1. Staff Training 5 September 2011

3. Female Dolls Story completion People Male CarAction Immediate Objects

4. Peer Group Male Female Competitive Hierarchical Collaborative

5. Male strengths Confidence Risk-taking Problem solving Speculative thinking

6. The Average MaleDoes first and then (hopefully) thinks! • Likely weaknesses • Linear process skills • Communication skills Reflective thinking skills • Attention to detail • Writing skills • Reading skills • Overestimates ability

7. Female Strengths Communication Skills Reflective Thinking Collaborative Working People Skills Attention to detail Linear process skills

8. The Average FemaleThinks first then (hopefully) does! Likely weaknesses Risk averse Overworks Guilt Blames herself Overly detailed Speculative thinking Underestimates her abilities

9. Hierarchy of Language Descriptive Reflective Speculative How Why If Boys generally miss out the reflective step

10. Boys need time and space Boys do first, then think Girls think first, then do Boys – failure averse Girls – risk averse

11. Hands up? Boys want to answer but won’t have thought it through so can’t answer the question – “Why?” Remember Girls instinctively want to impress their teacher Boys want to impress their peers

12. Writing For boys writing can switch them off Moving around keeps boys engaged Instead of – think then write Try – think, communicate, write Writing alone will not help children to remember. Try – read / read aloud, think, communicate, write

13. Strategies Reading aloud Guided reading Paired reading Boy + girl seating has significant impact on improvement and makes the classroom environment safer for talking and learning

14. Go for Five • To develop speculative and reflective thinking skills • Think of five possible solutions to a problem and then select the best • Think of five reasons why something might have happened before deciding on the most probable • Try to find five reasons for something and five reasons against something before making a decision • Find five good things and five bad things • Find five unknown things prior to seeking information