In 2006, writer Tom Chiarella wrote a call to action in Esquire magazine in an article titled, “The Problem with Boys … is actually a problem with men.”
Chiarella, a professor at a midwestern liberal-arts college, wrote he had observed male students generally receiving lower grades than female students. He also noticed the university’s enrollment of men was slipping, with a freshman class that was 42 percent male. One of the problems, he found, was literacy and a lack of interest in reading.
Lafayette High School Assistant Principal Jeffrey Carroll read the article and was moved to respond. At the end of the article, Chiarella recommended Guys Read, a web-based literacy program for boys founded by author Jon Scieszka. Carroll was inspired to check it out.
Guys Read recommends age-appropriate books in a variety of genres, and supplies resources for teachers leading Guys Read groups. Carroll, who was working in an elementary school at the time, decided to launch the program for his students. He eventually moved on to become assistant principal at Lafayette and, last spring, wanted to bring the program to his high-schoolers.
His proposal was initially met with skepticism. He wanted to recruit teenage boys to meet during their academic enrichment period to talk about books. For fun. Most people thought he would be lucky to recruit five students to participate in his first two groups, one for freshmen and one for seniors. He managed to get 15.
Less than one year later, Carroll and English teacher Phillip Gatling lead four groups a year through books about sports, adventure and travel. Ask Carroll how he made reading seem cool, and he’ll say two words: field trips.
His first Guys Read group of freshmen last year read “The Game” by Canadian hockey star Ken Dryden. They didn’t love the book (Carroll admits it wasn’t his favorite), but they did love leaving school to travel to The Scope arena in Norfolk, where they had a chance to watch the Norfolk Admirals practice on the ice. When they returned to school, their classmates were eager to know how they, too, could participate.
Each grade has a Guys Read group, which meets for one quarter a year to read a book (meaning four groups meet in the course of a school year). Currently, the sophomores are finishing up “Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior” by Chris Bradford. The book is the first in a trilogy about a 12-year-old British boy named Jack who survives a shipwreck off the coast of Japan in 1611. He is rescued by a legendary samurai, who begins training him in battle.
To get into the spirit, the group visited Baeplex Family Martial Arts Center, where they each tried their hand at battle with the bokken, a Japanese wooden sword used for training. When I visited their meeting Thursday, they were reminiscing about how much fun they had, and what insight it gave them into the character’s grueling training schedule in the book.
In the course of Thursday’s discussion, the young men talked about their Baeplex trip, archery, The Avengers, the experience of being an outsider, colonialism and homesickness. That’s a lot to cover in 30 minutes, but the conversation flowed easily.
As an English major, I sat through many silent half-hour classes where it was clear no one had read or liked the book. On Thursday, I saw the opposite. The boys started out quiet, and as the class went on, they opened up more and more, especially when Carroll shared his own stories about homesickness and his athletic past. It was obvious they enjoyed the book; Carroll said they ended up reading most of it over holiday break and when one student went to check out the second book from the library, he couldn’t. Carroll already had.
Athletic Director Dan Barner purchased the first sets of books for the program. Since then, Lafayette has partnered with the Williamsburg Regional Library. Librarian Neal Hollands has helped recommend books the library has subsequently purchased, using money donated by the Friends of the Williamsburg Regional Library, and loaned to Gatling and Carroll, who were given separate “educator” library accounts. The library also provides teacher resources, with talking points and additional information. All of the materials are put in “Gab Bags,” totes used for book clubs, and could easily be used at other schools.
On Tuesday, the school’s Guys Read program was the first highlighted in a new “School Spotlight” portion of the Williamsburg-James City County School Board’s meetings. Board Chair Ruth Larson was impressed; she said her own son once loved to read and stopped when he decided it wasn’t cool. She’s hoping the program will begin a reversal of that.
From what I could tell, it is working. Sophomore Josiah Wells said he didn’t really read in his spare time before he joined the club, but now he might read more if he finds the right books. Classmate Micah Canady said he joined the club to meet new and different types of people, plus he thought it would be fun – music to any teacher’s ears.
Sloggie to Discuss School Safety Today
Williamsburg Police Chief Dave Sloggie will discuss school safety at the Friday Luncheon Group, a forum for community issues that has met since 1983.
The luncheon group will meet at noon at Hot Stacks on Richmond Road. The cost of the lunch is $9 and it is open to the public. A voluntary fee of $10 can be paid at the luncheon.
Bruton Students Collect Jeans for Benefit
Bruton High School’s Green Club is currently collecting jeans for homeless teenagers through the program Teens for Jeans, sponsored by Aeropostale and DoSomething.org.
So far, the students have collected nearly 300 pair of jeans, but will be collecting jeans until Feb. 8. A collection bin is set up at Farm Fresh on Merrimac Trail and in the offices of Queens Lake Middle School, Magruder Elementary School, Waller Mill Elementary School and Bruton High. Every brand, size and color of denim jeans is accepted.
The students aim to collect 1,224 pairs of jeans – one more pair than their total last year. If they are successful, they’ll have a chance to win $10,000, a pair of jeans for every student and a party for the entire school. Learn more about Teens for Jeans.
York County Science Fair Winners Announced
Senior Mathematics.
The York County School Division challenged Science Fair participants to answer the question, “What if I…” this year.
First-, second- and third-place winners are invited to apply to participate in the Tidewater Science Fair on March 16 at Old Dominion University.
See a full list of winners.
WCA Teachers Win Grants
Williamsburg Christian Academy teachers have recently received several grants to aid in their instruction.
History teacher and new Head of High School Dianna Lindsay received grants from Digital Wish and Target. Digital Wish, an online support organization for faculty to incorporate media, gave a grant based on Lindsay’s lesson plan, “Create Docents for 25 National Monuments for Field Trips to D.C.” Her honors World History students will select 25 monuments, trace their history and significance using the Library of Congress, National Archives and Parks Department records, and then exhibit their findings in podcasts and YouTube productions.
Target’s grant supports a field trip for Lindsay’s honors government class. The students will be reading 24 Supreme Court decisions and their studies will culminate with a trip to the National Archives and the Supreme Court.
Kindergarten teacher Teresa Randall recently accepted a grant from Williamsburg Daughters of the American Revolution for her curriculum, “Kinder States of America.” Her students recently performed a song about the states at the DAR chapter meeting. Randall and high school science teacher Anthony Petriccione were also selected as recipients of Langley Federal Credit Union’s 2012-2013 Teacher Mini-Grant program.
In addition, the Good News Foundation awarded WCA a $60,000 grant to provide support for operational, technological and professional development initiatives at the academy.
