S6/Ep.02 - Getting Boys Back to Books

Welcome to Exploring Boys Education, a podcast produced by IBSC. I'm your host, Bruce Collins. In each episode we delve into topics of interest for educators and leaders in boys' schools in support of those of you who, like IBSC, champion boys' education. In this episode, we highlight the work of the IBSC Libraries and Reading Culture Special and Interest Group focusing on different ways IBSC schools can motivate boys to embrace a strong reading culture. To give you more details about this episode and other IBSC programming, I'm pleased to welcome back IBSC Executive Director Tom Batty who joins us again for the IBSC NewsReel. Many thanks, Bruce and we're all welcome to all joining this podcast. We know the significance of boys' reading in their academic progress, particularly as assessment has become more contextual. We also know that reading provides one of the earliest means through which we ponder our condition, could ourselves in other shoes. And the important part this plays in boys' development of empathy, particularly in an information rich age. And we also know the sheer affirming joy that comes with being lost in our own thoughts away from the noise. Instilling the habit of reading in boys is both art and science. It's a skill that quite literally changes lives. As Bruce mentioned, this episode highlights the good work of the IBSC Libraries and Reading Culture Special Interest Group, representing the special interest group to share the insights gleaned from their research. Our Trish Sislach recently retired from present school in Canada. Caroline Friedlander from Woodbury Forest School in the United States. Emma Rillis Barton from King Edward VI School in the United Kingdom. And Australians Jation Sicily from the Southport School and Gabrielle Mace from St. Augustine's College in Sydney. Before we dive into their research on boys and books, I'd like to again remind that all details of the IBSC's program offerings can be found on the IBSC website. Following four online events for teachers of boys in August and September, we are hosting an online event in October, focused on helping younger boys thrive in a diverse world. And in November, we'll be hosting an online panel discussion for women teaching in boys schools. Our boys in belonging and teachers new to boys schools online classes start at the end of September and we have several ideas labs coming up. So to find a cohort to suit your needs, visit the IBSC website, the browse current offerings. Now, over to you Bruce, as we turn the page to getting boys back to books. We start this conversation with Trish Sislak, who I'm going to ask to introduce the IBSC Reading Culture Special Interest Group, Hart Kamibar and its primary purpose, Trish spearheaded this initiative and such a great foundation for helping IBSC schools understand boys and reading, particularly in that adolescent phase. Trish, why don't you share a little bit about how the SIG Kamibar and what its primary purpose was? Thanks Bruce. We all have these sort of intuitions about what we think is best for boys and how can we create a really powerful reading culture. But what happened was that the Special Interest Group actually created an opportunity for us to do a deep dive. And what we needed was a collective. We needed many voices and many perspectives. And I think that's what really inspired me to apply to have the Special Interest Group. And I think that the idea of the rules of teacher librarians and librarians and English teachers, because that's actually a big chunk of our group as well, in terms of the value of reading really speaks to what we see as an important priority in the lives of our schools. And it goes back to the vision of our schools all speak about character development and reading is such a great vehicle to read widely, understand global perspectives, appreciate what others bring to the table, develop a sense of empathy. And we know those are all components of character development. And it just seemed like a sort of a really easy way to marry these important facets of our of the lives of the boys that we teach. And those are all of the factors that inspired to say, let's get this Special Interest Group going. And here we are. The SID was was broken into smaller groups and you're a part of the group who who looked at reader identity. And I think that's a great place to start. You know, this idea of reader identity has stuck with me since Andrew Reiner spoke at the 2017 annual conference. And he spoke about the definition of masculinity and the societal expectations of young men and the stigmas that came in with reading. And it's just always made me wonder is it because they're actually young men that's holding them back from really embracing reading as a tool and as an outlet and as an ability to be more well. And all of these things that were really create there were creating obstacles for boys to consider themselves readers. So we all we had a shared survey as well and shared insights. And trying to sort of get at, is it the fact that you are a young man with the pressures of the society on you that's holding you back. And what kind of revealed throughout all of the different activities that our different schools did was the ability or the inability to have that social emotional connection to what they're reading and to actually care about the impact of these experiences and the books had on them. And so role modeling comes into play and all of the other realms we realized are stemmed off of the reader identity. And so there needs to be readers or leaders in role