1. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt1 Guys Read/Gals Read After-School Book Clubs To Improve Reading Fluency Sharon Delgado Julie Honeycutt Baltimore County Public Schools sdelgado@bcps.orgsdelgado@bcps.org jhoneycutt@bcps.orgjhoneycutt@bcps.org

2. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt2 Guys Read/Gals Read After School Books Clubs Who We Are Study Group Of K-5 Teachers Jacksonville Elementary School Baltimore County, MD 21131

3. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt3 Guys Read/Gals Read After School Books Clubs Our Teacher Research Project Supported By NEA Learning & Leadership Grant SoMIRAC Teacher- Researcher Grant Ongoing…

4. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt4 Teacher Research Team Hypothesis Gender Specific materials (books) and activities (stressed vs. non-stressed) will have a positive effect on student performance.

5. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt5 Data Collection: Our Two Instruments Evolved Teacher Instrument Collected data about student engagement as indicated by observable behaviors, i.e., eye contact, asking/answering questions, piggy-backing on peers responses Student Instrument Collected students reactions to the club activities and materials.

6. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt6 Data Collection: On the Instruments Students: Gave individual feedback regarding stressed/non-stressed activities Used a PIN numbers to ensure confidentiality Responded after each activity Wrote individual comments Starred favorite activity

7. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt7 Book Selection Criteria Research suggested certain gender preferences Boys prefer informational text; regarding fiction, they prefer narrative with strong active plots and characters Girls prefer narrative texts that explore relationships between characters

8. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt8 3 rd Grade Book Choices A Childs Visit to Glacier Bay (informational text; female main character) Class Clown (humorous fiction; male main character ) Cam Jansen: The Snowy Day Mystery (mystery; female main character) Sir Lancelot, Where are You? (historical fiction; male main character)

9. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt9 4 th Grade Book Choices Stone Fox (Realistic Fiction; Male Protagonist) How to Eat Fried Worms (Humorous Fiction; Male main characters) Music of the Dolphins (Adventure; Female main character)

10. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt10 Why Did We Focus on Stress vs. Non-Stress? Recent research studies indicate that boys & girls respond differently to stress. For example, Leonard Sax, MD PhD states, A competitive approach may enhance learning in many boys and impair learning in some girls. Why Gender Matters, 2005 Thus, we designed our activities to test Saxs theory. We wanted to discover if his findings had REAL implications for the teaching/learning process in the classroom.

11. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt11 Student Activities Selection: Focus On Stress vs. Non-Stress STRESSED Activities Included: *Competition *Timed Answers *Response Limited to First Correct Answer *Only a few big prize winners * Opportunity for Vertical Thinking NON-STRESSED Activities Included: *Multiple answers *No time restraints *Team approach *No consequences for errors *Many small prize winners *Opportunity for Horizontal Thinking

12. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt12 Activities – Stressed Much? Fly-swatter Game Computer Competition Memory Game Dare to Eat Sled Race Food Alphabet Game

13. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt13 Non-Stressed Activities – Chill Out Already! Open-Ended Discussions Scrapbook Page Word Searches Visualization withMusic Teacher Read-Aloud Choose Your Own Ending Surveys Reading Pictures Instead of Words

14. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt14 Results of The Study Although we had hoped to do a true Experimental Investigation, we realized the subjective nature of the study leaned toward Ethnographic Research. We endeavored to collect hard data that could readily be measured. Our study did reveal patterns that proved to be pertinent to what we do in the classroom.

15. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt15 Findings -So What? Did our Hypothesis (Gender Specific materials and activities will have a positive effect on student performance.) hold true? Girls seemed to prefer: leading their own discussions piggybacking on others ideas as they were looking for meaning in the text activities involving connecting relationships Boys seemed to prefer: fast activities with immediate feedback action and physical movement thinking quickly providing limited to the point answers

16. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt16 Our research continues…. This year our Book Clubs Continue to be Gender Specific Continue to include a variety of discussion strategies Continue to include stressed & non- stressed activities Ask students to commit to one book instead of three books. Are open to Grade Two & Five

17. IRA 2007Sharon Delgado & Julie Honeycutt17 For References, Sample Instruments, and Additional Information Email: sdelgado@bcps.org jhoneycutt@bcps.org sdelgado@bcps.org jhoneycutt@bcps.org