“Reading Don’t Fix No Chevy’s” by Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm
Introduction: Two Very Concerned Teachers
The introduction of this book talks about boys in the educational system and questions why some boys still have trouble with literacy and language arts. The authors mention that this is not a book about girls and a feminine thing but rather why is it that many boys struggle. There is quite a bit of research available that discusses why boys don’t perform as well as girls in school but the authors think that this is not a question that can be answered using average test scores. Averages do not take into consideration specific student’s backgrounds, home lives, communities, urban, rural, mid school, high school, private and public schools, high, mid and low achievers and how these differences influence a student. The authors thought that it was important to take a sample for their study that will help them not just see what boys struggle in but also how it will help students advance in the areas of literacy and language arts.
The authors collected four different types of data to help them figure out how the boys in the study value different types of activities, how literate activities fit in to a their overall values and the students were to rank activities from the ones they enjoyed most to least.
The data is what makes up this book. Each chapter is set up to talk about these students and how literacy plays a part in their daily lives. They were asked to keep track of everything they read, hear, watch and write. The students were observed both inside of a classroom setting as well as outside of a classroom setting.
With this plethora of information on the students the author’s are going to consider how this information influences these boys when it comes to literacy as well as talk about how teachers can learn from this and implement changes to their curriculum to help, guide and encourage learners.
This book is easy to follow and is set up in a way that allows the reader to follow along with the author’s findings.
I am looking forward to getting to know these students through this writing and identifying areas of struggle along with the author. I am hoping to get a great deal of information to help me become a better teacher and a well in formed mentor.
If anyone is interested in getting this book it is available at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_27?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=reading+don%27t+fix+no+chevys&x=0&y=0&sprefix=reading+don%27t+fix+no+chevys
I look forward to seeing what else Smith and Wilhelm have to say about how to address the reading gap between boys and girls.
ReplyDeleteThis past year I taught a class with 16 boys and 5 girls, needless to say the dynamics of the classroom was very different than previous year. I had to ensure that I included activities that had students get up and move. Can't wait to hear more about the book.
ReplyDeleteI never noticed the difference between how boys and girls read habitually. Now that I think about it, in my class, all of the habitual readers are girls. Wow, what does that say about my gender.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me think of gender roles in society, both in the past and the present. In the past women would stay home and tend of the house and children, which gave them more time to read. Men were expected to go out and make a living to support him and his family, so reading was probably not done much for recreation. I also think of the stereotype that men are supposed to be good at math and science. Perhaps society sets them up to believe that they shouldn't be sitting around reading books. I am interested to see what Smith and Wilhelm have to say as the book and blog unfolds.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds very interesting and full of information. I never knew that there was a reading gap between boys and girls. But now that I think back, most of the people who where the bookworms in my classes where girls. I guess this may have to do with the stages of development in the brain. This is where girls develop faster and mature faster than boys. So this may be part of the reason girls read more. I look forward to reading your blog, great post!
ReplyDeleteI think with this new age of teachers rising up through the education system, they are becoming more aware of these sterotypes and can recognize them better. It is important to consider what the socioeconomic background of each student is in order to be an effective teacher. I can't wait to see what the authors have to say about boys and their specific literary needs.
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