Boy Smarts

Barry MacDonald has produced a great book titled Boy Smarts - Mentoring Boys for Success at School.

I haven't read it yet, but the table of contents (on this page) appears to make it an extremely practical guide for dealing with young males. While it all looks great, I especially liked the looks of the chapter titled, Organizing A Classroom For Boys To Be Successful.

Take a look and tell me what you think. Just reading his table of contents should increase your boy literacy.

America's Promise

In the National Promises Study from America’s Promise – The Alliance for Youth (think Colin Powel), they found some alarming facts. Just for starters,

Nearly two-thirds of African-American children, and almost one in four white children, live in households with only one parent.

Two million American children have a parent in jail.

More than 15 million at-risk young people need a mentor.

Approximately eight million children ages 5 to 14 regularly spend time without adult supervision.

That’s why the first of their Five Promises speaks to mentoring relationships.

Every child and youth needs and deserves support and guidance from caring adults in their families, schools, and communities, including ongoing, secure relationships with parents and other family adults, as well as multiple and consistent formal and informal positive relationships with teachers, mentors, coaches, youth volunteers, and neighbors.

Check out their research and the other four promises at AmericasPromise.org