Some Questions for consideration by leaders of the Education Enterprise regarding Male Education
1. Is the school system conscious of the unique relationship between the learning enterprise and the male student?
2. Is the male student engaged in a representative teaching population, balanced between male and female?
3. Are the accomplishments of male teachers and students respected, recorded, rewarded adequately?
4. Is the hiring process focused on attracting male teachers to the elementary and secondary panels?
5. Would a male candidate from the Faculty of Education feel welcome in his first interview, in his first staff meeting, and in his daily encounters in the school and in his own classroom for the first five years of his contract?
6. Does each male teacher have a successful male mentor, to support his entry, transition and development as an educator?
7. Does each school have both strategies and tactics in place that would welcome, reward and support the unique development of male students?
8. Does the school system have a library of research material about the development of male students in each staff room? What is the frequency of those materials being circulated?
9. Does the school system seek, consciously, with deliberate goal setting and accompanying strategies and tactics, the enhanced achievements of male students, including reduced misdemeanor incidents, reduced detentions, improved test and assignment scores, reduced drop-out rates, graduation rates and successful graduation from post-secondary institutions of male students?
10. Does the school system face more inquiries and investigations about the activities of male students than of female students?
11. Does the school system hold seminars for teaching faculty on the nature of male students generally, rather than on case studies for action plans?
12. What is the general attitude of the school system toward the needs and aspirations of male students, including a conscious awareness of those needs and aspirations, the required steps for achieving those goals and aspirations, the school’s support of the achievement of those goals and the mentoring of each male student’s path along that road?
13. Does each male student have an assigned mentor, to support his learning goals, and his healthy relationship with peers, teachers, and the system generally?
14. Does each school offer learning opportunities in life skills and relationship building to male students?
15. Does each school have as one of its primary goals, the enhanced support of the learning achievement of each male student?
16. What services are available to male students in troublesome circumstances, whether those situations have been “generated” primarily by the male student or by other factors?
17. Do male students generally access those services in each school? To what degree, measured in percentage? What are the reasons for both access and resistance?
18. What is the role of the school council in the process of enhancing the learning achievements of male students, if any? What role could they play in this process?
19. What are the perceived impediments to the achievement of all learning goals of male students in each school in the system?
20. What are the hidden impediments to the achievement of all learning goals of male students in each school in the system?
21. In the school system’s strategic planning, how important is the record of achievement of male students in the short, medium and long range planning of each principal?
22. In an ideal world, with unlimited budgets and faculty specifically selected to enhance the learning opportunities and achievements of male students, what changes would you like to see implemented, to achieve that goal?
23. What are the specific impediments to the implementation of those changes?
24. Is the school system open to research into the experiences of male students, with the information available to teachers and administrators, for designing both curriculum and delivery modes, as part of an initiative to enhance the learning achievement of male students? If not, why not?
25. Is the school system, including programs like those for “gifted students” skewed in favour of female students? If so, why?
26. What community support is available to each school to advance the cause of enhanced achievement of male students? Are those supports being accessed adequately?
27. What specific steps does the school system take, with what frequency, to enhance the learning opportunities and achievement of male students, support by what kind of budget line? In an ideal world, how would that budget line change, with what effect?
General Topics for Discussion;
Male Students and their unique opportunities and struggles with the learning enterprise
Faculty expectations of male students
The culture of the education enterprise, with respect to the achievement of the learning goals of male students
Research and faculty development with respect to male learning needs and aspirations and achievements
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tips for Parents and Teachers Re: Boys
By John Lorinc (with reports from Erin Anderson) Globe and Mail, October 20, 2010
When Lukrica Prugo wants to deliver lessons on workaday topics like geometry or grammar, she likes to haul her kids out of their desks and take them on what she calls her “gallery walks.”
Inside a boy friendly classroom Like a Pied Piper, the suburban Toronto teacher leads her Grade 7s around the school, getting them to identify shapes or rhyme off adjectives to describe what they see. Or she'll have them move around the class, ranking the assignments pinned to the wall, as if scrutinizing art in a museum. Sometimes she takes them on nature walks and asks them to write poems about what they observe.
