What is literacy?
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 complex in content or structure but because as a literacy- it often values what they do.
In the ELA classroom, YA lit can serve many valiant purposes. Teachers can use adolescent literature as model texts for student writing because the language and sentence structure are accessible to students because the narrators and characters are often close in age to our students. These texts are also often used to entice students to read due to their high interest level and discussion of controversial topics. In my two years in the classroom, the greatest success I've had with YA texts is in teaching empathy. Teenagers can be totally awesome and sometimes they can be totally the worst, but usually they are the worst because they just don't know yet what all is out there in the world. By giving students a chance to read about characters who seem nothing like them, and by giving them the chance to find common ground, I think they foster their ability to understand and empathize with those they cannot relate to. Reading, in many ways, is the closest we can come to taking Atticus' advice and walking around in someone else shoes.
I think All American Boys is the kind of book that can change people's hearts and minds. Quinn is not a radical-save the world-bleeding heart leftist- he is just a regular kid who goes about his regular life not realizing his privilege until he's forced to. Quinn is like so many of our students in this way because these problems are not real to them until they are exposed to them. Conversely, Rashad's is a story that is contstantly purposefully left out of text books and classroom conversations. Students are taught that during the Civil Rights Movement, MLK and his supporters marched across the Edmond Pettus Bridge, but no one tells them or SHOWS them how these peaceful protesters were attacked in the streets by cops. Police brutality and violence based on race are a deep dark part of our history- and all of our students are cheated when we don't make space for these discussions inside our classrooms.
In her response to my flipgrid post, Erin said that The Serpent King is a story of hope and survival, and this really hit home for me. While I truly loved this book, it was hard to read this week because the father of a very dear and lifelong friend committed suicide just last Thursday. My discomfort was real and valid, but it is precisely why books like this are important in the classroom. Unfortunately, suicide and depression are part of our students literacy as teenagers. We need to read texts with them that open up important dialogues about hope and hopelessness. Through Dill, Zetner gives a realistic portrayal of what it is like to wade through that darkness and come out on the other side, but not all teens or adults for that matter are able to do so. We can only help our students by bringing these issues to light, and giving them a safe space to work through their thoughts.
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 complex in content or structure but because as a literacy- it often values what they do.
In the ELA classroom, YA lit can serve many valiant purposes. Teachers can use adolescent literature as model texts for student writing because the language and sentence structure are accessible to students because the narrators and characters are often close in age to our students. These texts are also often used to entice students to read due to their high interest level and discussion of controversial topics. In my two years in the classroom, the greatest success I've had with YA texts is in teaching empathy. Teenagers can be totally awesome and sometimes they can be totally the worst, but usually they are the worst because they just don't know yet what all is out there in the world. By giving students a chance to read about characters who seem nothing like them, and by giving them the chance to find common ground, I think they foster their ability to understand and empathize with those they cannot relate to. Reading, in many ways, is the closest we can come to taking Atticus' advice and walking around in someone else shoes.
I think All American Boys is the kind of book that can change people's hearts and minds. Quinn is not a radical-save the world-bleeding heart leftist- he is just a regular kid who goes about his regular life not realizing his privilege until he's forced to. Quinn is like so many of our students in this way because these problems are not real to them until they are exposed to them. Conversely, Rashad's is a story that is contstantly purposefully left out of text books and classroom conversations. Students are taught that during the Civil Rights Movement, MLK and his supporters marched across the Edmond Pettus Bridge, but no one tells them or SHOWS them how these peaceful protesters were attacked in the streets by cops. Police brutality and violence based on race are a deep dark part of our history- and all of our students are cheated when we don't make space for these discussions inside our classrooms.
In her response to my flipgrid post, Erin said that The Serpent King is a story of hope and survival, and this really hit home for me. While I truly loved this book, it was hard to read this week because the father of a very dear and lifelong friend committed suicide just last Thursday. My discomfort was real and valid, but it is precisely why books like this are important in the classroom. Unfortunately, suicide and depression are part of our students literacy as teenagers. We need to read texts with them that open up important dialogues about hope and hopelessness. Through Dill, Zetner gives a realistic portrayal of what it is like to wade through that darkness and come out on the other side, but not all teens or adults for that matter are able to do so. We can only help our students by bringing these issues to light, and giving them a safe space to work through their thoughts.
First, I have to say that your blog name is PERFECT.
ReplyDeleteThis post is also wonderful. In particular, your last line hits home: "We can only help our students by bringing these issues to light, and giving them a safe space to work through their thoughts." This is at the heart of why I want to teach.
