Educators Turn to Comics to Rescue Boys' Literacy: As Comic Book Stores Give Away Free Books Today, a Group Hopes to Capture Young Male Minds.
Posted on: Saturday, 6 May 2006, 15:00 CDT
By Angela Forest, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.
May 6--When Tresserlyn Jones' son, Tarin, entered school, she noticed that the 7-year-old didn't read as well as his older sister.
"For my son, reading has not been his thing," Jones said, "whereas with my daughter it always came naturally."
Now a second-grader at Newsome Park Elementary School in Newport News, Tarin still struggles to sound out words.
Jones knows her son is not alone. As the Parent Teacher Association president at Newsome Park, she talks to lots of parents who say their sons find it difficult to pick up reading skills.
ProLiteracy, a non-profit literacy group based in New York, thinks introducing boys to comic books sometimes sparks a life-long interest in reading, so it has helped organized an event today to allow families to pick up free comic books at stores here and across the nation. The bookstores plan to give away thousands of comics to children and adults. National studies have found that boys take more time learning to read than girls, read less than girls at an early age and are more likely to consider themselves non-readers by their teen years.
Boys generally enjoy reading in the first and second grades, but by the third grade often lose interest, said Lauri Leeper, a librarian at McIntosh Elementary School in Newport News. The pressure to read and comprehend large amounts of text in preparing for the Virginia Standards of Learning tests may discourage some boys, Leeper said.
Educators are now paying attention to boys who lag behind in reading, a factor that seems to contribute to their lower academic achievement compared with girls.
In Newport News, school officials have responded to the different ways that boys learn by showing teachers how to create lessons that address young students' sometimes short attention spans and allow them to be physically active while learning. The idea is to "create learning environments where children are actively engaged and they're moving," said McIntosh Principal Mary Ann Hutchinson.
Giving boys reading subjects that they find interesting also makes a difference.
"Boys love to read magazines, and they love to read nonfiction books - the grosser the better," Leeper said. Anything dealing with animals, the military, trucks, extreme sports or weather conditions also hits home.
Holly Kenaley's younger son, Ryan, didn't like reading until this school year, when the 8-year-old saw the cover of a "Goosebumps" book, a horror literature series for children. He loved the scary picture and asked his mom to buy it. Now, when given the chance to receive a $2 weekly allowance or a book, Ryan chooses the latter, said Kenaley, who lives in Williamsburg.
"All it took was allowing him to read something that gets his attention," she said.
For several years, teachers in Newport News and Hampton have included comic books among the reading options for students in the classroom.
Teachers from both school districts have bought comic books at a discount from David Weaver, owner of Bender's Books in Phoebus.
The store also donates comics to local libraries' summer reading programs.
The teachers use comics because students of both genders like reading them, said Weaver, a former teacher who taught elementary and junior high school students in Hampton.
Various things about comic books attract kids, Weaver said.
"Sometimes it's the characters they recognize from the movies, or characters from cartoons," he said.
"The pictures with the words reinforce one another and work wonders."
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Source: Daily Press
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