This summer I went to a seminar given by Dr. Paul Slocumb. If you ever get the chance to hear him present--GO!! He is very knowledgeable about educating boys, especially boys growing up in poverty. Alot of his teachings dove-tail with Ruby Payne's research about the effects of poverty on children.
The book he teaches from is his own called Hear Our Cry, Boys in Crisis. I highly recommend it, especially for teachers in Title I schools, or anyone teaching children growing up in poverty.
Needless to say, I was having a rough week so I pull out this book the other night to see why a few of my boys were not responding well to me...I have been journaling each day (to document things for a variety of reasons) and I came across a passage in the book that I had underlined during the seminar....I was teaching in my parent voice alot this week and the book literally says " Boys perceive female teachers with a strong parent voice as just one more "bitchy" mother." WOW!! What an epiphany that was....the book also talked about a great strategy called H.E.A.T. which stands for Hear, Empathize, Apologize, Take Action.
So that is what I am going to try next week and see if I can turn things around!!!
1 comment:
Thanks for posting on my site. WOW! An all boys classroom... that would be very interesting.
Regarding the graffiti board. IT IS AWESOME. I introduced the word graffiti and showed some pictures of various graffiti (make sure it is artistic). We talked about what graffiti is and how we can use it to show our thoughts and feelings. The kids may draw pictures that they have images of, they may ask questions, or anything else that pertains to the book we are reading. The kids are allowed to go up as I am having read aloud with one at a time being up there. I will post some pictures of it. It is actually very simple. Just a large piece of butcher paper up with markers, crayons, and pens by it.
I have to say that you should try P.W. Cantanese books with your boys. That is what I am reading to the class now- the boys love it!
Do you mind if I link you?
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