Stephan MarasEDUC 264Final PaperJune 30, 2014

Reading with the Boys

Throughout the studies of the pre-service teacher and exposure of topical issues in

education, we are quite familiar with how girls have been cheated academically. History and

research in education tells the student-to-be how the majority textbooks and nearly all subjects

have promoted a domestic, maternal, quiet and uneventful to follow for girls. What about the

boys? It has been argued they account for better attendance in science and math classes than

their female counterparts but not so in literature, arts and music. They also cause the majority of

classroom behavioral problems, high school dropout rates while behind the girls in college

attendance and graduation. According to David Sadker and Karen Zittleman, boys represent the

majority of the one million students that drop out each year. (p. 141) These authors also state

one in three boys will not graduate high school in four years often seen amongst those that are

African American, Hispanic and Native American. (p. 141) There is no one solution to solve

the above-mentioned issues but in 2010 Louis Martinez discovered one good way to help

strengthen boys’ reading success in the classroom and perhaps the future.

Martinez thought student likes and dislikes were out of his control for the longest time.

In his research he wanted to find out why some boys liked to read and why others did not. He

started by collecting completed surveys and questionnaires of his four boys he chose to study.

His reflective journal kept accounts of observations, assessments, classroom behavior,

conversations, reflections and thoughts during his entire study. The chosen ones were boys

Martinez considered friendly and talkative but showed signs of difficulty while concentrating on

reading. He also chose to focus his report on the 15-20 minutes students were given for

independent reading during the class period. It was not clear what part of the class time was

devoted to this free reading done but students were to read self-selected items.

One important ingredient of this independent reading is the conferences Martinez had

with his students. He would circle the area and have brief visits with his students while

recording the page numbers and books they were currently reading. Longer conferences

happened later which ran about five to seven minutes in length. The questions asked during this

interview included: What book are you reading? How do you like the book so far? Is there

anything that is confusing to you? What do you like about the text?

Martinez mentioned these conferences were a challenge to him because he needed to step

out of his own comfort zone to converse with his subjects. In the midst of the “macho” persona

present in the room he decided to ease the pressure by pulling up a chair and starting with,

“How’s it going?” (Martinez, 122) Christine E. Sleeter would understand his feelings stepping

out of a comfort zone. Though she was dealing with minorities on both the student and

colleague level she, like Martinez, had to delve into new territory and her best approach took

time to achieve. She used her “cute and likeable” persona when she dealt with her deficiencies

in dealing with minorities, a new territory that was not a part of her growing-up years. Sleeter

thought this would “break the ice” in dealing with self-confidence problems in new experiences.

“I learned to get past the feat by being “cute” and likeable woman.” (Sleeter, 24) There are

different ways to deal with insecurity and her method would clearly not apply or be appropriate

in Martinez’s situation but it testifies the fact that teachers are human and will come into new

situations daily which will include having to make many decisions very quickly. Sadker and

Zittleman (2010) said schools are for education for the purpose of learning new and

uncomfortable skills (p. 145). Though this was a statement geared toward students in their

educational growth one could argue this applies to the teachers who learn alongside the students

they teach.

Administrations cannot make laws for boys, girls or teachers to step out of their comfort

zones. Any laws enacted tend to focus on the boundaries of the students, teachers and

administrations and the state-mandated curriculums. To be civil in such a setting is an

acknowledgement of what is right so mandated by laws but such acts cannot solve all issues. It

will be up to the teacher to know what is right in a reading conference like that created by

Martinez. Not only knowing how to approach the student it is important for the professional to

know what to say. As Cris Mayo (2009) argued “Civility meant “not saying all that one wishes

to say” or not raising difficult issues in a context where there will be disagreement. (p. 267)

Mayo also wrote “policies are written to prevent substantive change by focusing on simple,

reactive rules rather than large-scale changes in curricula or social practices. (p. 262)

Overcoming the boundaries of comfort zones is a skill best achieved in practice and perhaps

transferable skills such as a solo performance be it a speech or a stage portrayal. This is why

speech classes are required of all students especially those who have chosen the teaching

profession. Given the fact he was a teacher usually standing in front of a classroom it was rather

surprising to learn how a comfort zone was a challenge to him when it came to one-on-one work

with students.

