Ralph Fletcher is a nationally known educational consultant and speaker.  His talks are humorous, anecdotal and practical.  His work with teachers has its roots in his classroom experience as well as his own writing.  He has the utmost respect for the difficult, important job teachers have in helping students find their voices for the writing that will shape their lives. Writing test scores indicate that boys have fallen far behind girls across the grades.  In general, boys don’t enjoy writing as much as girls.  What’s wrong?  How can we do a better job of creating “boy-friendly” classrooms so their voices can be heard?  In Boy Writers:  Reclaiming Their Voices, Ralph Fletcher draws upon his years of experience as staff developer, children’s book author, and father of four boys.  He also taps the insights from dozens of writing teachers around the US and abroad.  Topic choice emerges as a crucial issue.  Ralph argues that we must “widen the circle” and give boys more choice if we want to engage them as writers.  The book also looks at how handwriting can hamstring boy writers, and how drawing may help; welcoming boy-friendly writing genres in our classrooms; ways to improve our conferring with boys and more.  Each participant will receive Ralph’s book, Boy Writers.   Contact Hours:  5;  Registration Deadline:  August 31, 2007