I’m excited to welcome Jennifer from Happy Teacher Mama as a guest blogger! She is here to give some helpful tips for teaching boys!
Whether you are a classroom teacher or a homeschooler, you know that boys and girls are complete opposites when it comes to learning, behavior, interests, and pretty much any other area you can imagine. Brain research has shown that when completing identical tasks in a clinical setting, girls’ brains are activated in specific areas while boys have different parts of their brains activated.
This isn’t surprising news, but I still think it’s fascinating! It certainly validates our frustration with the “one size fits all” testing situations that our kiddos have to endure. {Please don’t let me get on that soapbox!}
As we consider our approach to educating our boys and girls, we need to keep this research in mind, and provide educational opportunities that will help our kiddos grow as learners. So, let’s take a look at how we can get our boys interested in a subject other than recess.
Boys
If you surveyed a group of boys and asked them what their favorite subject is in school, excluding recess, most would probably say science. Why do you think that is? I believe it’s because science is very hands-on, interactive, engaging, and, sometimes, gross!
What do you think would happen if we could make reading, writing, and math hands-on, interactive, and engaging? I believe we would have more interested learners.
So, how exactly do we make these subjects more interesting for our boys? We find resources that do 3 things…
- Tap into their interests
- Have an interactive component
- Require movement
Let’s take each one of these components, and see what it looks like.
Tap Into Their Interests
Every child is different, but boys, in general, are very visual. Activities that have lots of color, clip art, shapes, and patterns are going to be more intriguing for your boys than plain text on paper.
Most boys LOVE video games and movies because they are visually stimulating and fast paced. Using that information, incorporate computers, iPads, and other technology into learning whenever possible.
When searching for resources to teach specific content, consider activities on your boys’ interest “radar,” like…
- Minecraft
- Super Mario Bros.
- Star Wars
- Superheroes
- Pokemon
- Sports
Interactive
Any activities that involve more than writing or reading plain text will connect with your male learners. Interactive notebooks are an excellent way to get more “hands-on” with abstract concepts in reading and writing. They meet the visually interesting criteria, and they are interactive.
Manipulatives and experiments are another great way to get “interactive” with new material in math. A rarely used manipulative that most boys have in their homes is the LEGO. If introduced as a learning tool in the classroom, LEGOs are perfect for teaching everything from fractions to area. The uses are endless!
Movement
We all know that boys like to move. Most of us have discovered that we can either give them an opportunity to move, or they will find a way to move. {Think…shuffling feet, tapping pencils, multiple bathroom breaks, sharpening pencils, off-task questioning, etc.}
So, introducing activities where movement is actually encouraged is going to be a win for you and your boys. This isn’t as hard as you might think, but you will need to make sure that you have procedures in place to monitor the movement. Consider adding a few of these types of activities into your learning.
- SCOOTs
- Learning Centers
- Around the Room Resources
Resources
Here is a list of 5 fantastic resources from TPT to assist you in getting started.
- Building Problems {Happy Teacher Mama} This resource requires cutting, pasting, drawing, and writing. It will definitely keep the interest of your boys, and there are enough problems for almost the whole year!
- “I Can” Math Games {One Stop Teacher Shop} These resources are broken down into grade levels and skill sets. They are interactive, and can be used as a center. Options for every grade!
- Minecraft Multiplication {Happy Teacher Mama} This resource is perfect for boys because it’s Minecraft! Rigorous word problems will not seem so bad when they are based on situations from the game.
- Paragraph of the Week {One Stop Teacher Shop} This resource is perfect for Interactive Notebooks or Writing Centers. Boys will be less resistant to having to write when presented in this format.
- Punctuation and Types of Sentences Games {Happy Teacher Mama} This resource includes colorful graphics, interactive components, and movement is required!
Now that you know to look for activities that tap into boys’ interests, are interactive, and encourage movement, you are on your way to being a more effective teacher…especially for those active boys!
Hi, friends! I’m Jennifer, teacher turned homeschooling mama to the 2 sweetest boys on the planet. I love encouraging other teachers and homeschooling families as we navigate this craziness called education! When I’m not homeschooling my boys or spending time with my amazing hubby, you can find me on my blog Happy Teacher Mama.