Reviving Young Adult Literature

Throughout most of my life I have always been a voracious reader. I can remember as far back as my early childhood years perusing the bookshelves at the public library for Freddy the Pig or books by Beverly Cleary which were among my favorites. At most points throughout my life I am usually enmeshed in some form of reading material. The remnants of my teenage years are now boxes filled with comic books and Mad magazines, and old travel companions like Don Quixote, which accompanied me as an undergrad in Spain, sit patiently on my book shelf. The PRABE experience has not had much effect on my regular reading habits, though I did appreciate having an excuse to break away from heavy doses of CAL and educational philosophy from time to time. What this assignment did allow me to do was to reconnect with young adult literature, which is something I had wanted to do for some time now. When I taught high school students at an English program in south Thailand several years ago I resorted to tried and true adolescent-friendly books, albeit shortened versions of Alice in Wonderland and Robinson Crusoe. However, more contemporary works have proven more elusive to my interests. The first book I had read for the PRABE assignment was The Hunger Games – a book I had seen many students reading here in the U.S. – but a book I would have never picked up on my own. This assignment gave me an opportunity to examine these books and evaluate their literary value in the context of a secondary level ELA class. In doing so I was able to contemplate future lesson plans and strategies for teaching these books, which is just something I might not have gotten around to doing for some time. This assignment not only benefited me as an educator, but has instilled in me a newfound appreciation for young adult literature and I plan to continue reading these books for pleasure beyond this course.

Exploring the Moral Arc of the Universe in the Classroom

As I completed my reading of To Kill a Mockingbird I fully understood why this novel has withstood the test of time in the ELA class over the years. The book takes the timeless concept of justice and encapsulates in a very well-structured and readable story which is one of the major themes of the novel. As Scout begins her moral education through her loss of innocence by confronting injustice and moral hypocrisy via the trial of Tom Robinson, so too does the reader. In reality, this is an essential life lesson which can be abstract at times and may present itself in the direst of circumstances, yet the book presents in a first person perspective that has some historic truth. In the course of my reading on content area literacy I learned that students can become mentally engaged and their critical thinking skills aroused through discussion on topics that require making evaluative moral judgments. This can be especially beneficial for teenagers who are at a stage when passions and idealism can sometimes cloud reason and cynicism has yet to take root. By tying a discussion on the universal theme of justice touched on in To Kill a Mockingbird to contemporary social and cultural issues we can ignite a class discussion where transformative thinking is likely to occur.

Setting Up a Transformative Experience

In my slow reading (or should I say close reading) of the book To Kill a Mockingbird, I considered my goal of using the transformative model of teaching and ways to incorporate these strategies into a much longer reading. Many of the writing-based methods for guiding critical-constructive reading appear most helpful for short in-class readings as opposed to those that require several days of reading both inside and outside of the class. After reaching chapter ten of the novel I decided to pause and think about how I could use these strategies to set up a lesson on the novel. One of the most important parts of any reading lesson is pre reading, which if introduced properly has the effect of drawing students into the novel and increasing motivation to continue their reading. I would begin by focusing attention on the reading through a 14-minute YouTube clip aptly titled, “To Kill a Mockingbird Historical Context”. The video was designed specifically as a pre reading activity to set the novels historic context amidst the 1930s Great Depression. It depicts real images of the times accompanied by the music and captions that tie the scenes directly to the novel. The effect of the video would be to activate their schema and prior knowledge of this previously studied era in American history. In an effort to set the tone for the transformative model approach I hope to follow as we read the novel, I would use the Intra-Act method along with the video. The objective is to develop their ability to investigate critical issues using evaluative thinking which the video touches upon. As they watch the video, I would instruct them to answer carefully formulated comprehension questions on a worksheet which would focus on values issues such as class, poverty, and social justice. At the conclusion of the video students would get into small groups, choose a chairperson, compare their answers and discuss their reasons. While they are engaged in this activity I would circle the room and assist groups that may be struggling with the direction of their discussion. After a few minutes they would complete a second worksheet with their own answers as well as the responses they predict from their group members. The chairperson would then lead a second similar discussion on their responses and their predicted responses. This is then concluded by an entire class discussion about their responses and how this ties into their choices on the value statements. The Intra-Act method would segue into a guided in-class reading the next day following the ReQuests Procedure of the first chapter in an effort to model comprehension strategies. After reading the first three paragraphs aloud I would instruct students to ask as many questions as they can about these paragraphs. Some examples of additional questions would be: What kind of narrator does the novel have? Do you think this story will be a flashback? Describe each of the characters introduced. I would continue in this manner with three or four sets of paragraphs before instructing the students to read on their own. With a carefully formulated pre reading techniques the novel To Kill a Mockingbird has the potential to lead students to higher levels of thinking, and may even lead to a transformative experience.

