Dear Reader,
When I first entered teaching, the context of a classroom was very straight forward. Students sit in rows and are expected to quietly absorb information, complete assignments, and generally remain busy. If a student was disruptive, anxious, or obnoxious generally the behavior would be associated with the student's choice to be disruptive. The assumption is that remaining quiet and completing work is a reasonable expectation that all students should be able to model. I remember a number of students being asked to leave class when they were unable to maintain such simple expectations. I also remember on a number of occasions I would also be asked to leave class and spend some time in the principle's office for my own disruptive behavior. I also remember being sent to the school counselor for testing, and I vividly remember when my mother approached me several days later with a pill that had been prescribed to me called Ritalin. I was in fifth grade.
At the time I didn't think about it that much I would wake up, take a pill and every three hours go to the nurses office to continue to take the pills throughout the day. All of my teachers were aware that I was one of those ADHD students, and I would be seated in special locations and given "special" treatment. I would also be privy to teacher's opinions on the "disorder" as being a cop out or an excuse. Overtime, though, I was not so alone. I noticed that many of my friends - all boys - were also diagnosed and making regular trips to the nurses' office. We usually became close friends because we had a secret knowledge of how teachers treated students like us, and would often have similar stories and struggles.
This blog, however, is not about ADHD. It's about boys and the unique struggles that many boys may face when subjected to the oppressive silence and stillness of most learning labs or classrooms. This is not to say that girls do not suffer the same issues in these environments, because many do, it just that I wanted to focus on boys because I believe that there are many elements of "masculinity" that contrast greatly with the expectations of the classroom and I believe that many boys - as they are figuring out how to be men - are subjected to an environment that is not open to appreciating certain masculine qualities.
Before you explore the posts below I think it would be helpful to read some of the statistics about boys in our current education system. They have a higher drop out rate, suicide rate, and failure rate than their female peers. There is a wealth of evidence that shows that many boys do not fit into the mold of the "good student" that traditional classroom environments expect. I believe that this leaves many boys feeling out of place, undervalued, and under appreciated in their school system. But there is hope.
In the tab of "teaching strategies" I have created videos of teachers who have created lessons that are "boy friendly". These classrooms encorporate more movement, competition, and visual aids than would many traditional or verbally based classroom environments. While most classroom environments still demand a certain amount of silence and individual work, there are certain strategies that can harness some of the masculine energy that boys carry within them and use it in the lessons, without the need of labeling the energy as negative or a "disorder".