models and there needs to be that social aspect and there needs to be time and space for reading in our schools. There was all play a part of developing the reader identity and it's really interesting. It's not just because they're young men. It's all of the things rolled into one that really gets them to understand how they connect with books. I'm wondering what you discovered about the, and I love this, I think it was an image used in your presentation of the puzzle of a boy's reader identity. What did you discover about the pieces of that puzzle that complete the boy's sense of history is identity as a reader? I think that sort of all of the moving parts, I think they sort of they ebb and flow at different times within a boy's life. And probably one of the the biggest one is is the sense of of male role models and in terms of who is, who are they connecting to in terms of readers themselves. So the male role modeling was a big piece. The ability for us as teachers in boys schools to really tap into our relational pedagogy and to really build relationships with the boys. I think comes to the part where they start to trust you and then they would trust the recommendations you give. So it's in sort of another bit of the puzzle piece that that comes into play. The sense of that it's the value of reading our boys are so driven to be academically superior and to take that step and launch into the next step and how to add off to the union of their choice. But the disconnection between understanding your academic prowess is actually the result of being a really good reader. That seems to get lost with them and so trying to bring that to the forefront that you are you can be academically strong and you can just enhance it if you're a strong reader and it comes across in your reading and your writing style and your interpretation and your comprehension. So those are just some of the aspects that must swirl around the boys lives each day trying to decide if they're going to commit as a reader. I love the way that is framed, you know, to have a relationship with reading and it just strikes me that you know boys we know relational learners and if we can hook them with that relational piece in terms of of really sensing that a book is is a partner. I think that can be really really powerful and I'm very excited to speak to others now about you know the other areas that link into this whole idea of a boys reading identity and how schools can think about really encouraging boys to to dive into into books and to get hooked on books. We're also probably should have Carolyn Friedlander here from would bury forest school in Virginia in the United States your group in particular was looking at the social aspects of reading and those dynamics are quite interesting I think and the research indicates that boys often hesitate to talk about reading and that's something that has come up in other conversations to with with librarians around the world. Yeah, they just don't know how to I just haven't been modeled for them in many cases. So I think if their family members and other key adults in their lives aren't showing them how to share their experiences with reading then they just don't understand that it can be a really social activity. So I know educators a lot of us are really comfortable with talking about reading and if you think. of somebody who's an active reader in your life. They're often sharing the correct mandations or talking about what they're reading at the lunch table or maybe when they meet somebody new they ask them what they're reading and then you know they form this bond with somebody if you have a shared like series in common that you love. But I think it's really important that as educators we model this for students we show them that reading can be just as social as talking about maybe like their favorite video games or their shows that they're watching right now. So for us a big part was just you know thinking about how do we show our students how to talk about books how do we model that and then how do we also create these spaces for them outside of the formal class and studying to practice these conversations. What are some of the implications from the literature and also from your findings as a smaller group within the SRG for educators of boys and what are some schools doing to promote reading as a social endeavor? Right so part of our our groups research was to actually send out a survey to students within the five schools and one of the big takeaways from one of the questions that we asked was about social spheres and spheres of influence and in that survey we realized that boys are actually really influenced by the people in their lives meaning that when people recommend books to them that are in their spheres of influence they take that to heart. So the survey results actually showed us that family numbers were the biggest influence in their reading selection followed by teachers and friends and coaches and the shows that boys really do want to know what their role models and friends are reading and that they're much more likely to read a book that's been recommended by some of the HFREC and that they look up to rather than something that's just promoted on their social media feed. So my colleague C.B. Warmac and I we actually created a display that was based on teacher and staff recommendations and it was actually a huge success maybe one of the most successful displays you have ever had because it brought students into the library to see what their teachers and their coaches had chosen and when they actually read the book the