Prof working to get boys into reading

**Zuberi** · 25th-August-2009

Story here. Excerpt:
'A lot of things — critical thinking, comprehension, imagination — bubble up into a child's brain from a book. But none of that can happen if the book isn't cracked open.
Turning reluctant readers, especially boys, into eager ones is the idea behind a reading program that a University of Northern Colorado education professor helped develop.
Michael Opitz, a former elementary school teacher who specializes in reading and language arts, said he's hopeful the new program, called Pair-It Extreme, will get children in first through third grades hooked on reading.
Opitz said boys are 50 percent more likely to be held back a grade and three to five times more likely to have a disability placement in school. Young boys often consider reading boring or a girly activity.'

**RebelliousVanilla** · 25th-August-2009

Reading is good, but it depends on what you read too.

**Morty** · 26th-August-2009

Girls have always been little more eager to read books, as far I know. Boys are more attracted to movies and videogames. I think one major factor is, that boys aren't interested those books which are available in scools. Most boys like different kind of books.

I read a lot as a child, but I always hated the stuff I had to read at school. I liked books with adventure, action, imagination. Those books in school were boring and unimaginative. I think many school has a policy, that books are not allowed to have any violence or hars language etc. Most of adventure or sci&fi books have least some violence.

Back then most books were mostly "girls books". Books about horses, dating, love stories and stuff like: "How Wilma Rudolph became the World's fastest woman"

. Then on the other hand, some books for the boys, which i guess all-female teaching stuff bought for the sake of getting some books for boys. "This one has a truck and engines. Boys certainly like this one!".

I loved the stuff like Jules Verne and John Cristopher when I was a child. Of course neither was on the school's menu. My friend's son likes very much to watch Tom Clancy movies. I'm sure he would like also read Tom Clancy books, if there were some in the school. I think many boys would find Clancy interesting.

I think the shool's role is essential to make boys read books. After school there are so many other attractions than reading, but if they get the spark from school, it may became a permanent.

**Zuberi** · 26th-August-2009

One book I enjoyed reading was "Things Fall Apart".

**Feckless** · 26th-August-2009

Quote from Morty

Girls have always been little more eager to read books, as far I know. Boys are more attracted to movies and videogames. I think one major factor is, that boys aren't interested those books which are available in scools. Most boys like different kind of books.

I read a lot as a child, but I always hated the stuff I had to read at school. I liked books with adventure, action, imagination. Those books in school were boring and unimaginative. I think many school has a policy, that books are not allowed to have any violence or hars language etc. Most of adventure or sci&fi books have least some violence.

Back then most books were mostly "girls books". Books about horses, dating, love stories and stuff like: "How Wilma Rudolph became the World's fastest woman"

. Then on the other hand, some books for the boys, which i guess all-female teaching stuff bought for the sake of getting some books for boys. "This one has a truck and engines. Boys certainly like this one!".

I loved the stuff like Jules Verne and John Cristopher when I was a child. Of course neither was on the school's menu. My friend's son likes very much to watch Tom Clancy movies. I'm sure he would like also read Tom Clancy books, if there were some in the school. I think many boys would find Clancy interesting.

I think the shool's role is essential to make boys read books. After school there are so many other attractions than reading, but if they get the spark from school, it may became a permanent.

This is exactly what German MRAs are saying as well. Boys read different books and sadly you can´t read those books at schools.

**shaazam** · 26th-August-2009

when my boy was in third clas about 6 years of age I noticed albeit the fourth year of schooling he could not read like I could for the same age

you see folk the trendy new age education in Australia did not teach phonetic reading anymore and some sort of feel good mathematical concepts

the deal was now that kids were to be exposed to nice book - and the books were very nice and beautifully illustrated - but the phonetics that is how to pronounce wordsa nd syllables were not taught

no no ! the children were to read by osmosis - looking at words and sorta picking up from that

wtf

I took his reading and mathematics into my own hands and taught him phonetics and the four mathematical operations with beans

now he is in year 9 and although not advanced in english he is 2 years ahead in mathematics - curently I am indroducing him to elemetary calculus and he is not yet year 10

**Rothzael** · 27th-August-2009

Quote from shaazam

I took his reading and mathematics into my own hands and taught him phonetics and the four mathematical operations with beans

now he is in year 9 and although not advanced in english he is 2 years ahead in mathematics - curently I am indroducing him to elemetary calculus and he is not yet year 10

That's awesome! I've seen this before. A colleague of mine has a son. He has raised him on his own because the mother left, saying "Give me half your money or I take the kid!" He gave her half the money and she left.

