Spend a morning in Claudine Labeille's sixth grade ELA class and you'll notice the clutter overtaking her desk - books, folders and papers - spread out in rows and messy piles. It's the sign of an animated teacher who prefers interacting with students to sitting down.
Labeille, who's taught at the middle school level for more than 11 years, meanders about students' desks, dashing out children's answers on the white board. Even poised with a book at the head of the room, she's multi-tasking. Glancing among her 18 charges, she observes which of them are engaged and which are not - maintaining a stream of dialogue with them for virtually the whole 80-minute period.
“I'm always moving around,” she says.
ELA stands for English Language Arts. Twenty years ago, it was simply called “English,” but the framework hasn't changed much over that time. The state education department calls on ELA students to read a rich assortment of literature - contemporary and classic fiction, poetry, plays - and learn to analyze it in writing and verbally.
Literacy dominates today's standardized tests, and is, unfortunately, where boys fall short. Even the boys in Claudine Labeille's class notice their shortcomings. It's easy to see how few of them participate in class consistently on a given day.
“A lot of boys don't pay attention,” says Cody Hoyt, 11.
Cody seems naturally attentive. The desks in his classroom are grouped into teams of four; he is seated with another boy and two girls.
Cody initiates a good amount of discussion with his classmates when Labeille asks students to talk about their assigned text -“The Egypt Game” - among themselves.
A classmate, Logan Burns, agrees, noting that several of the eight boys in the class seem distracted from their lesson.
“They're looking at their shoes, looking out the window or playing with their pencil,” he says.
Neither Cody nor Logan seem particularly thrilled with having to read “The Egypt Game” themselves. The book, originally published in 1972, overlaps with sixth- graders' schoolwide curriculum on Egypt (when students studied Greece, they read a watered-down version of “The Odyssey”). The book focuses on the experiences of a girl named April, who is fascinated with all things ancient. The protagonist battles loneliness, peer pressure, prejudice and murder, in the context of a sort of club she forms with five other friends.
Boys in Labeille's class, though, read impatiently for thriller aspects of the story to come into play.
“We had to read through like, nine chapters until a murder happened,” Logan says
“The first eight chapters are just introducing,” says Cody.
Murder. Mayhem. Sports. Any action-oriented story seems to hold a special appeal for boys. Reading interest surveys indicate that boys prefer stories about war, adventure and historical non-fiction.
Girls, in contrast, opt for stories that focus on personal relationships and fantasy.
Labeille says she notices that the boys in her class, left to themselves, choose horror and science fiction books, while girls gravitate toward historical fiction or fantasy, like Harry Potter books.
“I like the way they're written,” says Molly Weston, expressive and serious-looking, while dressed in pink. Molly says she also enjoys reading “The Chronicles of Narnia,” but shrugs when asked how she liked the book her class was reading. She began reading “The Egypt Game” last year, but says she had difficulty getting through parts that described the strained relationship between the protagonist and her mother.
“April's mother ignores her, and that was sad,” she says.
Molly's classmate, Julia Lippert says she feels the same way. She says she enjoyed the fantasy aspects of the book, and shares her friend's interest in the Harry Potter series.
“It's more fantasy that seems real, but it's pretend,”
Neither Molly nor Julia are puzzled by boys' general lack of participation in Labeille's class. With 14 brothers and sisters, Molly in particular has had ample opportunity to observe the differences between sexes.
“Girls are more social and interactive than boys,” she says.
Julia shows more of a loss for words.
“Boys are so ‘whatever.'”
Staff writer Olivia Goldberg can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 235 or olivia.goldberg@lee.net
“I'm always moving around,” she says.
ELA stands for English Language Arts. Twenty years ago, it was simply called “English,” but the framework hasn't changed much over that time. The state education department calls on ELA students to read a rich assortment of literature - contemporary and classic fiction, poetry, plays - and learn to analyze it in writing and verbally.
Literacy dominates today's standardized tests, and is, unfortunately, where boys fall short. Even the boys in Claudine Labeille's class notice their shortcomings. It's easy to see how few of them participate in class consistently on a given day.
“A lot of boys don't pay attention,” says Cody Hoyt, 11.
Cody seems naturally attentive. The desks in his classroom are grouped into teams of four; he is seated with another boy and two girls.
Cody initiates a good amount of discussion with his classmates when Labeille asks students to talk about their assigned text -“The Egypt Game” - among themselves.
A classmate, Logan Burns, agrees, noting that several of the eight boys in the class seem distracted from their lesson.
“They're looking at their shoes, looking out the window or playing with their pencil,” he says.
Neither Cody nor Logan seem particularly thrilled with having to read “The Egypt Game” themselves. The book, originally published in 1972, overlaps with sixth- graders' schoolwide curriculum on Egypt (when students studied Greece, they read a watered-down version of “The Odyssey”). The book focuses on the experiences of a girl named April, who is fascinated with all things ancient. The protagonist battles loneliness, peer pressure, prejudice and murder, in the context of a sort of club she forms with five other friends.
Boys in Labeille's class, though, read impatiently for thriller aspects of the story to come into play.
“We had to read through like, nine chapters until a murder happened,” Logan says
“The first eight chapters are just introducing,” says Cody.
Murder. Mayhem. Sports. Any action-oriented story seems to hold a special appeal for boys. Reading interest surveys indicate that boys prefer stories about war, adventure and historical non-fiction.
Girls, in contrast, opt for stories that focus on personal relationships and fantasy.
Labeille says she notices that the boys in her class, left to themselves, choose horror and science fiction books, while girls gravitate toward historical fiction or fantasy, like Harry Potter books.
“I like the way they're written,” says Molly Weston, expressive and serious-looking, while dressed in pink. Molly says she also enjoys reading “The Chronicles of Narnia,” but shrugs when asked how she liked the book her class was reading. She began reading “The Egypt Game” last year, but says she had difficulty getting through parts that described the strained relationship between the protagonist and her mother.
“April's mother ignores her, and that was sad,” she says.
Molly's classmate, Julia Lippert says she feels the same way. She says she enjoyed the fantasy aspects of the book, and shares her friend's interest in the Harry Potter series.
“It's more fantasy that seems real, but it's pretend,”
Neither Molly nor Julia are puzzled by boys' general lack of participation in Labeille's class. With 14 brothers and sisters, Molly in particular has had ample opportunity to observe the differences between sexes.
“Girls are more social and interactive than boys,” she says.
Julia shows more of a loss for words.
“Boys are so ‘whatever.'”
Staff writer Olivia Goldberg can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 235 or olivia.goldberg@lee.net
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