Promoting Literacy Among Boys

What Parents Can Do to Promote Literacy with Boys …… Parents should notice what boys like to read and feel competent reading and encourage this. Studies indicate that doing what you are good at builds confidence and the desire to try new and more challenging tasks. Studies also found that boys like to read about things "close to home"— familiar settings, sports teams, situations, or events. Availability of such reading material is essential. Parents should make a variety of texts available to boys—newspapers, sports magazines, how-to books, and comic book collections. Studies found that boys pick up texts that are close at hand. If the content translates easily to immediate use, this is even better. Talk to your kids about the content of their reading in nonjudgmental ways;
boys value conversation as a way to use reading. Talking is a way of relating. suprisingly, every boy in the study valued relationships to authors and characters, but particularly to others who shared their passions and interests. Reading that gave them a means of relating to others, such as family members, was highly valued. Read with boys. Make a variety of materials available to them and talk with them about their reading. Provide occasions to apply what they read, and you will be well on your way to overcoming the "schoolishness" of in-school reading that the boys in the study rejected. And you will be promoting the "toolishness" and sense of flow that they craved.

Source : The Family Connection….

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