Are we socialising boys to be poor writers?

[Campaspe]

Found this blog piece and thought it very interesting and insightful.

What do others think?

thequirkyteacher.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/are-we-socialising-boys-to-be-poor-writers/

They won't achieve as highly as those pupils who do live in a language rich environment (generally).

Look, I'm not suggesting teachers do nothing with these DC and just give up, but there has to be a degree of realism. Teachers can't be expected to equalise children's lives as successive governments seem to feel they should.

Who says schools aren't trying? ... The government! OFSTED! The press! League tables!

Does primary cover the same ages in the US as here? As this looks like it might be a US blog.

I always hated writing essays at school, I think it was because I was quite reserved/shy. Now a ripe old age I joined a writing group and am quite good, a bit quirky, but still don't feel comfortable making myself the narrator. And I also thought stories had to be 'nice' at school, makes me wonder if you encouraged boys to write about heroes, runaway trains you might get more interest. Perhaps they do now, I'm very out of touch.

No US has a later starting age

Of course schools try.

And when it doesn't happen, the powers that be and many parents too, blame the teachers.

I think the gov needs to actually help more with factors outside the school remit and then some of the great strategies in place would have more chance of working.

Tackle the Xbox culture,tackle the lack of books,tackle adult illiteracy so parents can support their child at home etc

I believe they would say they are doing more by putting it into the school remit. Many teachers spend a large proportion of their working day dealing with social issues.

But you can't physically take the Xbox controller off them at a decent time replace it with a book and stop children sitting up all night until 1am on GTA and FIFA.

There is only so much you can do as regards social issues.

Certainly not saying anybody should throw their hands up and the air and cease to try though.

My DS hates reading fiction, he plays more football than any 11 yo I know, and has an XBox etc.

He's also an excellent writer.

In my area we actually have support workers going into homes to put children to bed ... but no we can't stop them switching on the XBox as soon as the family support worker leaves ... And I wish it was just FIFA these kids are playing ...when five year olds want to discuss CoD and Five nights at Freddie's or the porn they watched on SKY in their bedroom it's heartbreaking.

Oh the irony of the football comment.

My DS is currently writing a 10 minute speech for a football awards evening, using the writing scaffold he's learned at school.

Oh I hear you re Five Nights at Freddie's.

Yy to it being heart breaking.

TH there is a balance.

TH that's great and yes I have a son who is computer obsessed however it isn't allowed to push out everything else and is channelled to being a positive thing as opposed detrimental to his schooling.

This sadly isn't the case for all children.

I think many boys enjoy telling stories about how their shot at football whizzed past the goalie at the speed of light. Or how there was a spider in the classroom as big as his hand and had everybody except him screaming.

I know I suppose I am being a bit disingenuous but it does piss me off when football gets slated again and again.

Do they all quote soliloquies at each other in a rugby scrum? Do they fuck.

It's all very well these posters saying my boy is good at writing, but the fact is that boys disastrously underachieve compared to girls at English GCSE, and their poor literacy skills impact all their other subjects too (apart from perhaps maths). Girls outperform boys in all subjects apart from maths, and they used to outperform boys in maths until coursework was scrapped.

Trying to figure out reasons for this is exceptionally important so we can go some way to fixing them. It's all very well blaming language poor households, but girls grow up in them too and don't seem as affected.

lol @ Theoretical.
That blog reads very very old-fashioned. Heads down in neat rows studying classic texts, I guess is their preference. pass my boys the razor blades now

Has anybody done a proper study on boys who do perform well in GCSE and boys who don't?

Would be interesting.

boys who behave a lot like girls?

I'll hide the thread now, I'm going to be flame-broiled for saying that. (even though it's hardly an original observation).

<a class="break-all" href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/00389-2007BKT-EN.pdf]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">you might find interesting

Our high achieving writers certainly don't behave like girls in any way ... just the opposite in fact.

But they are capable of putting their heads down and working and I think it's insulting to boys to suggest they can't or that it's in any way "girlie"

I'm not a teacher but I do have a Y2 boy struggling with writing and a 5 year old daughter who is just flying with hers. It's very frustrating but I don't think our school taught spelling particularly well. Just having lists of "tricky" words to memorise seems to have backfired because all across Y2 now they are having a push in the first 100 HF words which indicates something is amiss.

Some kids seem to be ok and just seem to absorb correct spellings but some need more help. I am beginning Apples and Pears tutoring with DS1 this week and will be taking a far more proactive approach with DS2 who starts school in 2016. He is a June baby so will need a lot of extra work at home to keep up in the early years. I will not have my boys written off as my brother was in the eighties. But then I am one of those pushy parents who are supposed to be the scourge of the system

I do think the bloggers concerns about the use of ICT being the primary method of teaching is very interesting. I have never quite understood why textbooks fell from favour.

Perhaps some of the problems are caused by hidden SEN. Boys are more prone to dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc, which are also likely to be on spectrum so only the more severe cases will be picked up. Students requiring exam concessions (reader, scribe, laptop) will be mainly boys.

DS is also computer/gaming obsessed but he's just written a great GCSE S&L assessment on artificial intelligence that goes way over my head. He's also dyslexic which means poor spelling and illegible writing. One piece of coursework was Manga based and included traps to trick the reader.... definitely not a criteria featured on the mark scheme so he may well do very badly in it.

I saw the Destiny (computer game) "companion app" yesterday and was really impressed with the descriptive language used.

I would recommend a book called "Everything bad is good for you" which attacks the myth that gaming is bad. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_Bad_Is_Good_for_You

Teachers need more time to read quality books aloud to pupils, especially those in disadvantaged areas/who don't read at home. Full, engaging, stimulating books. And in - depth study of quality books.

When I first started teaching I did at least two reading aloud sessions every day. N9t just KS1 - right up to Y6 in a challenging inner city school. The DC looked forward to it as a highlight of their day and inspired their writing. I have never stopped doing it, despite all the government initiatives.

I have bumped into some of those pupils (now in their 30's!!)who still remember our storytimes fondly