Now the kid goes to school, but this guy has taken education into his own hands. The kid is exceptionally bright, and is now studying university mathematics. He gets a certain number of days out of the week to go to university and he's only 10 years old!

Every story has to have a dark side though, doesn't it? The teachers at his school decided there must be something wrong with him. They 'diagnosed' him with Asperger syndrome and stuck him in special education.

**Incognito** · 27th-August-2009

Quote from shaazam

when my boy was in third clas about 6 years of age I noticed albeit the fourth year of schooling he could not read like I could for the same age

you see folk the trendy new age education in Australia did not teach phonetic reading anymore and some sort of feel good mathematical concepts

the deal was now that kids were to be exposed to nice book - and the books were very nice and beautifully illustrated - but the phonetics that is how to pronounce wordsa nd syllables were not taught

no no ! the children were to read by osmosis - looking at words and sorta picking up from that

wtf

I took his reading and mathematics into my own hands and taught him phonetics and the four mathematical operations with beans

now he is in year 9 and although not advanced in english he is 2 years ahead in mathematics - curently I am indroducing him to elemetary calculus and he is not yet year 10

I know what you mean about teachers not using phonics to teach kids reading...it is like WTF! Kids are lucky to learn to read by the time they enter middle school these days... why they got rid of phonics is beyond me. How else does one learn how to read, anyway? At my daughter's elementary school they 'teach' (har har) what is called "creative spelling"...that's where the child spells words any way they feel like it and a teacher does not correct errors so as to preserve the child's fragile self-esteem. No, I'm not joking.

Kudos to you for teaching your child at home. It's necessary now more than ever!

**Feckless** · 27th-August-2009

Quote from TERA

At my daughter's elementary school they 'teach' (har har) what is called "creative spelling"...that's where the child spells words any way they feel like it and a teacher does not correct errors so as to preserve the child's fragile self-esteem.

That must be by far the most crazy thing I have heard this week.

**RebelliousVanilla** · 27th-August-2009

Quote from Feckless

That must be by far the most crazy thing I have heard this week.

The more I read this shit, the more I realize that I need to homeschool my kids. haha

**shaazam** · 27th-August-2009

Quote from Rothzael

That's awesome! I've seen this before. A colleague of mine has a son. He has raised him on his own because the mother left, saying "Give me half your money or I take the kid!" He gave her half the money and she left.

Now the kid goes to school, but this guy has taken education into his own hands. The kid is exceptionally bright, and is now studying university mathematics. He gets a certain number of days out of the week to go to university and he's only 10 years old!

Every story has to have a dark side though, doesn't it? The teachers at his school decided there must be something wrong with him. They 'diagnosed' him with Asperger syndrome and stuck him in special education.

""Every story has to have a dark side though, doesn't it? The teachers at his school decided there must be something wrong with him. They 'diagnosed' him with Asperger syndrome and stuck him in special education.

this rings a bell !!

I went for a parent teacher interview with the deputy headmaster at my son's school;

mistakenly I let drop I was tutoring my son and he was into advanced stuff;

I could tell by the body language of Ms Deputy Headmaster - she was not impressed;

I !! a taxi driver stealing their thunder !!

the subsequent meeting I attended the next year she said my son was having diffucilties in mathematics wtf

he was doing year 10 past papers in advanced year 10 mathematics unaided !! trigonomety profit n loss calculations coordinate geomety algebra in quadratic equations - in fact the entire syllabus in maths at a jumped up level

fortunately she was transferred to another school

when I go to these structured parent n teacher interviews now I just nod and grin and let them do the talking