Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Reading Don't Fix No Chevys

The book that I am reading is "Reading Don't Fix No Chevys".  It is about the literacy of young boys in our school systems.  I am reading the first two chapters currently.  It is so true that boys are not allowed to express themselves in schools.  From my own experiences, I am a girl, I have seen how girls are encouraged so much more than boys in our education systems.  Boys are not allowed to play fight, but girls can play "house".  Boys know the difference between play fighting and real fighting, so why aren't we letting our little guys become men?  The teaching sphere is dominated by women, and I don't think that we think about how much "girly" stuff we impose on the boys.  In the book, the authors talk about how, to boys, literacy is feminine so they go to great lengths to avoid it at all costs!  I never thought of literacy being gender oriented, but it truly is.  We do not want our young boys writing about death and war when they are in elementary school, but we let the girls write about romances.  I feel like the school system is against boys from the start, and there are things that we need to change.  Boys statistically read more informational texts than novels.  This is true in my own life.  I have read 6 novels so far this summer, and my husband has not read a single one.  But, he has read at least 15 informational car magazines.  In school, however, we are telling our boys in literature classes that they need to read these novels that they have no interest in.  Why do we do this to them? Are they really learning anything?  I don't think my husband remembers a single novel that he was forced to read in school but he can tell you the quarter-mile time, 0-60 time, and curb weight for any car in existence today.   When I start teaching I really want my little men to become men by doing what they want to do as far as reading.  As far as I am concerned, as long as they are reading, I don't care what the content is.  This book is incredibly interesting, and I really recommend it especially for women because we never went through these experiences in school.  This could be seen as a different Discourse that we can never be in, but we can come to understand it somewhat through studying it.  
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11 comments:

  1. judysalazJune 19, 2011 at 6:57 PM

    Your blog is very interesting to me. This year I had a class of 16 boys and 5 girls. The dynamics of the classroom were very different than had been in the past. It was difficult this year to stop the boys from roughhousing with each other. Everyday when the students would gather in the group area I'd find at least three boys involved in a wrestling match. I found that I had to arrange learning centers differently, I had to bring out different types of books and I had to allow for more outside time for these students. I agree with you when you say that the educational system does not always allow for them to express themselves in school.

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  2. AliceJune 20, 2011 at 10:00 AM

    I whole-heartily agree with you. Reading should be reading, regardless of the content. My mother, who is a retired librarian, has always laughed that when she met my dad all he read was car magazines and Playboy. However, the longer they were together, the more he read and the broader the genre of books. My mom has always said that while there is quality literature out there, that any reading, whether it is reading People Magazine or Dickens, is better than no reading. I think that we often forget that in the world of education.

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  3. LizJune 20, 2011 at 5:56 PM

    I thought it was funny that you tied in Gee at the end, but you're totally right! My husband reads more books than I do, by a lot (mostly Stephen King and stuff like that), but I read lots of magazines and blogs about interior design. I agree - reading is reading!

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  4. UnknownJune 20, 2011 at 10:33 PM

    I love hearing this. I have a son who will enter kindergarten next year and I am really thinking about what kind of learner he is and how I can advocate for him while he is in school. He currently loves books, but I can see that the content is very important to him.

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  5. KelseyJune 28, 2011 at 5:52 PM

    Jordan, you should really read this book. It's really really good. I am loving it!!! It might give you some insight because they surveyed so many different boys and their learning styles.

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  6. DeonnaJuly 2, 2011 at 12:32 PM

    I agree as long as students are reading the content is not important. One of the reasons I want to teach Health is that everything can be related to Health therefore pretty much any text can be "relative". I never thought about literacy as gender oriented either but your comment about the teaching sphere being female dominant is absolutely true!

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  7. AnonymousJuly 2, 2011 at 9:36 PM

    Sounds like a great book. We are definitely losing our boys the way schools are currently structured. I think it would be great to see more men teaching in the elementary grades too. Boys need the gender identity which so many are not getting in single parent homes, and their kinesthetic and visual learning styles are being suppressed by way too much sitting and way too many pencil paper tasks.

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  8. danaJuly 5, 2011 at 4:02 PM

    I agree! As long as they are reading, content is not extremely critical. I appreciate your recommendation. As a teacher and as the parent of a 13 year old boy (who has always been a voracious reader) it's important to explore other perspectives. I also believe absolutely plays a role in the creation of Discourse. I'm also interested in reading more about Gee's theories about video games. I know my son, all of his friends and most every single male student in my classes are obsessed with video games. For me that is an entirely gifted language and I need to learn more.

    Additionally: Y'all may already know but there is a super cool website called "Getting Boys To Read" There are some great articles, videos and posts that tie into this.

    http://www.gettingboystoread.com/

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  9. danaJuly 5, 2011 at 4:04 PM

    I meant to say that I believe GENDER plays a role in discourse. Woops!

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  10. One of the boys from 1204 6th StreetJuly 9, 2011 at 11:57 AM

    I just wanted to say that I think you are dead-on in your analysis of boys and reading. My bookshelf is stacked full of home-building, woodworking, and technology magazines plus a few assorted auto-repair manuals. I can read that stuff quick and easy with nearly 100% comprehension but with some textbooks (Biology) it can take hours just to comprehend a few paragraphs.

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  11. Candice NeuJuly 9, 2011 at 4:14 PM

    I also never thought about reading being gender-oriented before and whenever my boys try to make up stories about war and death, I get on them about it and tell them to talk about nice things. But you're right-our girls can talk about romance, which is just as "adult" as war and death. And why not let them enact a fight scene? Good points here!

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