They are better at physical activities, and they "prefer short tem activities." His last view is very interesting, and is something I have not come across yet. Norman mentions that boys are generally told not to show any feelings, or emotions. Therefore, Norman raises the question, why would boys want to read about other people's emotion and then write about it, expressing their feelings, since the majority of texts, poems and poetry are emotion? This, Norman feels, "clashes with their attempts to suppress emotions."

OECD PISA Study. pp13-26 [Online]. Accessed 06/27/02: http://www.pisa.gc.ca/pisa/81-590-xpe.pdf
Chapter one of the PISA report discovered that Canada is doing relatively well in literacy when compared to the rest of the world. Canada was ranked second in reading overall. This they note is a huge improvement, for Canada was once a "mid-ranked country." However they also noted that as the students get older, both boys and girls, the gap between them increases. Girls lead the way in literature and boys lead in math and science. The literacy issue is not just something Canada has to worry about, PISA also found that girls are doing better in literacy than the boys are in many countries. They feel this has to be rectified at a young age, because they will go on without a high level of reading ability, and when this happens adults are at a "significant disadvantage in Canada's labour market."

Poetry Teachers [Online]. Accessed 06/24/02: http://www.poetryteachers.com/poetclass/excitedpoetry.htm
This website is an excellent source for helping teachers get their students to have a greater appreciation for poetry, which can be difficult otherwise. Bruce Laskey, a popular children's poet, notes ten possible ways in which this goal can be attained. He feels that by following these, children will come to love poetry. Some possible ideas are: (1) read poetry kids will enjoy (ie: Shel Silverstein), (2) Find poetry the children will relate to (kids with a dog will enjoy poetry about dogs), (3) gigglefritzes (give a giggley student a funny poem to read), (4) Celebrate special occasions with poetry, among many others.

Reading Facts. [Online]. Accessed 07/15/02: http://www.headsprout.com/readingfacts/
This website has a reading program for parents or even schools to buy for their children to increase reading skills and fluency. They feel that students have to be taught to read, which differs from what some people believe-that they will read when they want or when they are mature enough. Also, children need to be taught even if the parents are reading to them on a regular basis. They feel that a reading program should include phonemic awareness, phonics, sounding out, and blending, among others. The key time to start teaching is during the age range of four to six. They feel that teaching after the age of six is a game of catch up.