', Debby Zambo and William G. Brozo, International Literacy Association
'The trouble with boys', Peg Tyre
'Best books for boys: A resource for educators', Matthew D. Zbaracki
'Raising bookworms: Getting kids reading for pleasure and empowerment', Emma Hamilton
'The Reading Bug', Paul Jennings


Other Web Resources

'Guys Read Website' - I don't like the design of this site but it has a great set of links to authors who write books that boys might like. Here is the link.

The UK Literacy Trust has a great list of resource links dealing with boys and literacy (here).

The Hamilton Public Library in Canada has a useful site with some good booklists and advice (here)

Max Elliot Anderson's blog 'Books for Boys' has some very useful material and links (here)

You can read all of my posts on boys (here) and boys education (here) using these links.

Family Action Centre at Newcastle University has an Excellent Fatherhood Network and many programs (here)

The Dangerous Book for Boys

I commented in a previous post ("Boys and reading success") that:

Boys, because they are boys (and are different) will enjoy books more when they help them to discover, experiment, explore, learn new things, make them laugh, consider the curious or unusual, help them to play, see how things work, share trivia tricks and facts with other boys, explore the unknown, and generally do stuff!

The Dangerous Book for Boys written by Conn and Hal Iggulden (Harper Collins, 2006) just about covers all of my list (I'm reviewing the Australian edition). I'd heard about the book but a child of one of our friends introduced me to this great book properly in January this year. His name is Charlie and he lives on a wheat and sheep farm in the Riverina district of NSW. We were staying for a few days and after bowling at him (that's cricket for non-Aussie readers) in the back yard for half an hour we went inside and he showed me his latest book. My jaw dropped as I checked out the contents, I had to have this book, well maybe my own copy. Charlie began to show me all the great stuff inside:

How to make the greatest paper plane in the world
Building a tree house
Dinosaurs
Making a G0-cart
Fishing
Juggling
Some Australian snakes
Understanding grammar (true!)
Skimming stones
Making a periscope
Star maps
Five poems every boy should know
Secret inks
Latin phrases every boy should know
Making crystals
The laws of cricket, rugby, football
Girls

And lots, lots more!

As we flicked through the pages together, marvelling at all the things we could make Charlie said in hushed tone, "there's a funny bit here" (pointing to the section on "Girls"). "What's it like?" "It's real funny", he said. Maybe it was the bit about boys and wind breaking. We laughed together as we read this VERY important section that every young boy aged 8-12 years needs to read. This is my favourite bit of the advice about girls:

"Avoid being vulgar. Excitable bouts of wind-breaking will not endear you to girl, just to pick one example"

As you can tell, this is not a book just to be read alone. Having your Dad, a Grandad, an Uncle or your best mate to explore and make this stuff would help (okay, your Mum could help but...). Here's a chance for boys to be boys, and in particular, to do some stuff with their fathers. I've commented previously in this blog about the important role that fathers play in supporting their children's learning (here) - this book is the perfect vehicle for strengthening relationships between fathers and their sons. It will certainly get them off the computer and outside.

There will be critics of the book who won't like its assumption that boys and girls are different (I think they are different) and some might also be critical of the somewhat idealised expectations that the book might raise for adventure and fun that might not be met for Dad's or their sons. I wouldn't worry about this, there is lots to have a go at that WILL meet expectations; so maybe apartment dwellers will find the tree house tough, do something else. On the gender difference issue, there is ample evidence in the research literature now that supports the view that boys and girls are different (not just culturally and due to socialisation). Leonard Sax's book "Why Gender Matters" is a good introduction to the topic if you are interested (I'll try to review it in a future post). And for those who must have some gender equity the recently released "The Daring Book for Girls" by Andrea Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz should keep you happy [Update to this post, 10/10/08 I have now reviewed this book here).

The book is a little pricey at $AUS45 list price (you can do better than this at good bookstores - $25-40) but it's worth the cost. There is also now a pocketbook version out that is cheaper.

As John Doyle says in the foreword:

"This volume is chock-a-block full of practical ways to exercise the mind and imagination...". But he also stresses that it's dangerous. "Once you've hopped into the canoe and paddled out into the stream of information, you may never want to return to the humdrum world of mass-produced experience."