coolest part was that they reached out to their teacher to share their reactions to this book. So these are the kind of social interactions that we're really wanting to see with reading throughout our school and we actually have had a huge success within our member schools of book clubs and reading challenges as giving a space to discuss shared reads and they don't have to be just students specific. You can also have ones that include faculty and family members because we're trying to bring in that layer of community modeling showing that other people in their lives are reading as well and that's something that you can bond with these other people in your life. Yeah and I suppose not shying away from boys who might seem reticent but pushing through that barrier and I think often once you push through that barrier and momentum builds amazing things can can happen. Absolutely. We're also joined by Amarillis Barton from the UK from King Edward VI School in Stratford, UnAven. Wonderful to have you with us. You know we've there's so many different levels of understanding boys and reading and I know your group was focused on modes of reading and the research suggests that boys and girls experience reading modes differently. I wonder if you can share any lights on what those differences are and how they influence reading choices. Absolutely thanks Bruce. So to start with basically study after study, reveal is that boys basically find reading less enjoyable and more difficult than girls. It's not especially groundbreaking comments and that's of course reason why we're all here. And you see that anecdotally in the classroom and you see it in national and international research as well. So basically my group were interested in whether changing the mode of reading i.e. whether rather than giving a boy a paperback you give them an ebook, an audio book, a graphic novel or even if you just read out loud or the changing that mode can change really the whole narrative on boys and reading. And when we started if I'm honest we didn't really know what we'd find. We had some assumptions about what might be the case. We thought there would be differences but actually I think really there were far more differences than we would have expected. And at starting point we used to look at different modes of reading and probably the two which had the biggest gender difference were ebooks and graphic novels. So they're the two that I talked to you about now. So ebooks help us understand the different gender experiences and perceptions of reading habits for boys and girls. So a great starting point there is a 2019 PISA study which found that boys were significantly more likely to report that they read on screen than in print outside of school. And actually the same study revealed in screen reading there was much more equality between boys and girls in their reading proficiency. It's actually making boys read things on screen seem to improve their reading scores. Then looking at a UK study from 2019 I'm using technology to help improve boys literacy. This was really enlightening because more than one third of young people agree with the statements that boys and girls reading on a screen is cooler than reading a book. But this actually increased to half of boys who don't enjoy reading. And of course there are target audience there the boys that we really want to who's having who's having who really want to put a book. So really you can take the two takeaways you can have from this and it's that screen reading is more gender neutral than reading a paperback but also that it can appeal to precise the boys we want to help. But of course reading on the screen is basically just changing the format of what you're reading and material, the basement difference actually the same. And this is where graphic novels become really interesting. As students are actually engaging with narrative not just words on the page but graphics and words on a page. And Margaret Merger who's research I really enjoy. She talks about graphic novels as a way intertraditional novels and that's great. I'm an English teacher if I can get more boys excited about great expectations by giving them a graphic novel than of course I'm happy. But what was way more interesting was Robin Wielers research which revealed that males respond to that combination of visual elements and text elements actually differently to girls. And this would suggest that graphic novels going to drive different kind of reader, particularly one who might be intimidated by text on page alone. Basically that helps create a different kind of connection to a text. A novel argument is dynamics how students of course boys are engaging with the world which might be through you know our day-to-day basis texting, gifts and memes. So I'm not saying that we should abandon paperbacks and bring in an entirely new diet of screen reading and graphic novels. I actually think it's all a virtual cycle and I think that and that's also backed up by lots of research as well and lots of pieces to these reveal that too. But basically what what this has made us realise I think particularly me is an English teacher with my probably prejudices about what is best in terms of how boys should read is that good reading strategy is about finding the right, it's not just about finding the right book, the right boy, but finding the right book in the right mode for the right boy. So Emery, let's just as you look about what your group found out about modes of reading as you engage with boys in your schools. How did this sort of compare to what you're all reading and what did