"Hey, Spencer...I've got a word picture for you. Imagine you want to take a trip to a town in a distant state, but you decide not to drive. No airports are close by, so you're left with two options: go by Amtrack (the passenger…"
"You're the only man here!"
Thus observed our in-service leader today.
No kidding. I teach in an elementary school. It's the PE coach, one of the counselors, and me. I teach high-incidence special ed (LD, EBD, autism, ADHD, etc.).
Our in-service leader, to her great credit, did talk about the fact that our boys are almost exclusively taught, for great stretches of time, by women. This is, of course, not a bad thing, but can present issues when the teacher doesn't understand a kid's desire to include a good-natured slaughter in a short narrative.
I run a Guys Read group every other week after school. We make a point of trying to get books that will grab a boy and get him to read, and these run to war nonfiction, graphic novels (Bone has been a huge, ongoing hit for three years), and...well, more war and graphic novels. They're reading.
We need more guys at the elementary level.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cullen S. on -
I've been there!
I do think the novelty of being one of the few male teachers in my elementary school has made me popular with the students, which helps me run my classroom a little more smoothly. I like your idea of a Guys Read group. As a point of clarification, is this a group of men seeking out good "boy literature," or are boys actually signing up for this as an after school program? I can think of a few boys at my school who could benefit from this.
What I wouldn't give for more men to be teaching at this level. From a selfish perspective, I wouldn't mind having some occasional "guy talk" when in the teacher's lounge! -
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Permalink Reply by John Carle on -
Hi, Cullen. The Guys Read website is at http://guysread.com/ - it was started by Jon Scieszka, and we just run a lonely little outpost. It is after school, and the boys sign up. They pester me if we can't meet at our usual time because I have an IEP meeting or some such. :)
Yeah, I wouldn't mind being able to talk to other guys during the work day.
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Perry on -
I am a middle school history teacher but my first year teaching was in a 3rd grade classroom. My kids were SHOCKED that some guy was their teacher. I agree Cullen I missed interaction with other guys and since moving into my true field three years ago I am much happier teaching the older kids.
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Permalink Reply by John Carle on
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Matthew, I taught middle school for three years some years ago. I did enjoy it, but I'm not in a huge hurry to go back...
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