Young Adult Lit/Crit

What's the Deal with Teen Writing?

Jacqueline,

Much thanks for revealing James' insecurities about authentic writing.

What does it mean to be a writer?

Is is possible that everyone could write?  I mean, is it not true that everyone has a story that is uniquely interesting?

Seriously, why do we pretend as though teens are members of an inferior, dependent class when they are just as capable--sometimes more capable--than adults of raw, creative expression.

I regret that we did not have a chance to finish the video.  It was quite moving and inspirational.

Let's follow Jacqueline in allowing teens to develop individual voices through creative expression.

I think too often we think of ourselves as teachers and of them as students; instead, we should think of "us" as a group of people working together to learn from and to teach one another.

I see you doing that, Jacqueline.  And that is what we need.

Thanks again.

Seminars

Nick and Jack are total losers and slackers for waiting until just now to post their responses to seminars.  That being said, here are my responses to seminars:

Chris (Walter Dean Myers): Your pre-reading activites were really great.  The worksheet on recognizing racism, which we did and discussed in the seminar itself, was especially thought-provoking.  Many of your other handouts (S.O.A.P.S., Character Logs, etc.) just go to show me how great you are/have been/will be as a teacher.  I can and will steal such ideas from you.  The articles you chose were also very useful and gave us much fodder for our discussion of race as an issue.

As far as your discussion of Myers himself, and of his novels, you did an excellent job explaining to us just why his books are so good and so real.  The "real" part is most interesting to me, as (like we've discussed) many YA books seem to come to a happy resolution at the end where everyone gets what they want or what they deserve.  From what you've told me about Myers' work, though, it comes to more realistic conclusions for the characters.  You definitely interested me to read Myers, not just because the books sounded good, but also because they would give me perspective on a voice I don't often relate with.  Thanks.

Jesse (humor):  First of all, Jesse, thanks so much for the CDs!  They get played when I need a pick-me-up, which for the past few weeks has been at about 3:00 every Thursday afternoon.  I just needed to enjoy myself for an hour or so before getting... well, you know.  Before getting on with it.

Our discussion was great because I had never really thought about the sad nature of many YA novels.  The article explaining the concept of the "problem novel" to me was really fascinating, discussing the popularity of "realistic sad books."  It just seems odd that kids, who are (by definition) preparing for the rest of their lives, are being led towards books which simply tell them that the world is a horrible place and, in order to reach that "happy ending," you need to scratch and claw and fight.  Kids love to laugh and to have fun.  Exposing them to funny books shouldn't be frowned upon.  It just doesn't seem fair that such novels are considered fluff and not valuable to the developing person.

Plus, we had a fun time in your seminar.  Well done.

Arminda (Ann Rinaldi):  I enjoy historical fiction.  Your seminar was very good in that the author you chose dabbles in many different eras of history and writes differing stories for each one.  While, sure, they all were along the same young-girl-in-love thread, they all approached it differently and with different historical backgrounds and subplots.  One of the best things you did in your seminar was selling the books -- I could tell you really enjoyed them personally and would be thrilled to have any of we guys from your seminar to "cross-over" and read one.

The pre-reading activities you gave, showing the definite connection between these novels and knowledge of history, would thrill any history teacher who saw your class as a prime opportunity for collaborative teaching.  What we discussed in the seminar, though, about determining factual accuracy (dates, locations of events, etc.) would be key before introducing these novels in a classroom.  From what you said, though, Rinaldi does a thorough job of researching and makes sure her novels match up with the history books.

Great job, Arminda!

Matt W (music):  Yeah, so I just kind of dropped in on your seminar last minute and hung out.  However, you really impressed me with your passion for the subject you chose.  The pre-seminar activity you chose (describing a moment in your life defined by music) was interesting, but your example simply blew me away.  Very awesome.

Your choice of books was excellent, as you moved across boundaries of musical genre.  I might be wrong, but I imagine the hip-hop book was a bit out of your comfort level.  Regardless, you spoke of each book with equal flair and gave excellent rationalities for why each of them would be good for high school students to read and what lessons each of them teaches.  The activities you chose, from the outside-the-box one of writing a song to the more traditional one of reading a non-fiction piece from the same musical genre, showed a great range of creativity and motivation as a teacher.  I agree with Jacqueline that you must never be referred to as a "slacker" again.  Excellent work.

-Dave

Chocolate quagmire

Dawn, I appreciate that you thought enough to pull me into Cormier's chocolaty quagmire of censorship.

One of the biggest dilemmas we face as educators is that when we try to keep someone or something above water, we run the real risk of drowning ourselves.  How much is it worth?

I've never read Cormier.  But, now I will.  How could I pass up banned books!

After all,

"My name is Francis Joseph Cassavant and I have just returned to Frenchtown in Monument and the war is over and I have no face."  (Heroes)

"THEY MURDERED HIM" (The Chocolate War)

I'm afraid I may meet a similar fate if I do not read Cormier. 

(I will do whatever you want, Dawn)

After listening to your seminar, I do believe that there is a line.  But where do we draw it, and when do we cross it?

I enjoyed your discussion of Cormier and his works, and I think it complements your 663 research.  Yes, some of us are privy to more of Dawn's dirty little secrets.  You know who you are  (James).

Dawn,  YOU DONE GOOD!

Sci-Fi It's no game

There is no end to the game of inventive    imagination!

Dave,  thank you for inviting me to explore a hitherto unknown pathway to adolescent learning.

Oh, and thank you for admitting that you have never seen Star Wars or Star Trek and that you do believe in aliens, but haven't seen any of those either. 

Orson Scott Card: "If the story is set in a universe that follows the same rules as ours, it's science fiction.  If it's set in a universe that doesn't follow our rules, it's fantasy."

