By
Heather Richmond PhD and Cheryl Miles MED ( 2002)
The two researchers Heather Richmond and Cheryl Miles had worked with many interventions and programmes in literacy (Reading recovery, First Steps literacy, guided reading levelled books and so on) In fact there is a surfeit of knowledge about interventions and good practice in reading. Both women, have been immersed in literacy theory and practice for many years. The hard part is sifting and sorting through all the ideas - which you have read of, heard, praised and those you have actually implemented. Cheryl had done quite a lot of work on literature circles in her roles as teacher and literacy mentor with district #18. Heather had started doing reading circles with her education students (Richmond, 1993) implementing them in libraries, after school programs and at the Y, in the early nineties. Their ideas meshed and the two women decided to work together to develop; design critical literacy activities, a useful intervention programme, a way to collect data, to track the process, to assess and finally to evaluate the success of the literacy project.
Cheryl Miles, M.Ed., Project Manager
Boys’ and Girls’ Literacy: Closing the Gap
Faculty of Education
St. Thomas University/School District #18
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
E3B 1T4
Fax: (506) 452-0611
Phone: (506) 460-0345
Email: cmiles@stthomasu.ca
Heather J. Richmond, Ph.D., Principal researcher
Boys’ and Girls’ Literacy: Closing the Gap
Faculty of Education
St. ThomasUniversity
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
E3B 5G3
Fax: (506) 452-0611
Phone: (506) 452-0416
Email: richmond@stthomasu.ca
Purpose of the Male Mentor Reading Program Pilot
The overarching goal of the larger project, Boys’ and Girls’ Literacy: Closing the Gap, is to address the literacy performance of boys, yet not at the expense of girls. In order to address this goal, the researchers will examine the reading preferences of boys and girls through their critical response to a variety of literature genres and investigate the effects of Male Mentor Reading Program on boys.
The purpose of the Male Mentor Reading Program Pilot study was to provide the researchers with a framework for implementation of the longitudinal study at the research site which will commence in the fall of 2002. The main areas of the framework to be examined included establishing a Read Aloud book collection; shaping the Mentor selection process; developing training modules and materials; documenting effects of the Male Mentor pilot; investigating an appropriate time period for the Mentor sessions with the students; and analyzing mentor and student responses to the Read Aloud books used.
The purpose was not to make either boys or girls into versions of each
other, whether gender is socially constructed or is innate was not our
question - although an examination of masculinities in school along with
building a framework of literacy concepts is helpful.
We will need to consider carefully just what masculinities these mentors are constructing as they read to the children. The varsity hockey players, by virtue of their star status, are symbols of masculinity. The role the mentors are modeling is seen on the surface as a “conventional form of masculinity” (Skelton, 2001. p.126). This form of masculinity was reflected by the mentors use of both humor, sport, surprise, and challenge. The mentors were positive role models in this sense. We are reminded that all young men have to negotiate and construct their gender identities and differences even if they may seem to be ‘one of the boys’.
The project purposes assumed that male athletes would provide young boys and girls with an ideal male (who liked to read). This assumption was based on notions of the lack of male elementary teachers, the consequently feminized school and the need for ‘father figures’ for “under fathered boys” (Skelton, 2001. p.137) More exploration of the masculine role model will need to be done. In part this can be addressed by inviting broader range of university men to join us next fall.
Research efforts to bridge the literacy gap between boys and girls under the age of sixteen must continue to examine all indicators including the sociocultural and economic status of boys’ and girls’ underachieving. Large studies like IALS (1995) and PISA (2001) provide rich data revealing many factors along with gender to account for underachievement. Our study will look at gender, and book choices, male mentors, and critical engagement as a way to promote a development in the literacy achievement of all children – while particularly noting factors that may advantage or disadvantage boys.
Figure 1: Mentor Responsibilities
Figure 2: Criteria for Successful Read Aloud
Sessions
Figure 3: Male Mentor Reading Log
Back to St. Thomas Webpage
Back to Boys' and Girls' Literacy