I agree that these books show students healthy responses to those situations where unhealthy responses are often easier and more publicized. I touched on this in my video, but I think you've articulated it so much better here and I'm thankful for that. I'm also thankful for the way you've put into words this feeling I haven't been able to define myself- this idea that adolescent literature values what students do. It's not just that they tackle the everyday and the life-changing moments of adolescents, it's that they do so in a way that respects and values those adolescents. I think that as a society, we don't give young adults that respect which they crave and need. In this way, YA books become a refuge in more ways than I thought.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks for the kind words! I appreciated your blog title as well!
DeleteI love that you said YA books can be a "refuge" to our students. I think often these texts cover topics that their parents, teachers, and sometimes even their friends are unwilling to talk about. By presenting students with texts that contain these tough topics, hopefully it will encourage students to know that our classrooms are safe spaces where constructive academic conversations can be had- where we can foster more healthy responses to some of these issues like you mentioned!
Thanks for commenting!
I loved your comment about how people are on a journey of literacy their entire lives. Our views, thoughts, and understandings are going to continue to change during our life as readers. We will find different meanings in things we come back to, new meanings in books yet to be published, and continue to have our hearts and minds challenged. I completely agree with you that YA literature is so powerful because it allows students to step into the shoes of characters who have very different lives than their own, but find common ground. The Serpent King is a great example of this because even though kids might not have experienced a father sent to prison, they have experienced having a crush on someone but being too afraid to tell them, fear of the future, and even depression and the darkness creeping up on them. I agree with you that children need to be exposed to books like these because even if they have never experienced something like it...someone has. That knowledge and awareness will prepare them in life in so many ways. These books and our classrooms, like you said, are the safe space they need to work through these thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Stefanie Lamp'l
Stefanie,
DeleteThanks for providing an example for my arbitrary statement about finding something to relate with a character on even if we are vastly different. I felt as though I related to Lydia, Dill, and Travis- even though I've never experienced Lydia's fame or Dill and Travis's familial hardship.
This idea of relating to a character that we don't have much in common with made me think of Tyler in 13 Reasons Why. Like all the characters, Tyler makes his fair share of bad decisions along the way. I watched a special where the writer was discussing the choice to show the highly controversial sodomy scene in the final episode. He said as gruesome as it was, they made the choice to humanize Tyler because they needed everyone, even those who hated him, to understand on some level the choices he made following that violent act. He called this process radical empathy, the idea that we can relate to people even if we can't feel their pain because we are human. I teach this explicitly to my students, but never knew it had a name!
I also think our students benefit from knowing when we have also enjoyed a YA text. I love recommending books to my students that they're surprised I have read. I don't think they believe we read anything but Hawthorne and Shakespeare hah!
Thanks for sharing!
Agreed! Great blog title!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love how you look at adolescent literature as a tool to help create good writers. Reading good writing is one of the best tools I know to model writing to students in a meaningful way. Students not only learn new vocabulary through reading, they also learn context and style, figurative language, voice, dialogue, and many other devices good writers use to tell a story. Teaching these skills through the lens of a good book and a great writer are so much more meaningful than simply trying to tell the students in a lecture what these techniques are out of context. Modeling good writing is another way to help students see how writing is created. However, many people, even some language arts teachers, feel uncomfortable with their own writing abilities to such a degree that modeling writing for students is difficult at best. That is why utilizing the tools provided to us by great authors is such a wonderfully practical strategy.
I also agree that adolescent literature like The Serpent King is a literacy in and of itself. Stories of hope and survival like this have the potential to reach students going through similar situations and provide them with safe ways to consider the choices made by the characters, especially when dealing with painful and difficult subject matter. I have so many students who deal with sadness beyond my comprehension on a daily basis. I think that I sometimes underestimate their ability to handle the pain books like this present. I want to protect them from it as much as I can. However, I also have to provide them with ways to deal with the difficult problems they face, and allowing them to choose books that help them to do that is one way I can support them. Thank you for your thoughtful input on this topic.
Lynn
Hi Jordan: I totally agree that literacy is not singular -- not only are we literate in reading, speaking, writing a language, but we can be literate in different fields of work. I also agree that YA lit speaks to YA readers and encompasses the topics relevant to their lives. All American Boys was awesome -- I see you feel the same. I would definitely use it with an entire class and, as for Atticus, he is just the best! My thoughts are with you regarding the suicide issue. I am older than you but have experienced that 3 times in my life, and it is definitely one of life's biggest challenges, when someone you know and love makes that devastating decision.
ReplyDelete