C4T #4

How To Get Boys Reading Perhaps

     For my C4T #4 I have been assigned to Pernille Ripp's teaching blog. The post I commented on this week was titled How To Get Boys Reading Perhaps. In her post, Mrs. Ripp gave tips on how to get young boys interested in reading. She admits she has problems still getting her classroom guys to want to read but she has found a few tricks to get them interested. 

• Have honest conversations. She says listen to the boys when they want to express their frustrations about reading. Maybe you can use it to teach a lesson or learn something to help them out.
• Read their books. She suggests finding books they might like. Sports, science fiction, and fantasy are pretty common.
• Loosen up. Mrs. Ripp suggest thinking outside the box. She says they don't always have to read chapter books. Graphic novels or comic books help too.
• Let them read wherever they want. Her students read wherever they can find a spot as long as it doesn't distract someone else.
• Geek out with them. She said they get excited when a new book in their favorite series comes out and they celebrate it.

     She has so many more good suggestions, these were just a few I found to be useful and creative. I thanked her for taking the time to make that post. I agreed we needed to find a way to inspire more young boy to read. I gave her a book suggestion my brother loved when he was young. I told her I would have to try out some of the suggestions she gave.

Don't Take A Break From Learning Just Because It's The Holidays

     Mrs. Ripp made a post titled Don't Take A Break From Learning Just Because It's The Holidays.  This blog entry addressed a problem every teacher encounters at least once a year, maybe more. When the holidays get near (especially Christmas) students energy levels increase drastically while their attention span plummets. Mrs. Ripp talked about how she fought and ignored the approaching holidays for so long until she realized things run smoother if she joined in the festivities. Here are a few things she uses to help get some work accomplished during this time.

• Create more hands-on learning. She asks her students what they want to do with all of their materials they've learned and lets them create something awesome.
• Recognize the holiday and don't ignore it. She listens to holiday music, do a holiday card exchange, share holiday tradition stories and blog about them, and learn culture holiday traditions.
• Do more challenges. She created different events like spaghetti and marshmallow tower challenge and flipstick olympics to help students continue learning even if it isn't curriculum.
• Read more. Reading aloud is calming to everyone.
• Give back when you can. She has her students write to Helping Hands and holiday cards for the nursing home nearby.

     I thanked her for taking the time to write out this blog post. I told her the "holiday craziness" isn't exactly something college prepares you for.  It's nice to have a few tips on how to handle the "Christmas rush".  I will be teaching teenagers so I'm not sure how much different it will be, but then again we are all children at Christmas time!