Boys need more 'explosions' in their reading?

Encouraging boys to read books about monsters and explosions could help improve their faltering verbal skills. This is the premise on a new article by the New York Times titled 'The Boys Have Fallen Behind'. They cite compelling data showing a lack of reading skills among boys and then relate it to their broader consequences:

"Boys are twice as likely to get suspended as girls, and three times as likely to be expelled. Estimates of dropouts vary, but it seems that about one-quarter more boys drop out than girls." This, they premise, is happening throughout the industrialized world: USA, Scandinavia, Canada, Britain and so on.

Interesting. But is this new or has it always been that women are more into reading? Or is it that boys feel 'too cool' to read? Is it that there are much better-fitting pass times for boys? Maybe it is that their parental role models are just doing the same thing: mom reads, dad doesn't.

NTY concludes that by giving boys more explosive 'low brow' books we could incite them to read more. They offer the website guysread.com for getting titles that 'coax boys into reading' sorted into categories like “ghosts,” “boxers, wrestlers, ultimate fighters,” and “at least one explosion.”

Is this the right way to tackle the problem? What is the real issue anyway? If there is one insight here maybe it's that boys need much more intriguing motivators to learn the ways of verbal expression.

Here is the full article.

Excersize: Who do you want to be?

How to grow in the right direction = education's driver. It's been on my mind lately so I asked my community what they have done in order to define their path. Surprisingly, two of my mentor models suggested that I do the 'who do I want to be when I grow up' excersize.

Kids do this all the time, and it's a cool tool for grown-ups too! How do you figure out what you're shooting for? Look at peers that you admire! Easy rules, deep meditation.

3 easy steps:
1. Pick a couple of people within your company and a couple of outsiders.
2. Take some time to see what it is you like about their job, their philosophy, and their life in general.
3. Figure out the path that you need to take in order to get there.

Have you done any excersize like this lately? Give it a try! Let me know how you did.


- from my mobile life -

Quick reminder from Dale Carnegie's Book

Audiobooks are awesome for train commuting. Right now my ears are full of hope with 'How to Win Friends and Influence People', a 1970's classic by Dale Carnegie that reminds us that in order for others to do what you want them to then you need to get on their good side. The whole book is filled with timeless examples. Here's a cool way to define education from the book:

"Education is the ability to meet life situations." - A president of princeton said this.

Simple and nice huh? Do you have this type of education?

- from my mobile life -

Article: 'Design Thinking' and Higher Education

This article by Steven Bell mixes two of my favorite topics! Here's a quick quote that kinda fluffs my ego:

"While their work is hardly nonprofit, designers are rarely found destroying the competition, maximizing profit margins and exploiting their employees. Few of the designers I know personally would fit the negative perception of corporate America held by many academicians. Design thinking is about helping people and organizations to solve their problems for long-term satisfaction, not achieving efficiency for short-run gains."

Read all the goodies here:
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/03/02/bell

Location:California 82,Burlingame,United States

VIDEO: Simple education pleasures

Ahhhh... If you really think about it learning is simple and nice! It's always great to be reminded of the easy education pleasures. Christian Borstlap, a guy somewhere in Holland recently finished this deliciously simple animated illustrations for Dutch children’s charity, Kinderpostzegels. Paul Postma did a great job of bringing Christian’s colourful illustrations to life, complimenting them with a playfully restrained animation style to really let their personalities shine.

Video here:
Things to learn

WiFi access on a school bus in arizona pretty much eliminates behavioral issues with high schoolers...

A recent article in the New York Times titled 'Wi-Fi turns rowdy bus into rolling study hall' shows new moments of study that would otherwise be chaos. Here's a quote from it:

"Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates). But on this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops."

 

OBAMA' S WEEKLY ADDRESS: Education for a More Competitive America & Better Future

Last week, Obama discussed his blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act to overhaul No Child Left Behind. It's nice to see that it fits with my personal beliefs that teachers need support in their important yet daunting job. Some quotes below:

"So yes, we will set a high bar, but also provide educators the flexibility to reach it."

"Because the most important factor in a child's success is the person standing in the front of the classroom,  we will better prepare teachers, support teachers and encourage teachers to stay in their field. In short, we'll treat the people who educate our sons and daughters like the professionals they are."

video here.

NYT: Building better teachers

Here's an article for you from the New York Times that talks about how to construct better teachers. It seems like a lively theme in the US as there is no good grasp yet many people are putting some effort into figuring this out. How do YOU know who the good teacher is?

A little paragraph from the article:

Among the factors that do not predict whether a teacher will succeed: a graduate-school degree, a high score on the SAT, an extroverted personality, politeness, confidence, warmth, enthusiasm and having passed the teacher-certification exam on the first try. When Bill Gates announced recently that his foundation was investing millions in a project to improve teaching quality in the United States, he added a rueful caveat. “Unfortunately, it seems the field doesn’t have a clear view of what characterizes good teaching,” Gates said. “I’m personally very curious.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html?pagewanted=1&sq=teachers&st=cse&scp=1