“Getting them to be physical is huge,” she says. “They're focused for longer and they answer questions for the full 40 minutes.”
A growing number of educators have pushed themselves to develop innovative ways to engage boys and girls in the classroom. A sampling:
1. Recess:
Many teachers do it almost instinctively: when elementary school children step out of line, they forfeit recess. It's a practice that drives Toronto District School Board director of education Chris Spence crazy. Most boys (and girls) simply need to blow off the surplus energy that accumulates during class time. By missing recess, they may have a tougher time learning for the rest of the day. Alternative punishments could see transgressors running laps of the field, doing sit-ups, or helping with chores around the school.
At home: Talk a walk around the block before your child sits down to do his homework and use the time to brainstorm on big projects and discuss the assignments. (Boys are often more likely to work out their thoughts verbally with mom or dad, while doing an activity that doesn't require a face-to-face chat.)
2. Snowballs/Play fighting
Most school boards now live in fear of liability lawsuits, with the result that many administrators have imposed blanket bans on uncontrolled outdoor activities considered to be risky, such as snowball throwing and play fighting. At St. Andrew's College, a private boys school in Aurora, Ont., the administration took a different tack with winter highjinks: One part of the field has been designated as the snowball zone. Students who venture there may throw snowballs, and they also consent to be targets (the boys must wear goggles to prevent eye injuries). Those who prefer to avoid the mayhem simply stay off the field. At C.B. Stirling, a public middle school in Hamilton that has experimented with all-boys classes, one classroom has been retrofitted with mats for supervised play wrestling.
At home: While family wrestling bouts have been shown to reduce aggression in boys, if you aren't that keen on a pillow fight, encourage your child to take mini-breaks in homework – play a quick game of ball hockey.
3. Fidgeting
Many boys simply have trouble sitting still. They fiddle, tap their feet and squirm within the unyielding confines of a desk. It's less about naughtiness than about body chemistry. Some teachers have experimented with abandoning desks altogether, letting boys sit or lie on the floor. At Upper Canada College, exceptionally fidgety kids have the option of sitting on a Pilates ball instead of a standard-issue desk chair. The ball provides just enough bounce to help the boys work off surplus energy and therefore improve concentration.
At home: Accept that many boys fidget by nature. Read to your son, even if he gets restless. Most of the time he's still listening.
4. Corners
Teachers who know how to engage male students understand the value of encouraging them to debate ideas rather than just passively digest information. The reason: Many boys prefer to work out their thoughts verbally before putting pen to paper. One successful technique is an exercise called “corners.” The teacher puts up four signs – “agree,” “strongly agree,” “disagree” and “strongly disagree” – in each corner of the class and then throws out a deliberately controversial statement, e.g., “Homework is good for you.” The students then go to the corner that most closely represents their views and each group develops an argument for debate.
At home: Discuss the news over dinner, and encourage debate on the issues. Boys respond to assignments that seem practical. Take the time to talk about how schoolwork might relate to real life or future goals.
5. Confronting male stereotypes
For University of Western Ontario professor of education Wayne Martino, the conundrum in the boys education debate is the constant risk of stereotyping. In his view, the question isn't, “Whither boys?” but, “Which boys?” Case in point: the push to create boy-friendly reading curricula dominated by books or graphic novels about sports, technology and fantasy/science fiction. When he teaches male teens, he chooses non-traditional stories that confront dominant pop culture images about hyper-masculinity, homophobia and male relationships (e.g. Billy Elliot). Prof. Martino encourages his students to write their reactions in journals and debate provocative statements about the texts.
At home: Be mindful about projecting gender stereotypes, such as encouraging boys not to show their feelings. Encourage your son to hang around – instead of disappearing to his room – when you have company so he can observe social interaction.
When Lukrica Prugo wants to deliver lessons on workaday topics like geometry or grammar, she likes to haul her kids out of their desks and take them on what she calls her “gallery walks.”
Inside a boy friendly classroom Like a Pied Piper, the suburban Toronto teacher leads her Grade 7s around the school, getting them to identify shapes or rhyme off adjectives to describe what they see. Or she'll have them move around the class, ranking the assignments pinned to the wall, as if scrutinizing art in a museum. Sometimes she takes them on nature walks and asks them to write poems about what they observe.
