Writing the Playbook
A Practitioner’s Guide to Creating a Boy-Friendly School
Foreword by Michael Gurian, Author of The Minds of Boys and Boys and Girls Learn Differently!
Your game plan for getting boys on the path to higher achievement
You've seen it in your school: boys struggling to master basic literacy skills, sitting outside the principal's office, collecting labels like "hyperactive," getting failing grades. Checked out, kicked out, or dropped out, they're benched when they should be scoring goals on the academic playing field.
As a school leader, Kelley King has walked the talk: she successfully led her own staff to close the gender gap in reading and writing in just one year. In her step-by-step, research-based leadership plan for jump-starting boys' achievement, she shares:
- Critical insight into the brain-based differences between boys and girls
- First-hand leadership and classroom experiences
- Ready-to-use activities and resources for leading a successful gap-closing initiative
With tips, anecdotes, and more, Writing the Playbook provides educators in all roles with a blueprint for creating schools where boys (and girls!) thrive.
"Finally, some practical advice from an experienced educator on how to make boys into successful students. King's credentials—mother of both a son and daughter as well as a principal who successfully addressed gender gaps at her school—are unbeatable."
—Richard Whitmire, Author of Why Boys Fail: Saving Our Sons from an Educational System That's Leaving Them Behind
"Kelley King is both impassioned and level-headed, and she starts a conversation that we desperately need to have in our country."
—Michael Kimmel, Author of Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men
SUNY Distinguished Professor of Sociology
"This is a highly practical and highly relevant book. Two thumbs up!"
—Eric Jensen, Author of Teaching with the Brain in Mind
"As I read this book, I am thrilled Kelley King is speaking out on behalf of our boys! While they sit motionless in the traditional classrooms and feel abandoned by education, she makes the case for justified changes. We owe it to them to acknowledge the differences and to design an educational experience that honors them. No longer can we, as citizens of this country, allow those so-called experts to claim that boys and girls are the same, and ask our schools to ignore the obvious differences. Enough! Bring on the strategies for our boys that will allow teachers to inspire them to greatness!"
"This book should be required reading for every teaching credential candidate and educator. Its neurobiological approach to learning and behavior is not rocket science; it's long overdue common sense. Bravo!"
"As a lifelong feminist and the grandmother of three boys just starting school, I am passionately interested in boys being taken 'as they are' and taught in ways that will help them develop. For a long time we worried about girls, who are presently thriving in school and beyond. It's boys' turn now! Yes, men still 'rule' out in the world, but in school many boys are falling behind. For a strong America, we need both genders to thrive and to lead. King's book will help us get to that America."
"This is a must-read for school leaders. King, an expert on bridging the gender gap in schools, asks them to try to see things through 'the boy lens,' which is absolutely necessary today when so many boys aren't coming close to reaching their full educational potential. She offers practical advice for making schools 'boy-friendly,' which works just fine for girls too. I applaud her passion, dedication, and expertise. Here's a book that can truly make a positive difference for our society and its future."
"In my heart, I believe that our husbands, sons, and brothers can write and read as well as their female relatives. They all have the ideas and the brilliance. Kelley's book is a guide to support all educators in making those ideas become reality. If we collaborate as educators and as parents, we can make sure that both boys and girls are challenged and supported in schools so that their dreams all become reality."
"There is widespread consensus that our young males are not achieving to their full potential. We know the problems. It is time we tackle them, and it is time we foster leadership among those in positions of authority who can make change happen. Kelley's book is an important step in this direction—by calling on school leaders to become engaged and by giving them the tools to make change happen."
