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News from the Maine Boys Network
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Register Now!
Webinar: Boys and Mental Health
Presented by: Bob Katz, LCSW
Bridgton Academy
This webinar on Boys and Mental Health, specifically for educational professionals, will focus on depression and suicidal behavior, and will explore the unique ways these issues manifest in boys. We will consider the impact of the "Boy Code" on boys' social and emotional development, and their overall mental health. We will examine characteristic symptoms and possible contributing factors associated with depression and suicide risk that educators should be aware of as they work with boys. Additionally we will look at prevention and intervention strategies to help boys successfully manage their emotional lives, contributing to positive engagement in school and in life.
Date: Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Time: 3:00-4:00 p.m.
Cost: Free!
Funding for these webinars generously provided by the Lincoln and Therese Filene Foundation |
Please take a few moments to fill out our brief survey. We want to know what issues and topics in education matter most to you!
Take Our Survey |
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Welcome to the fourth edition of the Maine Boys Network newsletter. Members of the network are dedicated to the research and practical support of boys' academic achievement and include staff and educators from Bates College, Bowdoin College, Boys to Men, Bridgton Academy, Colby College, the Great Schools Partnership, the Mitchell Institute, Portland Public Schools, Unity College, and the University of Maine at Farmington. In this newsletter, members of the network have written short introductions to articles that address key issues facing boys in the classroom today. It is our hope that these introductions will help to direct your own reading towards articles that seem particularly relevant to the boys in your life.
Some of these articles present points of view that will be argued and debated over for a long time to come. It may be a while before we sort through the competing theories of neurological development. The debate over the value or detriment of same sex schools and classrooms will maintain fervency into the foreseeable future. Discussion on the effects of gender norms and how stereotypes limit and enhance student performance may cause us to question our current assumptions. Two things seem clear as we challenge ourselves with new information and opinions. The first is the importance and value in promoting this discussion on boys' health and academic performance. Understanding what they need in order to succeed in the classroom and to be engaged in learning will not only benefit the boys themselves, but will also have a positive effect on their female peers. Secondly, we can't overlook some of the most basic things that boys have already told us.
Listening to boys is integral to our research and is key to understanding their educational experiences and needs. The Maine Boys Network has spoken to over 500 boys from every county in the State of Maine, ranging in age from kindergarten to college, as part of a series of focus groups. It is amazing what boys have to say when they are given a safe place to communicate their experiences and feelings. The findings from our original focus groups are documented in the "Gender Divide" which is available for download within this newsletter. This was first published in 2008. This year, as we conducted additional focus groups, I again realized the importance of accessing primary sources...BOYS! Over and over, again and again, boys tell us that: "The most important thing for me is a personal relationship with my teacher." When we listen to what boys have to say, we realize that many boys want to be understood. This personal connection is the beginning of a larger bridge which fosters learning and which provides an exciting and challenging exchange of ideas between student and teacher.
It is our hope that the articles, webinars, and research presented in this newsletter will not only be relevant and enlightening but will also spark some thought and discussion. There is a lot of information out there and a lot of competing ideas and theories to sort through. As I navigate through the different opinions and approaches and as my grip loosens on what I thought I knew, I'm going to hold tight to the words of boys.
Drew Wing
Executive Director
Boys to Men
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Upcoming Webinars:
The Role Teachers and School Administers Can Play in Bullying Prevention
Presented by Layne Gregory, LCSW
This webinar will take a practical look at the strategies adults in school communities can
employ to address and extinguish teasing, harassment and interpersonal violence. Evidence-based approaches will be emphasized as a way to create inclusive and healthy school
environments
Date: TBD (Mid-March) - more information coming soon!
Building Relationships With Boys
Presented by Mark Tappan, Ph.D., Colby College
What makes a good teacher in the eyes of his or her students? What can teachers do to really connect with their students? This webinar will share the findings of focus group studies
conducted with over 500 boys from across Maine ranging in age from kindergarten to college. Find out what they like and don't like about school and what, according to them, makes a good teacher. You will learn tips and tricks and teaching techniques from teachers who have been identified by their students as "good teachers" and "teachers who really get me." This is an
opportunity to find out what the students are really thinking and what you can do to better meet their needs and to help them to succeed in the classroom.
Date: Monday, March 28, 2011 - more information coming soon!
Archived Webinars:
Motivating Boys Through Choice Using Layered Teaching Presented by: David Holinger, Lewiston High School Description: An effective way to engage all learners - especially boys - and increase both ownership and accountability, is to provide choice in the classroom. This workshop will examine the role of motivation in learning and provide practical tips on how to design lessons and units that allow students to choose assignments based on their interests that also meet common learning expectations.
To view archived copy:http://maineboysnetwork.na5.acrobat.com/p27532230/
Packaging Boyhood: Helping Boys Resist Media Stereotypes Presenter: Mark Tappan, Ed.D., Colby College Description: Jock. Slacker. Gangster. Superhero. Player. This webinar explores the narrow version of boyhood that is sold to boys - and what teachers, parents, and others who work with boys can do about it. From cartoons to videogames to movies, from toys to Halloween costumes to energy drinks, boys are fed a steady diet of stereotypes about what it means to be a man, including messages about violence, risk-taking, sexual promiscuity, and slacking off. This multimedia presentation offers an overview of this "cultural landscape" that boys confront everyday in school and society at large, and provides tools and information that can be used to help boys resist these troubling images and negative stereotypes.
