School; If Boys Will Be Bored, Girls Will Be Too

by: Betsy L. Angert

Wed May 23, 2007 at 21:00:00 PM EDT

© copyright 2007 Betsy L. Angert. BeThink.org

The Detroit Free Press published an article that initially intrigued.  The title Boys can make the grade, if they're not bored, seemed sensible.  I thought to myself as I read the banner headline, this is true for all of us no matter what the gender.  Why might this be significant.  As I perused further, I could feel myself reacting, refuting the reality some educators think remarkable.  Boys will be bored if not actively engaged is a valid supposition; however, I do not think that is news; nor do I think we cannot say the same of girls.

There's a big difference in Pamela Dean's English 9 class at Salem High School when Grammar Bowl begins.

The boys clamber over desks and race for the chairs, sitting with shoulders hunched forward, buzzers clutched in hand.  On a recent day, the boys beat the girls to the buzzer for 42 out of 45 questions.

That level of engagement doesn't usually happen in English classes, where girls typically far outperform boys on testing.  But turn it into a sport, and suddenly the boys get it.

As a child, I rejected cartoons.  Silliness bored me; it still does.  I continued to assess the text, wondering ; will this article cause me to cringe.  The concept of "play," when I first encountered it in at an educational  Fish! Philosophy seminar did.  While engaging with Fish! folks, I came to understand that "play" need not be gamey.  It can be pleasurable, stimulating, as learning is when we love the process.  I continued on my quest.  What might the Detroit educators think and what are they truly doing.

Plymouth Canton Community Schools is one of the few districts in the metro area making a dramatic effort to change how boys are taught in response to research showing they learn differently than girls.

"You can teach boys anything as long as you don't do it in a boring way," said Sharon Strean, assistant principal for curriculum and instruction at the district.

I have long advocated for educational practices that focus on teaching to the individual, to the whole child.  I think, if we wish to thrive as teachers we must meet students where they live.  Lessons must be personally relevant to pupils as individuals.  Relationships need to be established.  As a girl, I know, when in a classroom if the curriculum is perfunctory, I am easily bored.  I have faith that boys are not alone in feeling as they might. 

I recall a semester or two when studying under a certain teacher's guidance. I taught myself how to write upside down and backwards.  I was able to practice these skills Monday through Friday.  By the end of the term, I perfected this talent.  I believe I was awarded a "D" for dexterity.  A year earlier, in the same subject area,  with a different teacher I received an "A."  Hmmmm?  My gender did not change.  One instructor was no more animated than the other.  The lessons in one class were not more interactive than they were in the other.  Nevertheless, there was a huge difference.

An educator can teach a student how to learn and how not to teach.

Now, as an instructor, I recognize that if I alter the program slightly and engage a pupil as a person and not as part of a classroom, I can be extremely effective.  However, I loathe what is popular and preferred by many, competitive curriculums.  I prefer not to pit one student or group of learners against another.

The district is encouraging more competition in the classroom and finding ways to make lessons more hands-on, all rooted in studies that suggest physiological differences in the brains of boys and girls are the main reason an achievement gap between genders exists in some subjects.

"This isn't about boys versus girls.  It's about identifying who the students are and identifying their strengths and potential," said Richard Weinfeld, an educational consultant and the author of "Helping Boys Succeed in School." "As we're able to do more brain research, we see more differences between male and female brains."

I am acquainted with a young man who thought he was expected to play football.  He was a big, burly fellow.  Of course, he would enjoy the sport.  He did as he was "supposed to do," while suffering in silence.  He was injured.  A brain concussion or two and the doctor would advise him to leave the team.  That  ultimately, and he will tell you, thankfully occurred.

Another gentle soul, male in gender was often asked if he wanted to shoot hoops.  He was tall, athletic in appearance, and limber.  The man could leap bounds; yet, he had no interest in doing so.

Then there was the active chap.  As a child, he was enrolled in every class his parents could find.  He learned to in-line skate, play soccer, and golf.  Little league games were frequent.  Those familiar with the boy thought these were fun.  Nonetheless, this particular lad was happiest when singing.  Of all the activities he did, he enjoyed stretching his vocal chords most.  I believe boys and girls are often not as they appear, or as people think they might be.

The research Strean cites shows that boys tend to be right-brain dominant, making them better able to deal with spatial thinking and more mechanically inclined. Testosterone tends to make them more aggressive and competitive.

In girls, the left-brain, which deals with verbal skills, tends to be dominant. Physiological differences, research shows, also make girls' brains more inclined to regulate anger and aggression and more involved with emotion and memory.

Society pigeonholes us and then we think we should be as others claim we are.  When I study brain research and read of theories I am reminded of the chicken and the egg.  Which came first?  Brain chemistry is fluid, as is biology.  However, people seeking answers search for statistics.