In spite of the conferences being awkward in the beginning, Martinez was seeing the first

signs of a breakthrough with his target subjects. He would learn how some found independent

reading difficult and perhaps impossible but were willing to discuss the matter. “They opened up

more about their reading and their lives, in and outside of school.” (Martinez, 122) His

conferences helped him gain a deeper understanding of their behaviors in the classroom and he

was able to plan his lessons accordingly. In his four-month study his findings included a student

successful on the basis of completing his first book while another could read without distraction

for an entire class period. (Martinez, 123)

This study was successful for Martinez since it helped him view his students as

individuals. His use of surveys and questionnaires helped him understand the history of the

student allowing him to adjust his lesson plans and reading choices. Pride may have gotten in

the way of the students as some said they would rather fail then read the originally-assigned

materials. Martinez knew he had to make adjustments based on these conferences. When they

shared their experiences Martinez was able to provide materials based on different interests

including sports and popular music and magazine ads. He also took pop culture one step further

in review of how the media tends to establish masculine and feminine ideas while building their

critical-thinking skills. Martinez was able to build a curriculum that was based on student

interests which improved their confidence and performance. “Looking at gender issues and

stereotypes in hip-hop lyrics was a big hit.” (Martinez, 213)

This reading teacher reinforces the fact that education, such as reading, certainly is not

successful in a “one size fits all” setting. Based on his study Martinez will be able to have varied

classes each semester where one will not be like the others. In learning the history and interests

of the students he will be able to create lessons and choose materials that can improve their

classroom engagement and their performance. Critics of this may argue how this may shift the

control of the classroom from the teacher to the student. Others in opposition of Martinez may

state this may cause his dismissal of materials and skills that are required of the school district or

the state. No issues involving funds for resources were mentioned in his article. It appears there

was much amelioration to the lessons he presented but he was able to come up with the needed

resources that sparked the interest of his students. Perhaps he already had them or they were

easy to obtain and copy from the local or school library.

Students becoming teachers are also aware of the resources that state boys are not at a

disadvantage when it comes to classroom materials. The majority of characters and subject

matter in educational materials still favors males. Sadker and Zittleman (2010) have researched

the names and experiences of males continue to dominate the pages of school books as leaders in

professions and makers of history more than females (p. 143). Women have been witness to

their improved portrayal in literature but the majority of the materials still show them in their

traditional roles. (Sadker and Zittleman, 143)

Another factor to consider is there was no mention of race or ethnicity in his four-boy

study or his classroom. It could be that our author may not have thought this would have

mattered and he would treat his boys equally without regards to ethnic or racial background. No

factors in economic levels were brought up. One would come to expect the litany of students on

free or reduced lunches doomed for failure in the school setting. Martinez never made this

distinction and it was never established if this was not important to him or he regarded income as

a non-factor.

Based on this study it could be argued Martinez was implementing improvement of

reading, reading comprehension and writing without any drastic changes implemented by the

district or the state. One would also surmise there could be an underlying suggestion how the

cannon of literature found in the majority of school curriculums may need to be placed under

review to in regards to the needs of today’s students and their success rates. Changes or not,

connection was the big key according to Martinez. “Most importantly, when I learned that when

I connected with my students, I help them to connect with books.” (Martinez, 124)

References

Gorlewski, J. & Martinez, L. (2010). Research for the Classroom: Making Connections with theBoys Who Struggle in Your Classroom. The English Journal. 100( 2), 121-124.Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org.

Mayo, C. (2009). The tolerance that dare not speak its name. In A. Darder, et al. (eds.), TheCritical Pedagogy Reader (2nd edition). New York: Routledge.

Sadker, D. & Zittleman, K. (2010). Gender bias: From colonial America to today’s classroom. In J.A. Banks & C.A. McGee Banks (eds.), Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives, 7th ed. (pp. 137-152). New York: Wiley.

Sleeter, C. (1996). Gender as a mediator for racial consciousness. In C.E. Sleeter (ed.),Multicultural education as social activism. (pp. 17-33). Albany: SUNY Press.