Chapter 11 & 12

Chapter 11

One of the toughest things to combat with junior high students is that need to be in physical contact with each other. For instance boys in my school love to hit each other in the genitals in the same manner discussed in the book. To me it seems to be a cruel and pointless game in which the boys will pick on one boy and that everyone is to gang up on that boy.
The only way I found to effectively combat this behavior was to threaten to have the boys call their fathers at work and explain to their father why they were touching another boy’s genitalia. It did stop the “ball tapping,” but the physical contact still exists. The boys are always pushing, shoving, stealing from each other and then responding physically because of the loss. I agree that a certain amount of physical activity amongst students is to be expected. I wish that my school was able to provide someone for the most violent of the boys to visit with; some type of anger management.
One way that I do allow the boys to explore their feelings and express their more aggressive nature is in their writing. I encourage the boys to write about battles, warfare, zombies, and anything else that they want to talk about. I believe as long as they are writing about it then they have a way to let it out of their aggression. My fellow teachers are unsure, but I think that the boys need to have an outlet for their aggression.


Chapter 12

I found this chapter to be full of good advice on how to work with young men. Overall what I learned is that boys need relationships that are open in communication so that the boy has someone to help him try and figure out who he is as a person. This final chapter was a great way to end the book. I enjoyed the advice it gave to me on how to mentor my students and help them to make the passage into manhood easier than what I faced.
“The only way to make a difference with a boy is to give him powerful experiences that speak to his inner life that speaks to his soul and let him know that he is entitled to have the full range of human experience (Kindlon and Thompson 258).” I feel that I need to encourage and inspire my students through words, actions, and deeds and this book has given me some of the tools need to do that. Perhaps I can find a way to help my students to have a life changing experience such as described at the end of chapter twelve. This book has really forced me to question what it is that I want to do with my career. How can I best make a positive impact on my students? Do I remain in the classroom or do I move on to counseling or administration. So many times over the course of reading this book I have questioned what the best place is for me in education. What position will allow me to have the most positive impact on my students? All I can say for sure is that I truly enjoyed reading this book and that I have enjoyed sharing this book with my coworkers.