A 2006 Vanderbilt University study found girls had an advantage over boys when tests and tasks were timed, something that's common in classrooms. The study showed boys fared better when studying interesting or challenging material in smaller chunks, and without hard and fast time limits.

Still researchers hypothesize and prove as was proven to them.  Tell me as a boy I am kinesthetic and I will go on to validate this truth.

In addition, female teachers outnumber male teachers about 3 to 1, according to the Michigan Education Association. The ratio is roughly the same in Plymouth Canton's secondary schools. And women, with the best of intentions, teach classes in ways that are compatible with their learning styles, Strean said.

The result? "School might not be as friendly a place for boys," Strean said.

As an auditory learner, I tend to talk.  I learned years ago, that those of us that acquire knowledge as we speak often gain insight from our own words.  Nonetheless, I am extremely conscious of the fact that friends and family are very visual.  They need to see, read, envision before material matters to them.  Thus, when teaching, I remind myself I must include visual aides. 

I understand that the kinesthetic learner must be considered.  We see these as we watch children.  At times, Play-dooh can help mold a mind more than any words, written or spoken might.

I truly trust in human interaction.  A touch, a smile, a caring connection can move mountains.
Too often, we underestimate the power of a touch,
a smile, a kind word, a listening ear,
an honest compliment,
or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
~ Leo Buscaglia

Bring on the action.

The solution, Strean said, was to add elements to the classroom that would engage boys' learning styles, such as more physical activity tied to lessons and less reliance on the lecture-recite mode. Programs such as Grammar Bowl were born out of that effort.

Frankie Dinicola, 15, a Salem 10th-grader and a member of last year's winning Grammar Bowl team, said he had little interest in grammar before the program began.

"When it was just a work sheet, just a lecture, yeah, it's boring," Frankie said. "To be honest, I didn't know much grammar."

Once grammar became a competition, his attitude and his learning curve shot way up.

"It kind of turned into a sport when we did our first competition," Frankie said. "Now every time someone says, 'You're doing good,' I'm like, 'No, you're doing well.' It annoys me now."

Jeffrey Blakeslee uses boy-friendly techniques in his advanced literature class on science fiction at Salem High.  The course is always full -- and almost all the students are boys.

"When you assign something you can read, and you do it in the traditional style, the kids kind of fight it. It comes as a task," Blakeslee said. "Basically I open it up to any way they want."

Often I speak out against standardized tests and rigid lesson plans.  I do not think only those testosterone filled bodies reject the rote methods of instruction.

Instead of writing papers, Blakeslee's students are more likely to be making movies, writing stories or playing trivia games about the books they read. The projects are not only creative, they're often more extensive than book reports.

"It's the fun stuff," said Brad Lawrence, 17, of Canton, adding Blakeslee's lectures were typically no more than 10 or 15 minutes long. "This class is really a shared activity English class."

Don't forget girls.

Strean and other experts caution that while most girls and boys fall into these classifications, there are plenty of exceptions. And no one's talking about forgetting about girls -- it's important to mix teaching styles for both genders.

The gap is of concern because high-stakes tests, such as the MEAP, require more reading and writing, two female strengths, Weinfeld said.

"The skills we want kids to have at an earlier and earlier age, girls naturally have," Weinfeld said.

"People are concerned. Boys are dropping out more than girls, fewer boys are graduating from high school than girls, fewer boys are going to college than girls."

All kids could benefit from adding a little more movement in classrooms, said Cheryl Somers, assistant professor of educational psychology at Wayne State University.

There are no differences in intelligence between boys and girls, she said.  While research shows some differences between male and female brains, research also shows that boys and girls are treated differently, from infancy on. Boys are bounced, girls are coddled. Boys fall down, girls are more protected, Somers said.

"I think a lot more of it has to do with temperament," Somers said.

"Boys are a lot more active.  So if you're not doing something to stimulate them, they're going to tune out more, because they need more activity level."

"Kids come to school with these differences," Somers said. "No matter whether their parents are creating it or their biology is creating it, they come to school like this.  So let's figure it out."

As long as we continue to believe and act of the notion that "Boys will be boys," they will be.  I invite you to have a heart to heart with the fellows in your life and in your classroom.  You may discover as I repeatedly do; they do have feelings.  They can sit still and contemplate the universe as well as a girl might.  In fact, they are.  It may not be their gender that causes them to dropout or tune out.  It is likely the way in which we are teaching that effects them and the girls as it does.  It is also what we teach that needs to be considered.

I trust that every problem is a sum of the parts.  Some aspects are visible; others are not.  In my mind, we need to probe more deeply and not rely on the consciousness that created the problem.

References, Resources, Realities Realized or Refuted . . .