Gareth Malone - Part 2

[IndigoBell]

Was it just me? It all seems like absolute rubbish.

If he wanted the boys to read - why didn't he just sit them down and teach them how to. Obviously some of them had not been taught very well in the first place...

All this obsession with their fathers seems bizarre. Does that mean if your father's not around you are doomed to be a bad reader?

I thought it was all gimicky and didn't look like it was having very good results for the amount of time he'd put in.

All this risk taking and competion - go to scouts. They teach it to them in bucketloads there. (And they accept girls as well - so no sexist stereotyping happening as on this programme)

Mmm interesting. I didn't enjoy programme 1 and only watched the second one as there wasn't anything else on however I found it really very sad:

• the boys do not seem to gain any enjoyment from reading at all, even those that can read.

• the ones they highlighted this week clearly didn't get much support from home - fgs 3:30 to 8pm on an xbox!

• the father thing I actually think was very telling and important. They clearly just weren't interested. What a shame, they didn't read themselves and it seemed had never read to their children. I don't think they were saying that no father means they are doomed they were saying that where there was a father a bit of encouragement would be helpful

• I will watch next week's programme out of interest because I am wondering what the head is going to say. Frankly I felt that in tonights programme the school came across as very poor, especially the Head. They picked up a couple of kids who had lost their way completely and were drifting. It was so sad to see that little boy so upset.

Currently if this programme proves nothing else it shows that children who don't have supportive parents at home will struggle at school but worse still is that the school system is still not helping these children. I do despair when I read post after post on here where 'teachers just don't have time to hear children read'. This says is it all - if they can't read they won't progress. It isn't rocket science.

I watched it (alone on the Telly Addicts thread!). I agree that the boys didn't enjoy reading, didn't see the point of it and got no support at home.

I didn't get the impression that if a boy had no father he wouldn't be interested in reading. Rather if the father was around then his behaviour may carry more weight as a role model with a boy than his mother.

To think that just getting boys to sit down and learn to read misses the point of what the problem is. Two boys - Tanekin (sp?) and Connor were a month away from leaving to go to secondary school and seemed to have the reading ability of 6 yr olds. Absolutely appalling to get so far and not get sufficient support from the school to change that. Tanekin's low self esteem as a result was heartbreaking. The fact that Gareth managed to turn that around was truly impressive.

I thought the teaching staff and Head were poor last week and nothing I saw this week changed my opinion.

Attending scouts out of school will have no impact on how boys learn in school imo. That misses the point. This programme is all about getting boys interested in reading and trying different methods to engage them to do so. This week's programme was a resounding success compared to last week's.

At ds's school they hear the children read every day and get reading homework every day too. Ds struggles with reading but there is absolutely no way he will be allowed to leave his school at the end of year 6 barely able to read.

My son is only yr 2 but already I can see him developing into one of those boys.

I love reading... I am staring at 2 massive bookcases of books. As a baby I read him books and he knew his favourites inside out. As a toddler he looked at them for hours and I read to him every night.

As a 6 year old... well I found myself patiently explaining that reading is not about learning but can be for pleasure!!! What the hell!

Last year he totally dis-engaged from reading at school so I went into overdrive at home - he was reading stuff at home and I patiently read the first 2 Harry potters...

Despite that loving the Harry Potter books, prefering them to the film he didn't get that you read for pleasure.... I tell you what I bloody dispair!

My son, like a lot of the boys shy away when they find the reading difficult and just believe they can't do it. My son will not even entertain reading books I KNOW he can read because they scare him.

Gareth Malone is thinking outside the box for boys because it is a known fact that boys consistantly under-achieve in reading and handwriting compared to girls. Why not bring the men in and see what happens? My son hasn't got a dad around and I think seeing a man reading would make a difference... the amount of male primary teacher is woefully short and that is a real problem too.

I am looking forward to next weeks programme... I think the results will be positive...

DSD you could be talking about my ds (in yr 2 as well). Reading homework is always a chore whereas the maths homework is considered a treat and he always wants to do more. He has loads of books, has always been read to but really wouldn't mind if he never had to read a book again. Fortunately there are male teachers at ds's school but they don't get them as form teachers until yr 4 and above.

My dh, a very clever man, does not enjoy reading as a pastime. However, if he has a purpose for reading e.g. finding information on how to build a pond, gardening etc. he is more than happy to read.

From the programme, it did seem to give the suggestion that the boys were more likely to read if there was a point to it i.e. the World Cup Reading Competition.

Exactly. There is a huge diff between not being able to read, and not enjoying reading in your spare time.

There is also a diff between being able to read and getting a level 4 (the expected level) for reading in KS2 SATS

Gareth seemed to be mostly concerned about whether or not the kids enjoy reading.

