GETTING BOYS TO READ: Writers, Parents and Teachers, Oh My!
GETTING BOYS TO READ
Sadly, getting boys to read has been a problem in the past, but now it is an epidemic in our country that we need to address. In our rapidly changing, dancing with the stars, fast food nation of American culture, boys are falling behind in school for one reason and one reason only. Getting Boys To Read is difficult.
The official GUYS READ website tells us that the United States Department of Education reading tests over the last 30 years shows us that boys are scoring lower than girls in every age group…every…single…year. The study also showed that eighth grade boys were 50% more likely to be held backthan 8th grade girls and that two-thirds of all special education students in high school were boys. Biologically, boys develop at a much slower rate than girls do and their learning styles tend to be action-oriented and competitive, but what does any of this have to do with the fact they don’t like to read?
Are the boys themselves at fault? Is it the writer’s fault for creating boring content? What about the publisher, the teacher or even the parent? Are they the ones to blame? It is easy to point the finger of blame, but the problem is here and finding someone to blame only keeps the problem going. Solutions are at hand and it is our job to find them.
Wouldn’t it be great if we had some magic bullet to solve this growing problem of getting boys to read? Maybe if we made the activity of reading more like eating warm, chocolate chip cookies or riding skateboards on a hot Saturday afternoon, reading might become popular with boys. What if reading could be like the adrenalin rush of playing the latest action-packed, first person shooter video game title? Surely then we would find more boys with their noses buried in the pages of a book, right?
Sadly, reading is nothing like warm chocolate chip cookies and how can a book compete with the sensory overload that happens to a boy when he’s playing a video game? So, where does that leave us? What do we do? How can we get boys to read? The following is a list of tips for writers, parents and teachers alike. Perhaps if we work together, we can stop the growing epidemic and get our boys to read.
WRITERS TIP: With evaporating attentions spans of our culture on a whole, try cliffhanging your reader every chance you get. Slow-burning novels die a slow burning deaths. Boys need action, pace and suspense. It is our job to give it to them. Study how Dan Brown executed the perfect novel of The Da Vinci Code. Cliff hang. Cliff hang. Cliff hang. The entire book was disguised as a giant puzzle, which organically engages the reader to ‘solve.’
PARENTS TIP: If you want your child to read, pick up a book and read to them. Start as early as possible, even if they don’t understand what you’re reading. The activity will become a fond memory for them. Studies show that children who are read to will have longer attention spans and greater concentration abilities than kids who aren’t. Turn off the TV and create FAMILY BOOK NIGHT one night of the week. One night, that’s all we ask.
TEACHER TIP: Short content is a great place to start with boys because their minds are running on short, action-filled video game sequences. Add some variety in your reading schedule by having your students read magazine articles out-loud. Current events will hold their interests and before they know what’s happening, they are practicing the art of reading. The stories can be based on fact, fiction or even gossip articles, but the important thing here is practice, practice, practice. If they get to choose the article, the exercise might provide some much needed humor and engage the class as a whole.
Eric “Uncle E” DelaBarre is an award winning filmmaker and author of the adventure novel, Saltwater Taffy. Copyright April 18, 2011. All Rights Reserved.
Great tips. As a teacher and a mom, I think reading aloud great books is the key. I always tell my students the first day of school they’ll love to read in no time. They always prove me right. Having lots of choices (fiction & nonfiction), having fun with it & being able to guide them to great books are so important.
Yes indeed, Jemi! My wife read to each other, which is a great way to spend some time together on vacation or even at home. I am amazed at how many kids don’t even give reading a shot. Their cellphones and video games rule, but not in our house. LOL. Our daughter is only 10 weeks old, but since she has an author as a Daddy, you KNOW she’ll be a reader! Thanks to you for being a teacher! You ROCK!!!!
Here is a major reason we home school. If you can instill the basics–a love of reading, writing, and math, all else will follow. My 10 yr old boy reads Dickens, and enjoys it. My 4 yr old boy loves putting letters together and forming short words. Start ’em young and you can’t go wrong.
I can only imagine, Crystal! Your 10 year old will love Saltwater Taffy. I’m not Dickens, but the story is a rip-roaring adventure like The Goonies and Stand By Me.
Great points! I have 2 boys. One LOVES to read and the other HATES it! He has only read one book that wasn’t a comic and it was http://www.frank-mckinney.com/Dead-Fred.aspx. I believe that this is in part due to the fact that his preschool teacher told him that he would never learn to read and she wasn’t even going to try anymore! WOW! So sad. The truth is that he is a great reader. He just needs more books that are as imaginative as he is 🙂
Teachers like that should be removed from the classrooms of America. But…alas…the Teacher Union keeps the slacker in place. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a union writer with the Writers Guild of America, but if I write a bad episode of tv, I most likely will get fired. A teacher produces HORRID numbers in test scores of their classrooms? No problems…you’ve got Tenure. Such a crock. Nice to meet you Heather!
You have hit a huge sore spot with me on this one. My nine-year-old son has attempted to get into books but I think we haven’t yet found the right ones. As he has gotten older, we have focused more on reading to his little brother at night and left him alone to read. I have seen a decline in his interest because of it. I blame myself as part of the problem by not holding him accountable as well as not spending enough time with him. Also, I am trying to get his father to read more IN FRONT OF HIM so he has a male role model. He copies his dad in everything and they both get sucked into the TV vortex. 🙂
Many of his friends gravitate to the video games and I refuse to let him get sucked into that black hole. For that exact reason, I buy books for birthday gifts. My way of hinting to other parents as well as show my son that books are cool.
Saltwater Taffy looks fantastic and I think I will enjoy reading it right along with him!
Great topic!
Well…I hear you on so many fronts here Hallie. I have a HUGE reaction to the epidemic of video games and tv consumption in our culture. The situation is only getting worse in America as technology expands. I think you’re going to love Saltwater Taffy. The pace of the novel is GO, GO, GO adventure. The one thing about kids is their attention span. I made sure each chapter not only moved, but was short enough to keep a kid engaged. When I read a book, I always look to see how many more pages I have to read to get to the end of the chapter. With SWT, I kept my chapters to 8-12 pages. I clifhang each one too, so that helps with the attention span thing in kids. Let me know what you think of it when you’re done! 😉
The “read-to-them” tip is critical.
But I’d take it even further.
Let them see you read. I cannot stress that enough. If all that they see is mom and dad staring at the TV every evening then they grow up thinking that’s how life works. Pick up a book and read it, parents! Read to your kids – but also read for yourself.
I’d also mention subject matter can make a big difference. Sports books work. Also adventure yarns. And ghosts and monsters, as well. I’ve written four ghost story collections – regional books that do really well in Maritime Canada but are mostly below the radar anywhere else – and I’ve had more teachers and parents tell me that their reluctant reading boys eat these sort of books up. Remember all of those ghost story collections Scholastic used to sell? We ate them up as kids.
News flash, folks. Kids still think that anything that goes booga-booga is wicked cool.
Great stuff, Steve. I agree…when they see us reading, it causes a spark of interest in what we are doing. I’m guilty of writing more than reading in front of my daughter, but she’s 19 months now….guess it’s time to pick up a book! Merry Christmas! Eric