you experience as you heard from boys? Yeah we've just spoken about how it's about finding the right mode and the right book and our experience is actually to some extent our boys have realised this and that was probably one of the things we're most surprised about that there's lots of boys engaging with audio books, ebooks and graphic novels outside of school and these are I guess less traditional forms of reading and their students aren't actually looking in traditional places for them and in the eyes of probably your average 14-year-old boy, a library is about a traditional place in the school as you get to get. So absolutely audible and Spotify and YouTube, they're really popular amongst boys in our schools. But equally we found that students have these strong feelings about which mode of reading they like and what was most intriguing was that these opinions varied quite radically between the different schools that we're looking at. So we surveyed four schools obviously each, well one in the UK, one in the US and then two in Australia and they were really radically different. So this would suggest there's not a one size fits on necessarily and also it would suggest that boys' opinions on these modes of reading are actually malleable and with better targeting, better education about how to read them. The most interesting part of the survey process I thought was the student boys bit and probably my favourite one is a boy who's put, "I read more touching or inspirational books as audio books." I think there's quite a lot that we can unpack from that quotation that maybe there's something about the kind we should consider the kinds of books we offer as audio books. Should we offer more? or autobiographies or first-person stories, should we think about having recommendations as audio books, recommendations as e-books, maybe recommendations as paperbacks. But there's another great quotation, audio books and e-books are completely super cool and sick. They also help me relax and nobody can know what book I'm reading. And first off, I really love the energy and positivity towards audio books. But equally, there's a really important element there about the anti-social element of reading. And we talk a lot about how we want to bring boys together and help them read in a community. And that's of course really important. But there's also a space for students who want to read away from crying eyes and away from the judgment of maybe parents and peers if they're reading something that's maybe a bit out there and a bit different to maybe the image that they're putting forward of themselves in the world. And there's also lots of comments about students wanting to multitask with books and enjoying the sense that they've got little boys going somewhere with them. Lots of things about books being e-books and particularly being free and accessible. And again, a sense of wanting to enjoy books away from pressure, be that financial or a sense of parents saying, well, I'm forward to it, you should read it. We did hope that more reluctant readers might engage in different modes of reading and maybe that boys who we'd not seen perhaps borrowing as many books in the library might read quite differently. That actually didn't find that. And we found that the most frequent readers tended to read most range of modes as well. So there's definitely some work to do there. And I think he all comes back to what I said before about putting the right book in the right mode and hands of the right boy. And I think that's a really interesting addition to a school's reading strategy. It's certainly something that we'll be looking at as introducing what we go back. Probably once you get a boy hooked and he is already a regular reader, the next conversation might be about modes of reading and introducing him to different ways too. It's not necessarily that a mode of reading is going to get a boy to read, at might, but also, you know, it's actually part of the bigger picture of boys understanding how best to engage with books. Jason Cycley from the Southport School. It's wonderful to have you with us as well. And part of this team and we're grateful for the input that you and others in your sort of smaller group had on this research into getting boys back to books. Jason, the group you were part of focused on leaders as readers. I'm wondering if you can explain the significance of role modeling in shaping boys attitudes towards reading. Sure. Thanks, Bruce. When I think about the significance of role models in shaping boys attitudes, the word that stands out for me is boys. And the reason I think role models are significant with boys is probably three, maybe threefold that I can think of the first is that role models can be used to challenge gender stereotypes around reading. And I think for boys, that's really important. Sociedal stereotypes sometimes suggest that reading is a more feminine activity and it can cause boys to disengage or even fail to attempt to read, especially environments where masculine ideals are emphasized like single sex schools. So having positive male role models who actively engage in reading can challenge this stereotype by demonstrating that intellectual pursuits are not confined to any one gender. So when boys see admired figures, whether they're teachers, sports coaches or other students embracing reading, it can send a powerful message that reading is for everyone, not just a particular group. So I think that's the first way that they can significantly affect boys attitudes. I think secondly, just around the idea of modeling and shaping and reshaping