To view archived copy:http://maineboysnetwork.na5.acrobat.com/p82845116/ |
 Where the Guys Are: Males in Higher Education
This article examines college-going trends in the U.S. by gender, race, and socioeconomic status. It describes some of the factors influencing young American men, who are entering and completing college at lower rates than young women. The article includes descriptions of promising programs for recruiting and supporting male students at several U.S. colleges and universities.
Reviewed by Lisa Plimpton, The Mitchell Institute
>>http://www.changemag.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/May-June%202010/where-guys-full.html |
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Skewering Theories of "hard-wired" Gender Differences
This piece is a review of a new book called Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine. Reviewer Kate Tuttle tells us that Fine finds the scientific studies on which claims are made about gender differences in behavior and about the need for separate schools for boys and girls half-baked, ill-conceived, and audaciously overinterpreted. Tuttle says that if you were inclined to believe in hard-wired gender differences before reading the book, you will complete it with at least a modicum of skepticism about the role of biology in how we turn out. I was especially interested in the analysis of gender and science, having followed closely the controversy that began with a remark by the president of Harvard.* Article analysis by Georgia Nigro, Bates College *To learn more about the controversy surrounding the president of Harvard's remarks, click here >>http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/09/05/skewering_theories_of_hard_wired_gender_differences/ |
The Case for Boredom
This short article by clinical psychologist and author Adam Cox draws a link between the saturation of boys' lives with electronic media and a decline in civility. Cox argues that the ubiquity of electronic games, phones, and computers has drastically lowered the threshold for boredom. He concludes that boredom--gaps in stimulation or the availability of mental space--is the genesis of civil behavior, "a chance to breath and consider how to treat others." Article reviewed by Lisa Plimpton, The Michell Institute In this article, Adam J. Cox, clinical psychologist, looks at some of the effects of technology on young male minds. He suggests that a person whose mind is too much entertained can lack empathy and civility. He argues that a little bit of boredom, a pause in the endless stream of electronica, can help a young man be in touch with a part of himself that feels empathy and therefore acts honorably. Article reviewed by Julie Johnson, Unity College >>http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-case-for-boredom |
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In Their Own Words
Researchers at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) interviewed 80 young men of color in 13 communities around the U.S. about their experiences after dropping out of high school then reconnecting to career and education supports. They made a 12-minute video titled "In Their Own Words," which others can download to use in their communities.In the video, young men describe their experiences and the supports that were most useful in getting them back on track.
Reviewed by Lisa Plimpton, The Mitchell Institute
>>http://www.clasp.org/issues/pages?type=youth&id=0029
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How Boys Best Learn
 In a new brief from ASCD Express, the authors of an international study of the best way to teach boys distill their findings, writing that they did not and do not presume that effectively teaching boys is possible only in boys' schools, but sought common characteristics of effective practices in boys schools to consider for applicability in schools generally. After analysis, the authors determined that successful lessons for boys fell into the eight general categories: lessons that produced products; were structured as games; required vigorous motor activity; required boys to assume a role or responsibility for promoting the learning of others; required boys to address "open," unsolved problems; required a combination of teamwork and competition; focused on boys' personal realization (their masculinity, values, or present and future social roles); or introduced dramatic novelties and surprises. Another key finding was that boys tend to elicit the pedagogy they need -- teachers present material, and if the substance or conveyance isn't right, boys will disengage and engage in either passive inattention or diverting disruption. A successful teacher does not accept these responses, and adjusts content, manner of presentation, or relational style. The authors also found that boys are relational learners, and engage well with attentive teachers.
Article reviewed by Sue Steel, Portland School System
>>http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/604-hawley.aspx |
 Helpful Strategies to Engage Boys in the Classroom Authors Micheal Reichert and Richard Hawley's recent book, Reaching boys, teaching boys: Strategies that work - and why, provides clear, practical, and helpful advice on designing learning for boys of every age in the classroom. The authors organize their advice around three main findings from research conducted in schools around the world that are successfully engaging boys: (1) effective lessons have a transitive factor - or ability to arouse and capture students' attention; (2) effective teachers of boys carefully adapt their teaching depending on how well - or not - their students respond; and, (3) boys are relation learners and respond best to teachers who make the effort to know them well. Article summary by Mark Kostin, Great Schools Partnership >> http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470532785.html |
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Separate But Equal: More Schools are Dividing Classes by Gender
This Washington Post Magazine article describes the experience of one D.C. area elementary school's experiment in teaching boys and girls separately in some classrooms. Article reviewed by Mark Kostin, Great Schools Partnership >>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2010/08/05/ST2010080506219.html |
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Comprehensive Secondary School Improvement Guide
The New England Secondary School Consortium just published Global Best Practices: An Internationally Benchmarked Self-Assessment Tool for Secondary Learning, a practical, action-oriented self-assessment tool for secondary schools. The tool grew out of a recognition that national borders no longer define the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind that students need for success, and that New England's high schools may need assistance reviewing learning standards, organizational structures, leadership models, teaching strategies, professional development, and student outcomes in relation to research on high-performing educational systems and research-based practices. Global Best Practicesoffers schools a practical, step-by-step process they can follow to assess their relative performance in critical areas and shape their school-improvement plans. Article review by Mark Kostin, Great Schools Parnership To download a copy of the report, click here |
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