Getting Boys to Read! By Mike McQueen
It only took me a few pages to know that this book will be in my tool box for a long time! It has awesome tips for teachers and parents that really work! One of the best parts is that you don't have to read it cover to cover if you don't have time. You can just leaf through and pick out a few tips that you can use right away ( but make sure you read the whole thing later it's worth it)! It's one of those books that really gets your wheels turning. As I read little thoughts about how I could use these tips in my classroom filled my head, and believe me I needed the tips because I'm a girl, and my boys are BOYS... as in ALL boy! Goodness they keep me on my toes! I really appreciated the insight from a man about how their little brains work because I sometimes have a hard time figuring out what on earth is going on in there! I came up with lots of great ideas as I read, but I picked a few of Mike's tips to get us started!
1. Start a boys book club (I know I'm a girl but my boys let me join anyway)
2. Use e-books (we read Myon books on our iPads)
3. Use audio books(again Myon on our iPads)
4. Let them read comics and graphic novels
Tuesdays and Thursdays are now book club days!We started out by picking our book. As Mike suggests I didn't give them a lot of limits. I only requested that the book not be too scary, or too high reading level wise. They could not believe that I was going to let them pick any book they wanted! They had all kinds of ideas about what kind of books they wanted to search for. Super heroes... monsters...zombies etc. They finally settled on
Backyard Bug Battle: A Buzz Beaker Brainstorm if you have boys they will LOVE it! It's a graphic novel with bugs, poison, and lots of other gross stuff!
Here are a few of them with their books rushing me so they can go read!
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| Yes they're dorks but they're my dorks and I love them |
The really cool thing is that this is a multi-level group. Their reading levels range from DRA 3 to DRA 20. Some read, some only listen, and others do a little of both. The readers are allowed to listen after they read it once. There are cool sound effects (which boys love) so listening is a must.
They got comfy and read...and read... and read... and read...
"Can I read my book club book during read to self?"
"Sure!"
"Can I read my book club book during can do's?"
" Sure!"
" Can I read my book club book NOW!?!?!"
"No, finish your math!!!"
I think they each read or listened to it about twenty times. Then today we sat down and discussed it. They were so excited that they were climbing out of their chairs :) and we had some fun discussions ( there was also a lot of buzz poke ... buzz poke while we were talking)!
We also picked a new book today, and they were just as excited to get started reading that one too!
Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to head over to Amazon and buy this awesome book Getting Boys to Read: Quick Tips for Parents and Teachers ! Your boys will thank you! I know mine did!
P.S Don't worry the girls got a book club too!
OH EM GEE! This is such a great post. Thank you so much for all the wonderfully kind words about my book. It was a joy to see what you did with your book club. Amazing!!!
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