perception, boys are highly influenced by the behaviors of those they look up to. So when role models do regularly engage in reading and express enthusiasm for it, they do help normalise the activity and they do shift perception. And the visibility of reading role models helps boys to understand that reading is not only a valuable skill, but something that can be used as a source of enjoyment and personal growth. And then I think finally the third way is that it does expand horizons and create paradigm shifts beyond traditional activities. So in single sex schools, especially I think boys schools, there can be a strong emphasis on traditional activities such as sports and prioritising them. And while activities like sports are important, it's equally vital to provide boys with alternatives for their own expression and development. I love that whole idea of the impact we can have as teachers on boys. And you know, you mentioned sports and it's not a zero-sum game, sports or reading. And so I love that you mentioned that. I was very interested in the research that your particular group did around how the whole school can impact a reading culture and you spoke about the influence of teachers, but also teacher librarians and then also students on boys. I'm fascinated to hear just briefly how these groups inspire boys to pick up a book and what strategies are proven to be effective in boys schools, would you say? Yeah, I think with regards to teachers and teacher librarians, we didn't really do anything during our year of action research. We didn't do anything beyond the norm. We engaged teachers and teacher librarians in competitions in our teacher-recommend displays. We invited them to be part of our book clubs. So we had a staff and student book club together and those kind of things have been around for a long while. What I was most fascinated by in the action research for the past 12 months was the significant impact students had as influences on engaging in reading. And that's really where I saw the most significant difference. So over the course of the year, I ran activities, competitions, clubs, displays designed to influence boys to read for pleasure. And I found that ultimately it was peers and student leaders that had the biggest impact. And I called it basically the power of popularity. I found that the most popular well-known students seemed to have the most ethos on campus. And were the most influential when it came to impacting reading for pleasure. Students, I think, trust their peers, they trust other students. I think they've already proven, they've built those relationships in the school yard in the classroom. They know what they like, they know what their friends like. So when their friend recommends something or someone they respect recommends something, they're more inclined to listen than they are to a 53-year-old teacher librarian or a 53-year old English teacher. I really was most impressed by the statistically significant difference student recommendations can make on a school cohort. Gabrielle Mase is from St Augustine's also in Australia. In your group you looked at a slightly different angle to what we've spoken about before. And that's this whole connection between reading, culture and leadership. I wonder just as we depart into this part of the research that the SIG did, how would you define a thriving reading culture, first of all, and what role does leadership play in cultivating this culture within the school? Well, thank you for having me, Bruce. It's lovely to be back, Chenning, on the podcast with you. When we talk about a thriving reading culture, it's been fascinating over the last year to really focus on leadership. And so when we talk about an environment where reading is not just encouraged, but it needs to be a clear part of the school's identity, and beyond that, it must be a part of the strategic plan, because that's what principals and school leaders recognise. It is a part of the school identity and it is part of the strategic plan. It's got to be woven into daily activities, it's got to be celebrated and it's got to be visible to everyone in the community. And when a school can do this and when they can see that reading is enjoyable and it's beneficial and it's a shared experience that connects students and teachers and leaders, that's when we get traction. I bought it down to six key areas and the first one is vision setting and prioritisation. Leadership begins with a clear vision that places reading at the heart of the school's educational mission. The leaders have to articulate why reading is vital, not just for academic success, but for the building of personal growth and empathy and critical thinking and all that neuroscience that we know now is tied up with reading particularly fiction. They need to make reading a strategic priority that is outlined in the strategic plan and it has to influence the school's direction and it's got to be curriculum, it's got to be co-curricular activities, it's got to be embedded everywhere we can in the school. Then it's about modelling behaviour. It's about leaders saying, I'm going to model this behaviour through their own actions when principles and principles. and deputies and year advisors and teachers, actively seen reading books or discussing books, that sends a very strong message to our boys that reading is valued, but leaders can definitely model that for hope, by sharing what they're reading, getting up at assembly, making sure that it's a sign off in every email they send out to parents and other leaders alike, I'm currently reading this or I've got