And yes, I now have my own copy! My wife Carmen bought it for me.

Australian Fatherhood Research Network

The Australian Fatherhood Research Network (AFRN) was launched at a seminar sponsored by the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY), and supported by the Family Action Centre (FAC), at the University of Newcastle in April 2008. I am part of the steering group responsible for creating the AFRN. Dr Richard Fletcher is the driving force behind the network. In a recent Courier-Mail article in support of the new network he calls for much more attention to research on fathers. He comments quite rightly that even research by the Australian Bureau of Statistics needs to be reviewed, because much data on caregivers simply seeks information on mothers, and assumes that it is the same for fathers. He also suggests that we lack Australian research that will help policy development:

"....we either lack Australian research or we have research in a variety of areas with no overview to make it useful to policy development"

The network has been supported by an initial grant from the Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth (ARACY), a national organisation with more than 850 members (including individuals and organisations) across Australia.

ARACY encourages collaboration between researchers, policy makers and practitioners from a broad range of disciplines. ARACY's founders believed that by working together we are more likely to uncover solutions to the problems affecting children and young people than by working in isolation.

The AFRN aims to promote high-quality collaborative research into fatherhood and fathering in Australia by encouraging researchers, academics, managers, practitioners and those developing policy to pay attention to the important role that fathers play in family and community life. I am convenor of one of the four planned strands of research - The father’s role in children’s literacy.

The Network has just launched its website and with it an outline of and links to a variety of interesting research concerning fathers, for example:

• Fathering and adolescents' psychological adjustment
• Infants' and fathers' emotional facial expressions following spontaneous early infant–father conversation
• Father involvement and its association with infant cognitive outcomes in two domains (babbling and exploring objects with a purpose)
• The role of Family Relationship Centres in father engagement with children
  

This is a new venture that is housed within the successful Family Action Centre (FAC) at Newcastle University. The FAC aims to strengthen families and communities by undertaking research, training and learning; developing and implementing strength-based programs; and creating models of practice that promote sustainability, social justice and community leadership.

Hopefully, this new network will have some positive outcomes and will lead to new research on the role of fathers, as well as new knowledge concerning how we can support fathers to be even more effective in fulfilling their important unique role within families. If you would like to join the network and receive regular updates you can find a link here.

Teaching and learning moments in everyday life

I want to share two anecdotes and discuss what I see as a fundamental principle that I think each demonstrates about learning in families.

Anecdote 1

I took three of my grandchildren to the zoo a couple of weeks ago (with my daughter Nicole) and on the way in I overheard a comment from a little boy (about 5) that got me thinking. We had to walk along a path past a hole in the ground where they are building a new car park. The little boy asked his Dad about three times "I wonder what they're doing in there Dad?" The tone was, as you'd expect from a five-year-old out for the day with Mum and Dad, all excitement and anticipation. It was Dad that he asked, three times. Not Mum, but Dad. Dad was talking to Mum and didn't hear him, or maybe he was too deep in conversation with Mum for him to notice. I was tempted to say, "they're building a car park", but I kept quiet.

This seemed to me like a missed opportunity for learning and maybe for increasing the strength of the bond between father and son. This could have been the last of 25 questions he'd asked his Dad since parking the car, and maybe the only one he hadn't answered; who knows. The context of course was that I was going into the zoo full of my own sense of anticipation of a day with my daughter and her three children (and my grandchildren), Jacob (5), Rebecca (3) and Elsie (1). I thought about the many opportunities that they'd have this day to learn; the fun we'd have together. Learning in families so often happens in the cracks of the day, in the small moments as we do things together.

Above: Samuel (age 2) and me on another trip to the zoo.

Anecdote 2

A second event that occurred on the same day as the above resonated well with the zoo event and in the process reminded me of a childhood memory that also demonstrated the same point of this post. After coming home from the zoo, Jacob was looking at his cutlery while he ate (the knife, fork and spoon each have a single digit number, "1", "2" or "3" on them). On a previous visit to our house he'd surprised us by saying (out of the blue) in the middle of a meal, "The biggest number I can make with these numbers is 321". But this time (several weeks later) he piped up, "The smallest number I can make is 123". We chatted some more about numbers, "What's the biggest number starting with two that you make?" etc. This triggered a memory of my childhood that I shared with my daughter, Jacob and everyone else at the table.