I did not know that before Dave's seminar. 

More questions I did not think about prior to the seminar:

--Is childhood a right?  --Is genocide ever justified? (Actually, I've thought about that one)  --Is it true that "children are a perpetual, self-renewing underclass, helpless to escape from the decisions of adults until they become adults themselves"? (Card)

I don't know, but these questions sure make me want to read Ender's Game

Through this seminar, you have shown me that Sci-Fi provides an effective seque to discussions on social issues... including body image  (i.e. Uglies and Pretties).

Dave, there are still a few things I need to know: are you going to watch Star Wars?  Where are these aliens?

And why are you helping Prof Steans keep secrets?  Is it still a secret if two people know about it?

Thanks

Seminar Response (s)

So, I feel like a loser posting all of my reactions tonight, but I'll have to do it this way since I've waited up until now.

First up is Arminda. Your presentation was awesome and I loved your subject material. Bringing history to kids in a way that's not the same old boring names and dates is a difficult, but oh-so-worthy thing to do. I'm glad you liked my distinction between HISTORICAL fiction and historical FICTION. Ann Rinaldi is definitely in the former group.  I think it's a great way to tie in reading to a particular interest of a kid, once that direction has been ascertained. Bravo!

Second is Dave. Well, I kind of dropped into your seminar unannounced, but for that you didn't break a sweat. I'm a huge Sci-Fi fan anyways, so you didn't have to convince me to love your topic. I esepcially liked the way you kept bringing us back to books, even when we started to backslide into other topics. There's just so much fascinating ground to cover in the genre. I think Science Fiction is one of the ways to discuss any issue with kids, provided the book is well-written. By setting events in a different world, a more objective position can be taken and real discussion can be had. Bravo to you as well!

And last but not least is Dawn, whose seminar I attended also last minute.  Kormier was sadly an author I only got into towards the very end of my high school career, and I never got around to reading as much of him as I wanted. Your seminar made me want to go out and read more of hs work. You brought up issues of censorship that are so relevant in today's world, and spoke confidently on each book we looked at. Congrats and Bravo to my last seminar.

So that's it. I know these are brief, but I also wanted to add a universal 'Thanks' to all four seminars that I went to (Jesse, Arminda, Dave, and Dawn). You all did terrific jobs, and i feel like I got to see what you all have been up to all semester.

See you in class tomorrow for the grand finale!

seminar review 2 - slacker style

Nick and Laura,

Your seminar was really good, and beyond that, it was important.  The amount of social homophobia in high schools is something that needs to be addressed.  Having books like those in the classroom is an extremely important step toward increasing tolerance and understanding.  Your personal recommendations and scales of the social importance of each of the novels you reviewed really helped. 

Also, your seminar made me realize that having these books is a responsibility for heterosexual teachers.  Where a parent might come up with some close minded reason to hate a homosexual teacher for introducing these books, it may be easier for a hetero-normative teacher to introduce these novels and not seem like a subversive or any other comment a close minded parent would have.  Thank you both for pointing out a real and important selection of novels that could actually help students stop calling everything they don't understand "gay."

Seminar review 1- slacker style

Arminda,

Your seminar on historical fiction with an emphasis on Ann Rinaldi was actually eye opening.  I've always been a fan of history, so historical fiction was never a stretch for me, but I had never thought about it from any different perspectives than a reader response or merely reacting to the historical part of it.  The idea of using historical fiction to balance a textbook's truth with a mood or tone that may be truer than fact is quite fascinating. 

You seemed extremely knowledgeable about Rinaldi's works, and your suggestion to read the sections after the main text that explained any historical significance or accuracy before the actual novel seemed like an outstanding idea to help with clarity and having a firm grip on what is true and what is fictitious.

Good Job,

-Matt W.

Matt's Rockin' Seminar

Matt,

Wow!  I thoroughly enjoyed your seminar last night.  It was structured, engaging, and just plain fun!  I really love the idea of using these books for literature circles and then asking kids to do research.  I always have a hard time asking students to do research.  (Well, the asking isn't all that difficult, but teaching them to do it poses a problem for me -- for a variety of reasons.)  Plus, any time that we can devote to talking about the good old days works for me.

You seemed very orgainized and well-informed.  I liked that you simulated for us what this might look like in a classroom -- I think we see too little of that.  Plus, it's not everyday that we get to observe other teachers doing their stuff.  I have worked in my school for four years and have never once sat in on another teacher's class.  Who has the time?!

Thanks for such a great topic,

Jacqueline

P.S. I officially deny you the right to call yourself a slacker ever again.

Fin

Body image

Thank you Jack for facilitating some good discussion on the difficult issue of body image.  For those who did not attend, the seminar raised more questions than answers, but I don't think the nature of the topic allowed for many clear answers.  How does a person's perception of his or herself become so distorted that one resorts to bulimia or anorexia?   What can we, as English teachers, do to improve a student's perception of themselves?  I find it difficult to identify with people who have disorders related to body image: anorexia, bulimia, supplement abuse.  What can a book do to help a student with a disorder see his or her body image positively?  It seems there is very little we can do, but we need to be sensitive to this issue in order to help with what little opportunity we may have.  We discussed the media's affect on body image as well.  James' idea, to critique body image through a popular women's magazine as a class, could be a meaningful activity for students.  Thanks again Jack,

Matt

Robert Cormier: A Brief Overview of the Seminar Tonight

This is to all of you lucky people who get to discuss R. Cormier!

Tonight, I thought we would have more of a discussion on the readings, controversial topics such as censorship, and the role R. Cormier has played in YA Lit's history.  I'll also be giving short book talks on the novels I've read for this seminar.

Intersted, I hope!

Why is R.C. so important to teens and to YAL?  What do YOU think? 

Dawn