It's Lit, Y'All

25. Poetry- Write three poems in response to the novel. The poems can be about the characters, where the book took place, or the themes in the book. ____________________________________________ How fitting, in the end it's the two of us ending. Rowan and Citra. Citra and Rowan. The way it was always meant to be. Two adversaries, like fire and ice Two lovers, marked by the stars. Fated to leave this world in each others arms -From the gleaning journal of H.S Lucifer ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Romeo was brash. Rowan was brave. Juliet was no agent. I was independent. How funny that in the end we meet their fate? The passions of the mortal world may not be lost to us forever. -From the gleaning journal of H.S Anastasia ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ In the mortal world, a form of poetry existed. It was rather simple, but humans have...

After finishing my second year in the classroom, I found Kittle's chapters on Book Love refreshing. On a personal level, it really bothers me that English teachers feign this progressive nature while continuing to teach the same old books, written by the same old white men, about white men, that white men decided were important. Canonical literature can be beautiful, but classics are not the only texts with literary merit. When an author creates a world nothing like the one you live in, but it somehow critiques your own- that is literary merit. When an author paints a character that you fall in love with, that you want to be, or that you despise- that is literary merit. When an author an author crafts a sentence that makes you laugh, cry, and question who you are and who you want to be - that is literary merit. Most of my students do not need Hawthorne. Point blank. If I don't even want to teach The Scarlet Letter , how an earth am I supposed to make students interested in ...

#uga_yalit

So, the twitterchat was so much fun. I love how it provided us with a chance for genuine dialogue. I think that is so valuable in online courses because so often in online courses we just go through the motions without any meaningful learning, but experiences like twitterchat and flipgrid make our efforts worthy. First, I loved our working discussion about the difference between middle grades and YA lit. Everyone had something insightful to add, but I think we all agreed that middle grades texts are books that are accessible and interesting to middle grades readers. Sometimes that means that the characters are also in middle grades, sometimes that means that the subject matter is highly relatable to middle grade readers, and sometimes that means that the themes covered seem controversial so middle grades readers want to pick them up! I refer to this as a working discussion because I don't think any of us felt like we had all the answers- and that is the best thing about our subje...

In my classroom, our work with YA lit is two fold. Students work independently and often in pairs to do the traditional work of analyzing how an author accomplishes literary tasks such as characterization, conflict, and theme while also working in literature circles and as whole class to examine the experiences of others, how those experiences shift their own perspectives, and what if anything they are to do about it. The first unit I teach to my ninth graders is a a coming of age/social justice unit that uses young adult texts to show my students ways of knowing and being in the world that they have never been exposed to while simultaneously using accessible and high interest texts to scaffold students toward analytical reading and writing found in traditional ELA classrooms. Funds willing, I change the books out each year, but this past year the choices were: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman , All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiely , How it Went Down by Kekla Magoo...

A poem about falling down, getting up, and carving a space for yourself in the world Long Way Down Glass Smack When We Rise Out of Darkness Unbound Reawakened The Power Carry On we are all made of molecules

Literacy is so much more than the ability to read a write, and there is no one correct or standard literacy.  Literacy is not a binary of literate and not, but rather people are on a journey of literacy their entire lives. Literacy is also not singular. For example, adolescent literature is a literacy in and of itself. Gee (1989) asserts that literacy is a combination of "saying-writing-doing-being-valuing-believing."As a literacy, adolescent literature has its own unique ways of saying-writing-being-valuing-believing when compared to contemporary adult literature or classic literature or any other genre. YA lit is speaking out on topics that matter to young adults. Sometimes this means difficult to discuss and unpack topics like sexual and substance abuse, racism, poverty, mental illness, but also everyday teenage experiences like first kisses, first heartbreak, and what to do after high school. Adolescent literature is accessible to students not simply because it is less ...