Saturday, February 17, 2007

Reading List -"Johnny Won't Read"

Here is a list of readings related to "get Johnny reading." You will very likely find, not only interesting statistics, but some ideas to help your male students read more.

**The United States is not alone in this concern about boys' level of reading. Be sure to check out the resources on the National Literacy Trust site from the United Kingdom.

Why Johnny Won’t Read by Mark Bauerlein and Sandra Stotsky
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33956-2005Jan24.html
“From 1992 to 2002, the gender gap in reading by young adults widened considerably. In overall book reading, young women slipped from 63 percent to 59 percent, while young men plummeted from 55 percent to 43 percent.”

The Education Gender Gap: Why are boys not making the grade?
http://www.wrrb.org/forum_060519.pdf
What has educational research suggested?
School libraries carry many fewer books of appeal to boys.
Few if any boys’ books have been published in the past 30 years
School librarians/teachers discourage boys from reading the kinds of books that do appeal
to them.

Help Wanted: Boys Reading by Laura Sokal
http://www.ldac-taac.ca/Research/boys_reading-e.asp

Douglass Elementary School in Boulder, Colorado has had enormous success in closing the reading gap:
www.douglasselementary.com. More information about Douglass Elementary is available here: www.douglasselementary.com/gendergap.pdf
“Offering some opportunities for single-sex activities within a classroom (i.e. all-boy
literature circle)

National Literacy Trust Research – UK
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Research/researchindex3.html
Reading Champions – UK based project
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/campaign/Champions/school.html
Reading Champions Toolkit - Great resource, especially page 6 –“What Works-The Twenty First Century Boy”
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/campaign/Champions/RCtoolkit.pdf
Reading for Pleasure – A Research Overview (National Literacy Trust – UK)
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Research/Reading%20for%20pleasure.pdf

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