“Getting them to be physical is huge,” she says. “They're focused for longer and they answer questions for the full 40 minutes.”
A growing number of educators have pushed themselves to develop innovative ways to engage boys and girls in the classroom. A sampling:
1. Recess:
Many teachers do it almost instinctively: when elementary school children step out of line, they forfeit recess. It's a practice that drives Toronto District School Board director of education Chris Spence crazy. Most boys (and girls) simply need to blow off the surplus energy that accumulates during class time. By missing recess, they may have a tougher time learning for the rest of the day. Alternative punishments could see transgressors running laps of the field, doing sit-ups, or helping with chores around the school.
At home: Talk a walk around the block before your child sits down to do his homework and use the time to brainstorm on big projects and discuss the assignments. (Boys are often more likely to work out their thoughts verbally with mom or dad, while doing an activity that doesn't require a face-to-face chat.)
2. Snowballs/Play fighting
Most school boards now live in fear of liability lawsuits, with the result that many administrators have imposed blanket bans on uncontrolled outdoor activities considered to be risky, such as snowball throwing and play fighting. At St. Andrew's College, a private boys school in Aurora, Ont., the administration took a different tack with winter highjinks: One part of the field has been designated as the snowball zone. Students who venture there may throw snowballs, and they also consent to be targets (the boys must wear goggles to prevent eye injuries). Those who prefer to avoid the mayhem simply stay off the field. At C.B. Stirling, a public middle school in Hamilton that has experimented with all-boys classes, one classroom has been retrofitted with mats for supervised play wrestling.
At home: While family wrestling bouts have been shown to reduce aggression in boys, if you aren't that keen on a pillow fight, encourage your child to take mini-breaks in homework – play a quick game of ball hockey.
3. Fidgeting
Many boys simply have trouble sitting still. They fiddle, tap their feet and squirm within the unyielding confines of a desk. It's less about naughtiness than about body chemistry. Some teachers have experimented with abandoning desks altogether, letting boys sit or lie on the floor. At Upper Canada College, exceptionally fidgety kids have the option of sitting on a Pilates ball instead of a standard-issue desk chair. The ball provides just enough bounce to help the boys work off surplus energy and therefore improve concentration.
At home: Accept that many boys fidget by nature. Read to your son, even if he gets restless. Most of the time he's still listening.
4. Corners
Teachers who know how to engage male students understand the value of encouraging them to debate ideas rather than just passively digest information. The reason: Many boys prefer to work out their thoughts verbally before putting pen to paper. One successful technique is an exercise called “corners.” The teacher puts up four signs – “agree,” “strongly agree,” “disagree” and “strongly disagree” – in each corner of the class and then throws out a deliberately controversial statement, e.g., “Homework is good for you.” The students then go to the corner that most closely represents their views and each group develops an argument for debate.
At home: Discuss the news over dinner, and encourage debate on the issues. Boys respond to assignments that seem practical. Take the time to talk about how schoolwork might relate to real life or future goals.
5. Confronting male stereotypes
For University of Western Ontario professor of education Wayne Martino, the conundrum in the boys education debate is the constant risk of stereotyping. In his view, the question isn't, “Whither boys?” but, “Which boys?” Case in point: the push to create boy-friendly reading curricula dominated by books or graphic novels about sports, technology and fantasy/science fiction. When he teaches male teens, he chooses non-traditional stories that confront dominant pop culture images about hyper-masculinity, homophobia and male relationships (e.g. Billy Elliot). Prof. Martino encourages his students to write their reactions in journals and debate provocative statements about the texts.
At home: Be mindful about projecting gender stereotypes, such as encouraging boys not to show their feelings. Encourage your son to hang around – instead of disappearing to his room – when you have company so he can observe social interaction.
76.9% of first year medical students female at McMaster
By Carolyn Abraham and Kate Hammar, Globe an Mail, October 21, 2010
For Harold Reiter the tipping point was the entering class of 2002.
As the new chair of admissions at McMaster University's medical school, he took one look at the proportion of women admitted – a whopping 76.9 per cent – and wondered what had happened to the men.
