I am officially a Ralph Fletcher groupie. During the UIWP, I read two of his books and even ordered an additional one to read on my own time! Who knew! I even have some of his books at school, but I’ve never really used them or looked through them much. Now, I can’t wait to get back to school and check them out!
For my third book choice at UIWP, I read Fletcher’s Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices. Looking ahead to this coming school year, I thought this would be a good choice. The class that is coming my way is about 65% boys, and from what I’ve heard, very stereo-typical “boy” boys. They are active, rough, have crude humor, and all that good stuff! Last years teachers were really challenged by them and so I want to prepare myself for the best year possible. What better way to do this than learn more about boy behavior. In fact, after reading Fletcher’s book, I now want to read “Misreading Masculinity,” which Fletcher sites often throughout his book. I just really want to be able to connect with this plethora of boys, even if I am on the other team!
Like the previous Fletcher book I read, I really enjoyed this one. I found it to be very easy to read, entertaining and yet informative at the same time. The book is divided into typical characteristics shared by boys that usually get in the way of their writing, or enjoying writing, such as violent writing, humor, handwriting, and even drawing as a part of writing. Fletcher discusses these traits and then provides sound advice on how to overcome them. More importantly, he shares WHY it is important to accept these differences in boy behavior and learn to use them to fuel writing. Each chapter then ends with a very simple and yet useful, “What Can I Do in My Classroom” section. Here, Fletcher uses bullet points to quickly provide a summary of advice from the chapter. Another nice touch to the set up of the book is the beginning of each chapter. Before Fletcher begins, he includes an excerpt from a boy writer ranging from 3rd grade to 9th grade. After the piece, Fletcher includes comments about the what “boy trait” makes the writing so special.
Another reason I enjoyed this book so much was because of the use of data throughout. Before writing the book, Fletcher collected surveys from a number of people including, teachers, parents, and boys. He then used this data to form his ideas and advice throughout the book. For example, on page 137, Fletcher supports his claim that boy writers should frequently be allowed to write fiction by including a table displaying results from his survey. According to the table, when asked what their favorite genre to write about was, 19 of 242 boys responded with personal narrative, 13 responded with poetry, 46 responded with nonfiction, and 164 of the 242 responded with fiction. By looking at these results, it’s hard to argue fiction should not be tackled by boys in the writing classroom.
What I think will be challenging for me to deal with and accept in the coming year is allowing boy humor (described as “crude” by Fletcher), boy action (often violent), and boy language (often negative slang words). The hardest part of this will be the violence. Fletcher claims we should not stifle boys writing and creativity be saying “no blood, guts, or weapons,” because this is naturally how boys write. Of course we all know how censored schools are now due to the unfortunate school shootings, extreme bullying, and child suicide that have occurred throughout the past years. I have been so trained to tell my kids NOT to include these topics because of how sensitive our society is to these issues in school. It will definitely be out of my comfort zone to allow and even possibly encourage this type of writing in the classroom. But, as Fletcher points out, we do not want boys to go home and be private writers. We want them to feel accepted and allowed to write in the classroom.
By allowing this type of writing, I fear the boys will try to shock me. They will try and push me, try to get a rise out of me and the other students. What I need to do is simply be prepared for this. I know there is a very good chance this will happen in the first few weeks, but really, that’s just how all kids are! When they are given a new freedom, a freedom they really don’t believe they have, they will test me to see if it’s true. As long as I am prepared for this, and possibly even prepared to appropriately and still positively respond to the subjects that are a bit too out-of-hand, I will be okay. Fletcher and the teacher’s he interviewed do state that it is okay to have some boundaries. While we want the boys to be free to write in our classroom, of course there is still a line. What we need to remember, however, is that this line is farther than we are used to thinking it is, and that will take some getting used to.
Overall, I really enjoyed Fletcher’s book. I was again amazed at his ability to engage the reader while also providing necessary, sound facts and advice. After reading this book, I do feel I will be a bit more prepared to tackle the boys coming my way this year. I’m no longer dreading the challenge, but instead looking forward to the new experiences I know I will have with all my boys!
