Week 2, Blog Post 2 Developing a YA pedagogy. First, the big takeaways from Jennifer Buehler’s “Reading with Passion and Purpose” and “Young Adult Literature and Text Complexity” in her book Teaching Reading with YA Literature: Complex Texts, Complex Lives:
Reading Buehler’s chapters, I was mentally cheering: yes! That’s it! That’s what I was thinking/feeling right there in real, published words. I heartily agree with each of the “takeaways” I’ve summarized above. I want to do it all! I think one thing that I’ll need to keep reminding myself of is that I was a reader. I devoured books like no one’s business and if it was assigned for class, no matter what it was, I read it all. Most of my friends did not read those books, (We usually ended up with pretty similar grades, too. I’ll admit, that frustrated me to no end.) which may mean most of my students would not read those books. But, as an administrator conceded to Buehler, at least everyone was thinking about the books even if they weren’t reading them. What conversations or books are so important that it’s enough that they take place in this partial way, and which conversations can be made with books that are more likely to be read? The answer, of course, is not all classics nor all YA. I was fortunate in that my own high school English teachers also felt this way. My vision of my own classroom also searches for the balance between classics and YA, searching for each book as it best takes part in the dialogue I’m trying to make. Sometimes it will be a classic that best says what I think needs saying. Sometimes it will be YA. It will always be what I think my students need most. That’s where I am in developing my YA pedagogy right now. If teens "can be in a place where they feel safe, they feel like they can have fun, but at the same time they're being called to thoughtfulness, and they're being convinced that intellectualism, thinking with some depth, has quality to it, then it's magical what can happen." (John Green in an interview with Jennifer Buehler)I’m not sure exactly where or how middle grades books have a place in my developing YA pedagogy, but I think that has to do more with my uncertainty about what a middle grades book is rather than the books themselves. It has something to do with the language (its readability, if you will) and something to do with the complexity of the characters and plot. But “something” doesn’t go very far defining an idea. Granted, I’ve only read two of these “middle grades” books and am reading a third right now- that’s not very much exposure. And while reading and watching book reviews have exposed me to some more books, I’m hearing some of the same words I found in my own initial response- the word “unfulfilling” in particular. And the books that my peers and I have gotten excited about, well, we’re excited about they could have a space in in not just middle school classrooms, but those of high school, too. Oops. It feels as though there’s a shared difficulty in perceiving a good middle grades book as exactly that, a good middle grades book, and not as a mislabeled YA book. But what do these thoughts about middle grades literature look like in light of Buehler? I think that more clearly defining YA literature helps to define middle grades literature. YA literature is about growing up, is situated in an adolescent perspective with an adolescent voice, and is relevant to its adolescent audience. Therefore, it stands to reason that middle grades literature is situated in a younger perspective with a more accessible voice. Middle grades books, like YA books, can address mature and difficult ideas. I don’t think that I’ll teach middle grade literature, but it will certainly be available in my classroom. Middle grades literature will sit alongside YA literature on my high school classroom bookshelves. Why YA literature?YA literature helps us meet students where they are.
YA literature honors and validates students’ process of self-discovery. YA literature can be both academically and emotionally engaging. YA literature can contribute to both academic and personal growth.
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A Season of StarsNumber the stars: Full dark, no stars. The dark is rising. Everything arises, everything falls away- different seasons. Hope for the city? Stargirl. Week Two, unnumbered blog post
“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book!” – Dr. Seuss6/6/2018 Week 1, Blog Post 1
How do you define the terms "literacy" and "adolescent literature?” I’ve had a semester to think about the possibilities of “literacy.” Literacy is the ability to read and write, but it’s also being fluent in just about anything. As a university student and teacher-in-training, I’d like to think I’m fluent/literate in school. As a life-long resident of the South, I’d also like to think I’m literate in good Southern manners. I haven’t given the same amount of thought to adolescent literature. Does adolescent literature include just those books written for adolescents? Or is it broader? Do all books written for adolescents actually fit within “adolescent literature?” I imagine my understanding of adolescent literature will develop during this summer of YA books. For the moment, however, I’ll say that adolescent literature can be defined as those books which address themes prevalent to middle- and high-schoolers and typically have main characters around the same age as that target audience. The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner and All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely (see my thoughts on these books here) do a really nice job of contextualizing these positions. The boys in All American Boys become literate in racial tension. Dill and Lydia of The Serpent King become literate in mental illness. These are topics that affect adolescents, their proximity to middle- and high-school age students further demonstrated by the protagonists’ adolescence. I think that for a teacher, these books (these pieces of adolescent literature!) are an opportunity to help students become literate in both the traditional sense and in terms of fluencies. |
AuthorI'm a high school English teacher looking to share with students, parents, and peers some of what I'm learning in the classroom as a teacher. Archives
October 2018
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