Reflection

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My learning throughout this course has reignited my passion for reading and for teaching reading. In my first year, and during the first semester of my second year I read voraciously and finished over fifty books each year. Then, in my second semester of my second year, I stopped actively making time to read for myself. Making time to read for pleasure is as important for myself as it is for my students. I know that they will benefit from my learning in this course and I'm excited to bring the books I've read to my classroom library and to integrate Moxie into my Coming of Age literature circles unit.

Specifically, this course has reminded me that YA can accomplish the same tasks in the classroom as classic novels. Kittle explained that if we teach students to love read then maybe one day they will pick up To Kill A Mockingbird themselves. This really struck me. I enjoy TKAM, but after teaching it almost ten times in my first two years teaching (block schedule) I noticed it's flaws more than the awesome things about it. I think pairing classic novels that we may be required to teach with YA lit allows us to address the problematic elements that are often present in classic novels.

In my YA literature unit, I am able to focus on analytical reading and writing skills and also contemporary social issues. We can talk about how authors use form to support function- meaning specifically how authors can use all of those literary devices to make you feel something as a reader. The theme of this school year at my school is empathy, and I really feel like my principal pulled our mission statement out of my grade school statement of purpose. Teaching empathy I think is my primary goal as a teacher. I spent the first 20 years of my life believing everything my parents believed, and when I was exposed to different ways of knowing and being I felt like I had been lied to. I want to give my students that opportunity earlier in life, and I know I can use YA to do so.

My biggest struggle is fighting for space for YA at my school. I think my principal understands its value, but I don't think she feels it has a significant space in the classroom. I think the best work I can do for my students is to use my first unit to get them hooked and encourage them to read for pleasure and to read what they enjoy outside of their school reading while simultaneously fighting the good fight and continuing to carve a space out for my YA lit in my curriculum.

I am recommitting myself this year to being a teacher who reads, and I know that will be difficult to balance with three preps, masters coursework, and the preparation of the homecoming festivities like spirit week, elections, and the dance, I know that the more I read, the more in turn, my students will read. The next book on my to read list is Children of Blood and Bone. Stay tuned to my goodreads to see what comes next!

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