Gurian Summer Institute Blog
I recently attended the Gurian Summer Institute in Colorado Springs. What a treat! I am a serial academic. I love to learn! And that week was such a wonderful learning experience for me.
The Summer Institute is held every year and its aim is to share the latest gender based research with teachers, therapists and even parents, ensuring that we are up-to-date. Experts in the field of learning and gender are invited to speak at the three day conference. This year’s star lineup was:
- Michael Gurian – nature-based gender psychologist and author of “The Wonder of Boys, How Boys and Girls Learn Differently, Teaching Strategies for Boys and 20+ other titles,
- Michael Thompson – a more nurture-based psychologist, focused on the emotional development of boys, and bestselling author of “Raising Cain”, “It’s a Boy!” and “Homesick & Happy”,
- Jeffrey Wilhelm – teacher, bestselling author and riveting speaker on how we can best inspire our boys (and girls) to love learning and have a mind of inquiry. His bestselling books include “Reading Don’t Fix No Chevvys”, “Going With The Flow” and “Engaging Readers and Writers With Inquiry”.
- Some of the Gurian Institute trainers also gave some very interesting and insightful talks on the last day and a half of the Institute. I attended Rob Kodama’s talk on “Becoming A Man” where he detailed a 9-week class he offered seniors at his school in California.
The speakers were incredible. I had not heard of Jeffrey Wilhelm before and I was blown away by his talk. He spoke with unbelievable passion about how it is our “implied social contract” as teachers (parents and coaches etc) to find a way to teach our boys the various set works and prescribed curriculum in a way that stimulates them and leaves them wanting to know more. Inspiring inquiring minds! Not simply plodding through the work and requiring it back in a rote-style fashion.
In my next few blogs I hope to convey some of my best learnings from the week there.
I am excited to share that I concluded my three-day conference with an additional two days certifying as a Gurian Institute Trainer. I am the first such trainer in South Africa and look forward to sharing the Institute’s latest research with you in workshops, conferences and speaking engagements. Please let me know if you have a group at your school or in your community who would be interested in hearing the latest research about boys, who they innately are, what they need and how you as parents, coaches, therapists and teachers can help them.
Boys need a revolution! Ke nako! (The time is now…)
Bringing Up Boys ... Raising Good Men 