Through the research I have been conducting and the reading that supports the research, it seems as though personal relationships at middle school are important to both genders. What has surprised me and what I am finding to be true, is that girls need the relationship with the teacher, and middle school boys need it with their peers. The teacher needs to mitigate boy groups, but the dynamics are very different, between boys and girls in gender groups. My teaching partner, who teaches math and science, also uses gender grouping for small group instruction has found the same to be true- boys need the approval from their peers, and girls want a relationship from their teachers, gender peers are secondary. This indeed would make an incredible action research project.
The girls I am now again reading with are trying to finish The Secret Life of Bees. They (and I) truly love the book, and find it hard to read and discuss and fit it all into the 45 minutes per day that we have. I have been absent twice and have had to have a male sub read with the girls- he found me at break last week and asked if we were all going to go see the movie- we told him we were trying to finish the book before we went to see it. I thought it amazing that he would connect with us and the book- that is the power of good literature and reading it together. The girls I have read with from 2 prior years plan to come to see the movie with the others and myself- this is quite a community we are building. I don't know where it will lead us... this is what teaching and learning is all about.