The gender gap at the university's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine was one of the widest in the country and one of the factors that prompted Dr. Reiter to rethink the admissions criteria.
“It was those very numbers that made me start to look at the breakdown of the applicant pool, in terms of the ratio of male to female, and the discovery of what was, I think, an over-emphasis on grade point average,” he said.
Basing admissions mostly on marks, it seemed, had contributed to the decline of men's numbers in medical schools. Dr. Reiter, who was new to the position, decided the school should put less emphasis on marks and broaden its requirements, which eventually it did. The proportion of men has since slightly increased.
There is, apparently, an unstated, even under-the-table initiative to attempt to balance enrolment by gender, among Canadian medical schools; however, the idea is so politically explosive that few will speak about it.
(From the above piece in the Globe and Mail)
However, according to Paul Cappon, more than one faculty has done something about the gender factor.
Dr. Cappon, president and CEO of the Canadian Council on Learning, says that for the past five to eight years, some universities across the country have been tinkering with admissions to boost the number of men in medical school – looking beyond marks to give male applicants, in particular, credit for things like community service.
He predicted no one would say it was going on.
Dr. Cappon, who was a vice-president at Laurentian University, a former director-general of the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada and a former professor of medicine at McGill University, says “schools are doing that surreptitiously in Canada, deans of law and medicine. I used to be an academic VP running a university and I know they are doing it.”
Schools are “doing it surreptitiously, because it's politically incorrect to do it,” he says.
For Harold Reiter the tipping point was the entering class of 2002.
As the new chair of admissions at McMaster University's medical school, he took one look at the proportion of women admitted – a whopping 76.9 per cent – and wondered what had happened to the men.
The gender gap at the university's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine was one of the widest in the country and one of the factors that prompted Dr. Reiter to rethink the admissions criteria.
“It was those very numbers that made me start to look at the breakdown of the applicant pool, in terms of the ratio of male to female, and the discovery of what was, I think, an over-emphasis on grade point average,” he said.
Basing admissions mostly on marks, it seemed, had contributed to the decline of men's numbers in medical schools. Dr. Reiter, who was new to the position, decided the school should put less emphasis on marks and broaden its requirements, which eventually it did. The proportion of men has since slightly increased.
There is, apparently, an unstated, even under-the-table initiative to attempt to balance enrolment by gender, among Canadian medical schools; however, the idea is so politically explosive that few will speak about it.
(From the above piece in the Globe and Mail)
However, according to Paul Cappon, more than one faculty has done something about the gender factor.
Dr. Cappon, president and CEO of the Canadian Council on Learning, says that for the past five to eight years, some universities across the country have been tinkering with admissions to boost the number of men in medical school – looking beyond marks to give male applicants, in particular, credit for things like community service.
He predicted no one would say it was going on.
Dr. Cappon, who was a vice-president at Laurentian University, a former director-general of the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada and a former professor of medicine at McGill University, says “schools are doing that surreptitiously in Canada, deans of law and medicine. I used to be an academic VP running a university and I know they are doing it.”
Schools are “doing it surreptitiously, because it's politically incorrect to do it,” he says.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Journal finds readers in surprising locations
CJME (Canadian Journal of Male Education) is finding readers slowly and globally. Here is a summary of pageviews, and their countries of origin.
Canada 77
United States 35
Singapore 17
China 16
Slovenia 12
Russia 7
Bulgaria 6
Poland 3
Denmark 2
Taiwan 2
While our existence is still at the 'incubator' stage, it is clear that Canada is not the only place where the future of male education is being considered and reflected upon.
Should any of these readers wish to contribute to the content of the journal, in terms of offering indigenous research, or through observations on the content they find, we would welcome their input, their scholarship, and any bibliographic references.
Canada 77
United States 35
Singapore 17
China 16
Slovenia 12
Russia 7
Bulgaria 6
Poland 3
Denmark 2
Taiwan 2
While our existence is still at the 'incubator' stage, it is clear that Canada is not the only place where the future of male education is being considered and reflected upon.
Should any of these readers wish to contribute to the content of the journal, in terms of offering indigenous research, or through observations on the content they find, we would welcome their input, their scholarship, and any bibliographic references.
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