these books on the go. Read a piece allowed to the students, communicate it with parents that they value reading and that it's a lifelong activity. Then they've got to create an environment that enables reading and that is about allocating resources to their school library. It is about ensuring that their school library is staffed with highly professional trained people because we can do everything, but if we don't have any enabled environment, then it's just not gonna work. We need to make sure those professionals are in the space to make the collections diverse and as wide ranging as possible. We need to get the boys in and let them have freedom to choose. We've got to say some books are mirrors and some books are windows. We can't just push the cannons on these boys. We have to give them an entry point. We're a place that makes sense to them and that makes reading a fluid and enjoyable activity. It's about removing barriers and that is about time constraints as well. Embedded reading programs, embedded within the school day, I really believe is the way forward. Then you've also got to make a long-term commitment. If you want to cultivate a reading culture as a leader in the school, you have to lead by example and this is not a fast thing, it would take a deep feeding approach and it can take years to build this, but it's very incremental. And if you have leadership on board from the beginning, you're gonna get a lot more traction. - I'm wondering if you can share some examples of initiatives that have successfully fostered a lifelong reading in boys. - When I talk about positive reading memories, what you're really wanting to do is you're wanting to leave a lasting impression on the boys and that's every positive reading memory is gonna be unique to each student. What you're trying to do is foster that life long love of books amongst the boys. Now there's initiatives, of course, there's reading challenges and competitions and book clubs and reading groups and you have author visits and literary events and reader advisory and I can pack all of those for you. But the thing that I believe creates the happiest, most impactful for and long-lasting reading memory is the space and the service you provide in your library. You can take away all the bells and whistles, but if you have a welcoming environment, if you have a diverse collection, if student voice and ownership of that space is evident, and it's the personalized reading recommendations through read advisory, it's the investment of time. It is the energy and kindness and patience and dedication that nurture strong reading memories. Happy reading memories are amongst our students and our boys and that's what I set out to do every day and I ask the teams that I lead in no matter what library I'm leading at that time, that's the intentionality and the purpose where we have to go into that space. And sometimes I've said we need to look beyond the data and beyond the borrowing data. And I will tell you know, an example of the child who can't find solace on the playground and they come to a library for that and it's about allowing that space. That is what it takes. You can do all the competitions and all the games and the padlets and the this and that. It is about highly qualified staff that love being in the space they're residing in. And that is why I say the leadership. It is not an admin area. It's an area of great learning and growth and that's why we have to have money in school libraries. Purposeful staff in school libraries time devoted to school libraries because they are a place of great literacy and growth beyond the bills and the whistles. - Yeah, so Treasha's as we close this conversation each of the folk who have contributed to this podcast you know, their teams of four or five other people, 23 people in total who are part of this reading culture SIG that has given us such great insights and I know these folk will continue to drive those initiatives at their schools and beyond. What are your biggest takeaways from this engagement with boys schools around the world and your hopes for the future of boys reading engagement? - It has been an absolute pleasure to be, to have sort of launched this SIG but to work with the team leads. So Jason, Gabrielle, Millis and Carolyn coming into play with us. It's been an incredible professional opportunity that I'm very grateful for. We all see it. We all know that this is an important piece. We all know the benefits, the many benefits that reading can have in the lives of our boys. And for us to be able to break down into those five different realms and try to highlight aspects of each to create a reading culture that we think to be full sum and wholesome for the boys was really exciting for us. It has only inspired us to think about what's next down the road. The options are actually quite endless but I know that we are passionate and we're really excited to see what's going to happen as the next year unfolds. - Thanks Trish for getting this ball rolling for pulling it all together, for getting folks on board and to the others who contributed to this conversation for this episode to really, really grateful. Not much left for me to say, but maybe Taylor Jenkins read is right when he says that a good book should be either the entry point inward to learn about yourself or a door outward, to open you up to new worlds. Let's encourage our boys to read, to feel their imaginations, to grow their empathy muscles, to understand themselves better and to reach unimaginable heights. Thank you for listening. Until next time, keep on championing boys' education.