Reflections 1: Boy oh Boy

Boy oh Boy, published by Pearson Education Australia, is authored by Dr Tim Hawkes.

This book is a practical and entertaining resource for those who wish to understand the needs of boys and how best to meet those needs. Using a refreshing mix of common sense and scholarly research, Boy oh Boy gives hope and inspiration to those interested in helping boys.

Over the coming weeks I will be reflecting here on my reading of this publication. I am not intending on copying large sections out but will identify, through quotes, a few ideas it may raise and then I will seek to comment upon it in light of my own practise and the boarder context of the schools I am working in.

Boy oh Boy

In the introduction Hawkes seeks to highlight the importance of a quality teacher. The list is as follows:

A quality teacher can:

• laugh with a boy.
• paint a great picture in the mind of a boy.
• growl while still maintaining a sense that the boy is valued.

My reflection

There has been a shift in this post-feminist world where boys should not act out. That they should know there place and continuously maintain a proper and right demeanour. However, I am of the opinion that there is a certain amount of 'boys will be boys' that should be seen as just that. I'm not saying that it should be the excuse for poor behaviour, rudeness or acts of violence. But each action should be seen in the context of the peer group the boy exists in.

A push is not merely a push. Depending on the context it could reflect a boy's frustration with continues verbal abuse. It could the roughness of friends playing together. It could be a single act within a hundred that is part of the pattern of bullying. Context is everything. I believe that we need to understand the lives of boys and boyhood as best we can to become better teachers.

• Can we laugh with a boy? Are we permitted?
• How can we 'paint great pictures in our boys' minds?
• And growling? So often we do this to dominate, thinking that boys need to know submission but really they are needing to be respected. The behaviour needs to distanced for the person. So the boy can see the behaviour not as a fundamental floor in their personality but rather something that can be addressed and corrected.