I have 3 kids and I am far more concerned about whether they can read and pass their SATS then whether they read for pleasure or not.

They don't cope at secondary, it really is v sad.

I found it infuriating; as an experienced teacher I imagine that if I was allowed to abandon the curriculum, palm all female members of my class off on someone else, given limitless funds to purchase Roman battle outfits/books/library scanning systems etc. then I'd improve boys' reading too.

It was frustrating to see him completely fail to link reading for a purpose with enjoyment until the treasure hunt... I'd have given the children a Roman helmet but the sword, shield etc. would have been earnt by the Centurions who were able to locate, from a variety of written sources, the reason for needed a shield/the correct battle formation/how a sword was made etc. etc. and the battle would be held between teams of Centurions who were able to find the necessary information.

I have a class of Y4 children, no money to buy books, an hour a day adult support, no fancy library machine, an obligation to deliver the National Curriculum and to take account of the needs and interests of 30 children (both genders). There are lots of non-readers in my class, some male and some female but the resources that Gareth Malone had simply aren't available to the rest of us.

It's great that he was willing to have a go but tragic that the non-reading girls were excluded because they tend to present differently and even more tragic that Malone's antics are off-limits to the rest of us because we're teachers.

SE13Mummy - exactly. For the resources he had available I think he did really badly. Which I guess isn't surprising seeing is he isn't a teacher and doesn't know anything about education.

But to sit there and say 'It's so sad little Johnny thinks he's stupid cause he can't read' WTF does he think little Johnny thinks? Of course little Johnny think's he's stupid! Why else has he been brought in?

I'm with you SE13Mummy, don't we all know that boys and girls learn in different ways but our schools and more geared towards the way that 'most' girls learn because we have to follow the curriculm and are completely accountable for the way that every minute is spent by every child in our classrooms. If we were given the freedom and the money to do what he was doing then of course we would do it, like a shot!

DSD and Mollie O, don't panic, just keep reading with them, and get your DH's to too!

My DS wasn't all that keen on reading at the start of Y2, although he loved being read to.

DH and I spent alot of time reading to him, tandem / paired reading and hearing him read. We have ensured that getting a new book is seen as a treat, and we regularly use the library. He also has had comics / magazines frequently.

Now in Y5 he is an avid and capable reader, currently reading Percy Jackson for hours on hend (when he isn't out doing sports,etc!)

ANd FWIW, I think reading aloud to and hearing children read in primary school is far more important than making sure you have covered the whole of the NC. Though you can choose cross-curricular books to read

Ds has no contact with his father and I have no partner so the only male influence he has is at school (no grandfathers either). Interestingly the focus for yr 2 appears to be writing rather than reading. Now they get maths homework it makes getting the reading homework done easier. I won't allow him to do his maths until he has done the reading. He loves maths and sees that homework as a treat!

I agree with the OP and instinctively I really dislike all this gender stereotyping........especially having a boy who LOVES readin especially fiction and a girl who endures it!!!! Go figure!

I am also shocked that they didn't learn phonics at school.....What were they doing at that school? Shocking stuff.

don't we all know that boys and girls learn in different ways

Really? All? Sounds improbably to me. I work in a very male dominated industry. Seems highly unlikely to me that my learning style is somehow diff to all of my colleagues.

While it might be true that a majority of girls learn in xxxx way and a majority of boys have strengths with yyyy. It can't possibly be true for all.

emy72, it may well be that the older children in the school haven't been taught phonics because 5 or 6 years ago it wasn't something everyone was expected to do. My current Y4 class are the final cohort in my school not to have had phonics input from Nursery/Reception. We've just started using a whole-school phonics approach and many of my class are at the lowest levels whilst the Y1 pupils are streets ahead because they've had at least a year of excellent, phonics-based input.

SE13MUMMY, Thanks, it figures then! I have to say, the phonics approach really does stick and works for my kids. So long it may continue!!! ;o)

I think it's a shame Gareth Malone has got himself involved in this as he has been so inspirational in other programmes.
I like his ideas and believe he is trying hard in a school that has failed those children and is only half heartedly taking part in this programme (probably forced into it because they are failing)

MacDonalds isn't that bad an aspiration; one of the boys in my class wants to be, "an icecream van man....so I can sit down and do nothing all day". He followed it up by suggesting that he might consider being an accountant, "coz they just sit down all the time and no-one minds what they do".

He's going to need to improve his maths before either is a realistic career path.

I agree zapostrophe at least he wants to get a job even if it isn't what most of us would choose for our own children

I've got a friend that earns a huge salary working for Macdonalds, I don't believe she's eaten a burger in her life and is a fitness fanatic as well as a beautiful, successful woman. :). Not sure if she started out flipping burgers, guess it's possible! :)