THURSDAY: 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny

I started buying school supplies the other day which has gotten me thinking a lot about the new school year starting in a month or so, depending on your school district. This is a great book for teachers - so funny! I especially like it as a gift for new teachers. I think it puts things into perspective and gives new teachers some insights into how their new career might look - at least on some days.

This is technically a memoir, written by a long-time third grade teacher. A male third grade teacher. So this could be a good resource or gift for a young man pursuing a career in education. Some of the stories brought tears to my eyes and others had me laughing out loud. The chapters are fairly small, so they could be used during in-service or devotional times for teachers, too.

THURSDAY: It's a Boy

It's a Boy walks readers through the developmental stages for boys from birth to 18. It looks at different areas of development - physical, emotional, mental, and social. It works in 3 year increments (like from 5 to 7 or from 11 to 13) and talks about what is "normal" boy behavior and some of why boys do what they do. As an only child who did not grow up with brothers, this book was very helpful to me to learn more about boy behavior. It was helpful to know what sorts of things to expect in the next stage.It also helps me cherish the things that my son does and to see those things as part of his development into a responsible, well-adjusted, and personable adult. This is a book I highly recommend to parents of boys!

THURSDAY: Getting to Know the US Presidents

My history students (2nd and 3rd grade) recently worked on biography reports. We used this series of books to prepare our reports on the presidents, and I found them fascinating. They are written in a very easy to understand fashion, and include pictures as well as cartoons that really appealed to the students (and got a chuckle out of me). If your school or local library doesn't have these, I would highly recommend them. As a parent, if my son were doing research on a president, I wouldn't bother with any other books but these [and Don't Know Much About the Presidents by Kenneth Davis.]

THURSDAY: The Triple Bind

The "triple bind" for today's female teens and tweens is the pressure to be (1) pretty and sweet while also being (2) athletic and competitive and also be (3) perfect in every way and make it all look effortless. They can get this pressure from the culture, from family expectations, and from their own ideas of who they have to be.

This was pretty good. Since I read a lot of books like this, I skimmed some parts that were familiar from other reading I have done. But there were some research results that were fascinating. The one study that sticks out in my mind was one where boys and girls were told to try on swim suits and then, in the suits, to complete a math test. They were compared to a control group that took the test wearing normal clothes. The girls in swim suits performed worse than the other girls. The theory is that trying on the swim suits made them feel self-conscious, and in some cases even to feel badly about their self-image, which eroded their confidence.

THURSDAY: The Trouble with Boys

This was an interesting and informative read, although I don't feel like I know much more than I did before reading it.

The author was careful to keep balance regarding the needs of both boys and girls to succeed at school. I agree that we cannot sacrifice either group for the sake of the other. And she did not hesitate to call into question the statements of one of the "gurus" in the discussions of boys and their academic struggles. This "guru" seems to make leaps from actual research to his interpretations and Tyre questions this appropriately.

One thing I learned from this book is the effect that the struggle of boys is having on girls, specifically when it comes to college admission. Because of the large achievement gap between boys and girls, and because fewer boys are applying for college, some girls are denied entry to the college of their choice in favor of an equally qualified boy because some universities are trying to maintain a gender balance in their enrollment.

No one has the be-all-end-all solution to the problem, but at least the experts are starting to speak up about the problem and talk about how to help boys so that all of our kids can be successful in school and in life.

(This review was previously posted at my Pizza Monkey blog which no longer exists)