Awwww, Man!!!
First thing, here’s a little back ground on me. My parents divorced when I was very young, about 3 or 4. My sister and I would travel back and forth among their two homes which thankfully were located in the same town. My parents had joint custody with the arrangement that we stayed with my mom from January 12th to July 12th with visits to our dad’s every other weekend. So, you can assume that we stayed with my dad from July 12th to January 12th with visits to mom’s every other weekend.
Even though we stayed with my dad the exact same amount of time as our mom, all of these games, actions, and attitudes that were used to describe Jake I know I was never exposed to them. I’m assuming that I gained my self-concept through the discourse of my mother. Yeah dad would take us to play, watch sports with us, but those things never seemed to stick to me. I preferred reading, shopping, playing with my Barbies, and my make-it and bake-it oven all which are components of the female discourse.
Needless to say, the male discourse and I are not close personal friends. After this reading, I’m struggling with the thoughts that I’m not able to offer my male students an appropriate discourse. In my classroom, my boys would definitely be hybrids as far as their discourse. When they come into my classroom, they have to learn the appropriate discourse. It is always a struggle to get some of my little boys to understand that hitting, punching, or wrestling are just not going to be tolerated. So these guys are really having to focus on the discourse of my classroom leaving little attention to their learning.
This past year I had the pleasure of receiving two interns that were college juniors, one of which was male. While usually my kids love having new people working with us in the classroom the boys especially flocked to this guy. The whole time I wondered what the attraction was the boys had with him until Hicks’ work clarified this issue. They were glad to have a male figure in the school setting. These boys, who are surrounded by women all day while they are at school, now had someone with a personal discourse that aligned more to their own discourse. This guy was able to connect with my male students in a way that I would never be able to as effectively as he did.
For our reading groups the first grade children are leveled into groups based upon their instructional reading level. In these groups, especially for those that are working in below grade level material I need to make sure that it is engaging and intriguing to the group. Earlier in the school year, when we leveled groups, I got a group of all boys who were reading below grade level. When I would go pull books to use with these boys, I tried to make sure they were about subjects the boys would want to learn about such as space, vehicles, animals, etc. I knew then that if I selected something about princesses or puppies they might object or I would lose their interest and not be able to complete the lesson. I only wish I had more resources to pull from to stimulate boys.
I’m also now questioning my instruction for my struggling readers. Are all struggling readers dealing with a battle within themselves between their social and academic discourses? Is that what is really happening when my students are having difficulty with the material? Now I realize I’m going to have to make some extra effort to learn about the discourses that are affecting my students as individuals in order to help them maximize their learning.
Nikki Leggins
Comments (6)
Your blog got me to thinking about a male substitute I had in my room this year. He was subbing for my assistant (a female) who was out for a couple of days in a row. I was amazed at how excited the kids were at his presence, especially the boys. He was a topic of conversation for the remainder of the year. Since none of the other subs had produced this much excitement, I wondered why "Mr. G" was so popular. I chalked it up to the fact that he was young, energetic, and played his guitar for the kids. While I still think these factors played into his popularity, I think you may have hit on something when you mentioned about your male students having to learn the discourse for your classroom. I wonder if part of Mr. G's popularity was due to the fact that he had a discourse that was more similar to the boys than either my assistant or I had. He was interested in making spaceships out of Legos, etc. That may explain a lot!
Clyde Rice
Posted by Clyde Rice | June 27, 2010 3:03 PM
Posted on June 27, 2010 15:03
I too find it hard to find leveled readers and literacy materials that are interesting to the boys in my classroom. During practicum with Dr. Ward, she taught us how to make leveled readers using magazine and book cut outs from material that would interest boys. First you find a topic your boys are interested in, then cut out the pictures, write text to go with the pictures you chose, then put the book together. You can make copies of the book to use in your reading groups. Maybe this idea will help you make books for your children. Male teachers are few and far between especially in elementary schools. I try each year to get the local colleges have their football, baseball, basketball, etc… players come and read with my children. When this does happen, boys love it! Another way I get “male adult” interaction with my younger boys I have the 5th and 6th grade boys come and read to or do projects with my class. I hope some of these ideas will help you as you try to supplement the materials available to the male population.
Meredith
Posted by Meredith Bromley | June 28, 2010 6:02 PM
Posted on June 28, 2010 18:02
I think having a male in the school setting is really powerful as well. I believe the girls and boys flock to male teachers because it is so rare that you see them (especially in elementary school). The school that I am currently teaching has a male kindergarten teacher. The difference in his students from the others is remarkable. The boys and girls really take in everything he tells them. Can you imagine the difference it would make to have a male teacher in every grade level. In some areas they are seperating children by gender and providing them with teachers of their same gender. I would be interested to know how these students turn out if they went through school that way until middle or high school where more male teachers are present.
Posted by Erin Whisnant | June 29, 2010 7:59 AM
Posted on June 29, 2010 07:59
This year I had a male student come to observe in my classroom. The boys really loved this. He would talk to them about things they were interested in like fishing, space and dinosaurs. Not that I didn’t talk to them but on some subjects he had more knowledge and they enjoyed hearing it from him. They wanted to read their writing to him and get comments from him about it. Boys need that male influence and it is nice when they can get it at school.
I also try to pick books for guiding reading that I think boys will like. Most boys tend to like non-fiction. At times it can be hard to find good non-fiction books on they level you need. I know that having books that they are interested really does help them stay interested in the guided reading group.
I think getting to know about the child’s home life and interests is time well spent and it will maximize their learning.
Posted by Ashley Caldwell | June 29, 2010 3:00 PM
Posted on June 29, 2010 15:00
Nikki,
As I read Hick’s article I too was amazed at how much family life and family values really play a large role on a child’s education. Parents truly play the most important role in a child’s education. You mentioned about the impact a male intern had on your boys in your classroom. I too have seen the same results in my classroom. When my husband or any male figure comes to visit or share something special with the class all my boys flock to them and tend to respect them better. I believe this is the case because the boys find an instant connection with another man in the room, their gender. They also know that this male probably likes the same things they do. I really try to make an effort to have the dads active in my classroom. It’s amazing how the children will respond when men read stories to them or just have lunch with them. It is a challenge teaching our children when we have a classroom full of different genders, class, and discourses. We have to take one day at a time and learn from our peers as much as we can.
Posted by Emily Rhoney | June 29, 2010 5:24 PM
Posted on June 29, 2010 17:24
Nikki,
I think it's awesome to have a male figure in an elementary setting. I think it's really great for boys to be able to have these males as role models in a school setting. I have a nephew who just graduated from high school. He would come into my room, while exams were going on, and volunteer- he received volunteer credit hours for Beta Club for doing this. He is going to college to become a teacher and so he enjoyed this time as well. It was so neat to see my 1st graders interact with him. They loved him and were very willing to cooperate with him.
Like you, after reading Hicks' book, I'm wondering about my struggling readers. It makes me wonder if some of the problems is the change in the different discourses between home and school.
Marsha Warren
Posted by Marsha Warren | June 29, 2010 9:39 PM
Posted on June 29, 2010 21:39