Young Adult Literature #1

How do secondary students benefit from young adult literature?

Students passing through the hallways of American middle schools and high schools have much more on their minds than their pimpled faces may reveal.  Adolescence is a time of turmoil, change, and questioning for young adults, as they face major development physically, emotionally, intellectually, and socially.  Teenagers have an innate desire to “fit in,” and be like peers, but often think of themselves as different, causing emotional tension as they try to develop their identities.  As youth struggle their way to adulthood, it is a great deal of help when they have resources to turn to for answers, explanations, escape, and enjoyment.

 

Young adult literature is written specifically for teenagers, providing readers with support for, and reflection on, the struggles they face in middle school and high school.  In young adult literature, an adolescent gets lost in a story about a character who is like the reader in characteristics and experiences, reducing the feeling of being an outcast that so frequently accompanies the tumultuous stage of life.  In addition to experiencing like characters, a reader can be introduced to characters that are very unlike the individual, fostering empathy for others as the reader learns about life from another perspective.  Through the reading of young adult literature, students can develop appropriate role models and consider the challenges that they may face not only now, but also in the future; young adult literature frequently introduces the realities and responsibilities of adulthood to be considered.  The themes, characters, and stories of young adult literature play an important role in teen’s development of personal, social, and emotional identity.

 Novels written for young adults also have stories that teens desire to read.  Stuck between childhood and adulthood, teens have specific interests that young adult literature incorporates and approaches to interest readers.  Greater motivation to read leads to more reading, and more reading is important to the cognitive development of students.  Getting teenagers to read is often a challenge in itself, so young adult literature offers a relevance to the students and promotes literacy at the same time.

Reference:

Cart, M. (2008). ALA | YALSA White Papers | The Value of Young Adult Literature. American Library Association. Retrieved September 30, 2011, from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/profdev/whitepapers/yalit.cfm.

 

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Annotated Bibliography Prospectus

To supplement an 8^th grade poetry unit, I searched for trade books that average students will enjoy reading and using.  My poetry unit will include types of poetry, parts of poetry, themes, poetry vocabulary, analyzing poetry, and writing poetry.  The curriculum requires use of the textbook for most poems taught, but I fear that the material in the textbook does not meet the diverse needs of my class of 25 average 8^th grade students.  It is important to me that the students find a part of the unit that they can connect with, even if they do not fall in love with poetry as a whole; poetry is full of variety, and if I provide students with accessible and interesting options, I hope that they will find something that they can relate to and enjoy.  I chose Bronx Masquerade to represent novels in poetry form, because I think that some students will be able to relate to the urban high school characters and themes of the novel.  A Kick in the Head, will be easy for students to pick up, learn from, and enjoy; it is surprisingly informative for a thin book with pictures on every page.  It is my hope that some students will enjoy expressing themselves through poetry, and Poems from Homeroom offers examples of poems from a teenager’s point of view, as well as instruction on how to create one’s own poetry.

Appelt, K. (2002). Poems from homeroom: a writer's place to start. New York: Henry Holt.


Grimes, N. (2002). Bronx masquerade. New York: Dial Books.


Janeczko, P. B., & Raschka, C. (2005). A kick in the head. Cambridge: Candlewick Press.

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Student-Use Websites

Teen Voices

“changing the world for girls through media”

Teen Voices is a website for a magazine, by the same name, that encourages girls to express themselves and create social change through media.  The website features fiction, nonfiction, and poetry submitted by teen girls, as well as book reviews, and articles about successful female authors.  This website can encourage and inspire young, female writers, revealing the power in these young women and their writing.  Teenvoices.com also encourages the education of women, and provides articles about college prep and careers.

I would encourage female students to visit teenvoices.com during free time in the classroom, after assignments are finished,  or at home on an individual basis, in hopes that the site would inspire my students to read and write.  Many young girls experience similar angst as they navigate their adolescence, and reading the writing of other girls who share in their challenges may be enough of a connection to encourage a girl who is usually disinterested to read, or encourage girls to express their thoughts and feelings through writing.  Even if my students are not moved to try to submit a piece to the website, they may be inspired to start a journal, or try their hands at poetry; no matter what the student decides to do, having adolescent girls reading, writing, or thinking about what they have read is important.

Merlyn's Pen

“Fiction, Essays and Poems by America’s Teens”

Merlyn’s Pen is a website for a magazine, by the same name, that showcases the writing of middle and high school students.  The website offers access to young adult writing that is highlighted in collections, and that can be filtered by title, author, genre, topic, author’s grade level, author’s state, and author’s region.  In addition to reading the best work of peers for inspiration, enjoyment, or motivation, teens can submit their own work to the editors of the site.  Every entry to Merlyn's Pen receives personalized feedback and words of encouragement that attempts to build “positive associations with the writing process.”  This feedback encourages revision and sets high standards for student work to be published in the magazine or on the site, and the site provides an audience for young authors.

As a teacher, I could use Merlyn’s Pen to find pieces to read in class, introduce students to the website to choose independent reading (opposed to having all independent reading be novel-based), and I could point students to the website for writing inspiration.  Many of the pieces on MerlynsPen.org could be tied into units being covered in a middle school ELA class, and students could be inspired by the work of another teen being used in the classroom.  For students who are moved to submit written work, the website could be not only a source of inspiration, but of encouragement and feedback.



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