In this video many reasons were given for the underachievement of boys in schools. Some strategies were discussed in order to help close the gender gap. Consider the following questions as you respond.
Does your school have a plan in place for students, regardless of gender, who have been identified as not meeting the standard (based on standardized testing etc.)?
What if you feel like you are incorporating strategies mentioned in the video such as clear objectives, chunking material, and assignments but some boys still aren’t achieving?
Prompted by Erin Rice
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2 comments:
Erin,
Thanks for sharing the video with us. It fit nicely with the evening's discussion.
To answer your first question, yes, our school has a plan in place to address students who are not meeting the standards. (As determined by NECAPs and other classroom assessments) Some have a specific gender focus and others do not.
Literacy has been a strong focus for the past four years-and have put in place several strategies to help students become better readers. One of the first strategies was to build our classroom libraries. The focus was on offering equal number of fiction and non-fiction books. The past several years the librarian has really focused on finding more books for boys especially at the middle level. Our new librarian has a strong focus on helping all students find those JRBs- Just Right Books that they will enjoy reading. At the primary level we are also using a variety of computer based reading programs that seem to engage and motivate our students to read. We also participated in the Vermont READS Bridging Project. This created our Literacy Team, where we talked about issues like poverty and its effect on learning.
We are also focusing on early literacy and providing a preschool story hour at the local library. It is well attended and the librarian reports an increase in the number of books being taken out by children. Students listen to stories, make a related craft item and are given a healthy snack.
This year we are focusing on math. Since this work is in the beginning stages, we are looking at data and talking about the different strategies. Some of the work we are currently doing includes the use of more formative assessments and an online tutorial program that supports direct instruction. We will also be talking about math portfolios and using common math vocabulary schoolwide in the months ahead.
Have you read the book Whatever it Takes by the DuFours? That book addresses the question of how Professional Learning Communities can really address your last question-what happens when they still aren't achieving.
My schools action plan for students who are not meeting the standards is called Academic Intervention Services (AIS). AIS, is an extra forty minutes of concentrated help in the area of need. Students work in small groups usually three or four with one teacher to receive the extra help that is needed. AIS, is a service available to all students who are failing a class. Parents can also request their children to be assigned to AIS.
The gender video offered a number of different strategies to incorporate in the classroom. I think that if you still have students struggling you need to talk to them to try to find out their learning style. The video pointed out that the students can have a voice in their education.
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