by Tim Fredrick

(Following is the first page of Tim's action research. For the complete paper, click on the red button on the right.)

Boys are engaged at lower levels than girls in all subjects, but most of all in the English Language Arts.

Growing up, I loved nothing more than to read. In grade school, I felt much excitement when the Troll book club forms were passed out by my homeroom teacher. I would rush home at the end of the day and flip through the colorful pages and counting the change and dollar bills I had collected from my measly allowance. I budgeted my money and figured out how to buy the most books with the least amount of money. (A skill that is useful now as a teacher!) I put my money and my order form in an envelope every month and waited impatiently for the new books. I loved the local library and bookstore just as much.

When I entered high school, I was in Honors English classes and took AP Literature during my senior year. These were my favorite classes and I excelled at them. I wrote stories in my free time and longed to be a published author. I continued to buy books and read them in my free time. I became obsessed with the horror and mystery writer Dean Koontz. My desire to be a writer continued and because of Koontz became specific to wanting to be a mystery writer. I began to also buy books for mystery writers, wanting to know everything I could about writing the stories.

My story is not unique – but it is uncommon in boys. I did not dream of sports and while I did play video games with my brother, they were not the focus of my life. I did well in other subjects in school, and even performed better on the Math portions of standardized tests. My passion was reading and writing and for a boy – then and now – this is not typical.

To the full paper.