"When I was about your age Jake, my Dad taught me to read using a metal plate. Well he taught me the alphabet anyway". I explained how my Dad would use an enamel plate with the letters of the alphabet around it to melt cheese (for toast) on the top hotplate of our kitchen fuel stove. As he scraped the cheese off (I can still hear him saying "This is the best part son, the crispy bit") he would check my knowledge of the alphabet. Over a number of such events he sharpened my knowledge of letters. I still remember it vividly over 50 years later.


What's common here and what's the point I'm trying to make?

Each of the teaching/learning moments is different in terms of who initiates the conversation, how it is structured, the content, where it is set and so on. But all are similar in one special way; each opportunity is unplanned and each occurs as a child and an adult (in some cases more than one adult) do everyday things together.

What's one of the most important things you can do to help your child to learn? And, what's the one of the best things you can do to strengthen your relationship with each of your children (or grandchildren)? Spend time with them! And as you do:

• Listen to them
• Answer their questions
• Look for teachable moments
• Point out things that you find interesting
• Share your memories, your values, and your beliefs
  

Where do these teaching/learning moments occur?

• While you bath your children
• While you're walking
• While you're eating together
• Watching TV
• Reading with them
• Throwing rocks into a creek
• Tossing a ball
• Hanging out washing
• Weeding the garden
• Doing the recycling

We need to spend time with our children for this to happen. In a previous post (It's all about time: How busy lives affect families) I addressed the impact that busy lives have on families; we lose a great deal when we spend less time with our children, or when we're simply so busy that any time with time is basic maintenance. One last point. I'm NOT saying that all of life should be filled with planned teachable moments (but of course they have their place), sometimes (to quote my wife Carmen) "It's important just to be with children, to spend time with them with no agendas". And of course, as the above examples demonstrate, these times together can throw up the unexpected.

Above: Me, Elsie and Samuel in the children's playground on a previous trip to the zoo

Fathers and children's education

Research on families and demographic trends have demonstrated a number of significant changes in families and parental practices in recent decades. The trends can be summarized under four headings:

• Family structures are changing – e.g. there are less children in families, women are having children later in life, there are more sole parent households, there are more blended families, children stay at home longer (and many more return as adults) etc.
• Employment structures are changing - that have an impact on families, with more parents working in multiple jobs, more women back in the workforce, many workers working longer hours, more people working from home etc.
• Fathers and mothers have changed roles and levels of engagement as parents - While there is a trend towards some fathers spending more time caring for children, for others longer working hours have affected family life. As well, the increase in women doing paid work outside the home has led to more children in the critical first five years of life being placed in childcare.
• Research has highlighted the critical role that fathers have - For example, fathers have a significant impact on their children’s learning and behaviour. The influence on children’s education alone (the quality of which is also correlated with many other behavioural factors) is significant, as a UK centre on fatherhood has outlined.
  

In a synthesis of five key UK studies Goldman (2005) concluded that higher involvement of fathers in their children’s learning alone is associated with:

• better class and exam results;
• higher educational expectations & qualifications;
• better attitude to school, attendance & behaviour;
• less delinquent & criminal behaviour;
• higher quality family relationships; and
• better mental health.

Other research has suggested that the influence of fathers and family structures flows well beyond children’s learning. Qu and Soriano (2004) conclude that family formation has important implications for individuals and society in relation to health and wellbeing, financial security, life outcomes for children and population growth.

Research also suggests that fathers who show affection, give support and yet offer an authoritative parenting style, have a more significant impact on their children, when compared with fathers who adopt a more authoritarian and detached style. Other evidence indicates that who the father is, and what he does in life makes a difference. For example, Goldman reports research that suggest that high levels of antisocial behaviour (eg, not paying bills, aggressiveness and so on) in fathers were associated with sons displaying more difficult behaviour at home and school.

In summary, what many research studies show is that fathers have a significant influence on the cognitive, emotional and social development of their children and that this is even more significant for boys.