What are the best ways to motivate boys to pick up a book?
By Dr. Lunetta Williams, UNF literacy assistant professor It’s true. Boys score significantly lower than girls in all aspects of literacy. Here are some practical ideas for getting boys interested in reading. Is there a difference in boys’ and girls’ engagement in reading? Girls tend to outperform boys on reading achievement tests, such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In 2007, boys’ scores and girls’ scores increased overall from the previous NAEP scores, however, a gender gap continued to exist. Fourth-grade girls outscored their male peers by seven points, and eighth-grade girls outperformed boys by 10 points. What does literature say about reasons for this difference? One of the most common reasons mentioned is that there tend to be more female role models for literacy than male role models. The majority of teachers are females, and mothers tend to read aloud and model reading behaviors more often than fathers. Additionally, reading is not a physical activ
