Teaching Boys Essay

554 Words3 Pages
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus is a widely-known book that asserts that males and females are fundamentally different, so much so that one can compare them as beings from different planets. Males are different from females. There is no question about that. However, how does that affect us, as teachers in an all-boys school? This article talks about the various differences between boys and girls and how one can tackle them so as to help them learn more effectively. Boys are generally are more physically active than girls. Compared to girls, they tend to have more trouble paying attention, retaining information and staying on-task. According to this article, boys appear to have a ‘bad reputation’ for not being good pupils. They are viewed as underachievers who seem to develop at a slower rate than girls. All of this is possibly true. However, how can we counteract these problems? After teaching in Maris Stella for close to two years, I, too, have my own views about teaching boys. I agree with the article that boys can be more challenging to teach. Often, their behavior negates their learning in school. They are generally louder, more active and more easily distracted. I try to tackle this problem through a variety of ways. I rarely practice frontal teaching. Instead, throughout the lesson, I move around a lot, from the front to the back and between the rows. I find that this helps the boys to maintain their attention. Also, I always try to vary the activities in the lesson. Since boys have a shorter attention span, I normally avoid ‘lecture-style’ lessons where the boys just have to sit and listen to me talk. I would also use Power Point slides to provide the pupils with something to look at while they are listening to me. Whenever possible, I try to incorporate hands-on activities and co-operative learning into lessons. Besides breaking up the
Open Document