Are boys reluctant writers?

Last week Softease were invited to attend an action packed and thought provoking day at Epsom Downs Race Course .The topic of the day was Boys Writing and dealt with how boys can be encouraged to start writing, whilst at the same time raising achievement.

With infectious enthusiasm Pie Corbett kicked off proceedings by imploring that writing must first and foremost be about enjoyment. He pointed out to a largely female audience that ‘ boys are not a sub species of slightly defective girls’( I do hope not - I have 2 of my own). Therefore the challenge is to engage boys with stories they want to hear, books they want to read and of course something they want to write about, bearing in mind that the genres that appeal to boys are not the same as girls…sports, sci fi and spy thrillers not pets, friendships and schools.

Pie challenged us all to encourage and inspire boys to write in the classroom but in fact many boys are more motivated to write at home, whether in blogs, emails or messaging. Maybe one of the challenges is therefore to think about how new opportunites with technology can harness boys interest in writing and give them a voice and an audience.

At Softease we are convinced of the benefits of using a wide variety of ICT tools to develop literacy whether it is the the creation of multi modal texts using Textease CT, creating a blog in Honeycomb or what about using Podium to write and  perform your own poetry. It was great to have the opportunity at Epsom to explore with teachers how these innovative tools can help boys develop writing skills and undoubtedly enable them to really unleash their creativity on a much wider audience.