Murphy's law strikes again. What can go wrong will. My home computer is down and my school computer blocks blogs. I am forced to depend on the graciousness of my friends. I guess that's what friends are for.
I want to describe the behavior of two more of my boys. Michi is a large boy for his age and he is the man of his household. His mother depends on him to help her with his siblings and to translate for her. Michi is a dominant presence in the classroom. He is not loud, but he makes his presence known. He is often solemn and can be blatantly disrespectful. He often walks away when being spoken to and when he doesn't want to hear what you have to say. He often interrupts you when he does not agree with what you have to say. He will walk up to you and invade your space to show that he is not afraid. His behavior exemplifies that of a person struggling with masculinity development. The interesting thing about him is that he will often silently cry when he is angry and can not express himself. He gets into major trouble outside of the classroom and is verbally abusive to female authority figures. However, he reigns himself in when dealing with me.
Davon is also the man of his household. He has the air of entitlement and walks around as if he is the king of the hill. He ignores authority and is sexually aggressive and gets into trouble for touching girls inappropriately or making vulgar remarks. He only does the assignments that interest him and will not do anything he does not want to do. He can be extremely volatile when he does not get his way. He does not listen to his mother and usually dictates to her what he will or will not do. Unfortunately, his mother is acquiescent. Though Davon's behavior seems extreme compared to the other boys' behavior, he also exhibits the character traits of a person dealing with masculine identity. The idea of masculine identity is not new. What I have discovered is that it is becoming more prevalent in the elementary grades. This development has traditionally taken place when a boy reaches adolescence at 13 or 14 years old. Like many changes that have begun to occur in our society, the characteristics of masculine developement are being seen more and more in our grade school boys.
My goal is to present a way in which teachers can accomodate this development without removing the child from the classoom or dispersing harsh discipline. I would also like to develop strategies that will help teachers help the boys gracefully transit into their manhood.

Phase Two

After surveying my students to find out what they thought about men and women, I began to observe four of my boys. I chose these boys because they exhibited what I believed to be masculine tendencies and they had the most problems in and outside of the classroom. Jay is from a two parent home and is the oldest of four. He is ten years old and big for his age. His father is a welder and his mother works for the local hospital. Jay has commented that his father told him not to allow anyone to mess with him and if someone does, take care of it. Jay walks around the classroom making his presence know. He doesn't initiate conflict, but he doesn't back down either. He often intimidates by invading other people's space. When he doesn't want to do what I ask, he looks at me and turns his head and says, "I don't want to." When I respond, he ignores me until I say, "Do I need to call your Dad?" Once I have asked the question, he becomes grudgingly compliant. According to my research, Jay's behavior is a exhibition of hegemonic masculinity. Hegemonic masculinity is masculinity that is socially expected , accepted and supported by society. In our culture the some of the characteristics that are linked to hegemonic masculinity are defiance, aggressiveness, strength, macho ism and self-reliance. Nate is a boy who has been in the foster system because his mom is in jail. He is quiet, but does not tolerate anyone messing with him or his friends. He is often defiant and rebellious toward my direction. He often states that he doesn't need anyone or anything and that he can take care of himself. He now lives with family members and tries hard to please them. When I mention contacting them he silently cries, but he stands up straight and tall and looks me dead in the eyes. It is as if he's saying I can handle whatever you're dishing out. His behavior is also characteristic of hegemonic masculinity. I'll talk about the final two in the next post.