Have I Gained Better Acquaintance with Contemporary YA Literature?
As a result of this course, I have a more thorough understanding of contemporary YA literature. While I read many YA novels as a teenager, I did not usually read much by contemporary authors. Also, since my teenage years ended about six years ago, my knowledge of the most recent YA authors is fairly limited. After taking LTED 629, I am now familiar with the works of Ally Carter, Eric Luper, Ellen Hopkins, Deborah Ellis, and Suzanne Collins. These authors stand out to me as having produced exemplary YA works. In particular, Eric Luper’s Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto (2010) and Ellen Hopkins’ Crank (2004) are two examples of the versatility of YA literature. These also happen to be two of my favorite works of YA literature.
I believe I was able to “fully transact” with these works as a result of my own reading, my blog posts, and our class discussions. My own readings of these novels provided the basis for my understanding and allowed me to connect the text to my own life experiences. I was then able to further expand upon these connections in my blog posts and consider text-to-text as well as text-to-world connections. Our class discussions allowed me to gain new perspectives on the literature based on my peers’ opinions of, and connections to, the text. Through these discussions, I was able to extend my own ideas about the literature and develop my understanding of the topics addressed in these novels.
Our class discussions also enabled me to “look beyond the differences and take a step toward appreciating the cultural connectedness of all humanity” (Landt, 2006, p. 692). In particular, our discussions of Deborah Ellis’ The Breadwinner (2000), Nujood Ali’s I Am Nujood, age 10 and Divorced (2010), and Jennifer Donnelly’s A Northern Light (2003) all helped me to look past my own personal opinions and beliefs about the texts in order to consider them in the context of their cultural and historical standpoints. As Landt (2006) asserts, literature has the ability to “open doors in our minds” (p. 690). The literature we have read and discussed in this course has truly opened my mind and expanded my views about various cultures and periods in history, as well as various situations teens encounter in today’s world.
Have I Developed an Understanding of How to Utilize YA Literature and Strategic Teaching Practices to Support Secondary School Curricula?
Prior to this course, I had a basic understanding of literary devices, such as imagery and communication. However, I had somewhat foolishly believed that I had a complete understanding of these terms, based on my undergraduate studies in English Literature. Once I began reading Moon’s (1999) Literary Terms: A Practical Glossary, I realized my understanding of many of these terms was extremely basic. As a result of our work with Moon’s (1999) text, I was able to have more consideration for the way these devices function in each work of YA literature we studied this semester. Moon’s (1999) text also fostered a deeper knowledge of each literary device and the extent to which these devices are present in a given text.
As a result of my “Meeting ELA Standards…” project, I was able to consider how graphic novels fit into the New York State standards. I was also encouraged to think deeply about the ways communication and imagery are used in a particular text (in this case, in Persepolis (2003)). In addition, I determined how to incorporate these literary devices into my classroom instruction. Groenke & Scherff (2010) aided in my understanding of how to teach graphic novels in the classroom, and their use of Jago’s criteria allowed me to more closely consider the specific components of the text that make it appropriate to teach to an entire class. Through my classmates’ presentations, I was able to gain new perspectives of each novel, as well as the literary devices at work in these texts. Also, these presentations provided me with additional ideas regarding how to teach YA literature to my future students. Finally, creating my iMovie, or “End of Unit” Reader Response Project, encouraged me to further interact with my selected text in order to discover how to compose a book trailer that effectively engages the viewer and implements aspects of communication and imagery. Creating my iMovie also enabled me to understand Sylvester and Greenidge’s (2009) assertion that this type of activity can highly motivate struggling writers. As a result of this project, I not only have a deeper understanding of Persepolis (2003), but of graphic novels in general. I am also more aware of the types of learning activities I can incorporate into a unit on YA literature.
Have I Developed an Understanding of How to Utilize Digital Teaching and Learning Practices to Support Secondary School Curricula?
I believe I have been successful in meeting the learning goals for this course through my blog posts and class wiki. My own personal blog aided me in processing ideas about the texts, while the class wiki assisted in building unity and a social environment among classmates. In addition, both my personal blog and the class wiki allowed for the sharing of information between my peers and myself. Solely relying on class discussions would result in students’ sharing only certain thoughts with the rest of the class. By utilizing blogs and wikis, each student is able to contribute a wider variety of ideas to either their personal blog or the class wiki. The blog is extremely helpful in allowing students to consider the text largely on their own, with the slight awareness that others can view and comment on their blog posts. As a result, I personally believe that I most likely would not have thought as metacognitively about my own reading practices and my own learning if we had not used these digital tools in this course.
I also believe I have been successful in meeting the learning goals for this course through my digital reader response project, or iMovie. This project added to my own understanding of how my students would approach the novel and this project. In addition, this project allowed me to consider the way creating a digital response would encourage my students to share ideas, process ideas, share information and responses, and build a social environment “created in the electronic space” (Grisham & Wolsey, 2006, p. 654). Through this project, I was also made aware of the way creating a digital response can motivate students, particularly struggling writers (Sylvester & Greenidge, 2009). Through completing my iMovie, I discovered that the digital reader response project is particularly effective for the graphic novel genre, as I was able to see how images and words are combined to effectively communicate ideas.
Not only did this project allow me to develop a deeper appreciation for the literary elements of YA literature and the literary elements of the digital narrative, but it also allowed me to more fully engage with the text. As a result of creating my iMovie, I became more familiar with the text, particularly the way certain images convey the intended emotions and ideas within the text. I also learned new aspects of the program I used to create my digital response. Previously, I had never added music to a video on iMovie. Creating a digital response allows for more creativity and a different way of thinking about the text than a report or other written response would. Overall, creating a digital response in this way supported my learning in a unique way. I believe that I would not have been as successful in meeting the learning goals for this course had we not used these digital tools.
References
Donnelly, J. (2003). A northern light. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Books.
Ellis, D. (2000). The breadwinner. Toronto, Canada: Douglas & McIntyre.
Grisham, D. L. & Wolsey, T. D. (2006). Recentering the middle school classroom as a vibrant learning community: Students, literacy, and technology intersect. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49(8), 648-660.
Groenke, S. L. & Scherff, L. (2010). Teaching YA lit through differentiated instruction. Urbana, IL: NCTE.
Hopkins, E. (2004). Crank. New York, NY: Simon Pulse.
Landt, S. M. (2006). Multicultural literature and young adolescents: A kaleidoscope of opportunity. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49(8), 690-697.
Luper, E. (2010). Seth Baumgartner’s love manifesto. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Moon, B. (1999). Literary terms: A practical glossary. Urbana, IL: NCTE.
Nujood, A. (2010). I am Nujood, age 10 and divorced. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press.
Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis: The story of a childhood. New York, NY: Pantheon.
Sylvester, R., & Greenidge, W. (2009). Digital storytelling: Extending the potential for struggling readers. The Reading Teacher, 63(4), 284-295.
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