ELA Staples

I thought for my next reading I would revisit ELA classics from my years as a high school student which remain in most ELA classrooms today. There are certain works of literature that seem essential to the collective experience of being a student which they all share while passing through American high schools. These works shape our culture at large and contribute to our shared knowledge which connects us to our social experience. Most Americans have at some point during the course of their education read books like Romeo and Juliet, Fahrenheit 451, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Beyond our immediate surroundings, these books enrich our experiences and help students think deeply about what can be an otherwise mundane existence. As I reflected on high school literary staples, this prompted me to ask the question: Why do students read To Kill a Mockingbird? Unlike the tragic love story that begins in the streets of Verona or a book burning firemen in a futuristic American city, the story of 6-year old Jean Louise Finch, or “Scout” as she is known, from Maycomb, Alabama is uniquely American. She tells the story of America in the distant past in the language of the times. The book complements the dry informational history and social studies texts by giving a human voice which is often times missing from the impersonal topical writing found in most textbooks. I began my reading of To Kill a Mockingbird having forgotten the entire storyline in the course of my twenty or so years since first picking up the book. I was therefore able to approach the book from the perspective of a student, albeit more mature and experienced and thus with a greater appreciation for the chapters that followed. The story opens with Scout telling the story of her childhood growing up in a small Southern town in the 1930s. In her opening narrative, she hints at a situation which resulted in her brother Jem breaking his arm. The only clue she offers as to the reason for the accident is a character named Dill who “gave [them] the idea of making Boo Radley come out.” This leads the reader into her story that begins in the summer of 1933 with the mystery of Boo Radley looming in the background. Harper Lee’s reflective narrative through the young voice of Scout is easy to follow and lends itself to an analysis of a variety of literary elements. The reader is able to connect with the young and naïve protagonist as she explains the plot from her adult perspective. As of chapter six, the characters Jem and Dill have been the central focus with her father Atticus growing in importance. Lee uses narrative devices to cast the reader into the mind of a child with the readers imagination clouded with gossipy myths of their strange neighbor Boo. As I read chapter six, I found myself increasingly curious of the Radley house and on edge as the children devise ways to make Boo come out. I believe that To Kill a Mockingbird is an excellent choice for high school students as it can help students develop a sense of empathy which can help them better understand others as well as themselves.

Precision of Language

Throughout the dystopian novel The Giver there is a heavy emphasis among the community on the importance of “precision of language”, which is one of the major ironies of the novel. In their effort to promote clear communication of ideas the community initially appears to share the same values as your typical ELA teacher. I recall my Shakespeare professor once chiding me for being too wordy and advised me to be more sparse yet precise in my use of language. However, the precision of language valued by the community is an effort to maintain order and what they refer to as “sameness”. The society of the story’s protagonist Jonas is extremely strict and highly controlled with rules that govern all aspects of life including the use of speech. This Orwellian world is reminiscent of the dystopian classic 1984 with the fictional language known as “newspeak” similarly controlled by the state. Both “newspeak” and “precision of language” share similar aims and characteristics which include elimination of concepts like individualism and a more simplified vocabulary and grammar. The tension that the precision of language creates is exemplified in the opening of the novel when Jonas tries to find the correct word to describe his emotions as he approaches the Ceremony of Twelve. This is an important moment in the lives of children in the community who will be assigned a career and begin their lives as adults. Jonas colors the opening with a somber tone by describing his feeling as “frightened” but quickly rejects the word as incorrect in favor of the word “apprehensive”. The community also makes use of euphemisms to describe the killing of the infirm or euthanasia using the word “release” to deceptively disguise the real meaning. The use of the word “release” has a much softer connotation than the actual act of violence that it really is – the words “killing” or “murder” are more accurate descriptions. The novel The Giver is an excellent reading for a middle school ELA class as it provides the perfect segue into a discussion on the importance of precision of language. The use of language is tied directly to our description of emotions that the omission of a particular word can result in the omission of the emotion. This is best exemplified in The Giver when Jonas is ridiculed by his parents for asking if they love him to which they respond by saying the word is too general and therefore meaningless. The omission of a single word by the community has resulted in the loss of this emotion by his parents. The concept of precision of language can be carried over into writing which is skill that needs attention, especially by teens who are known for their redundancy and overuse of certain adjectives and verbs.

The Value of Dystopia

After finishing The Hunger Games and The Old Man and the Sea I had a hard time choosing which book to read next. At first I leaned more towards traditional literature used in secondary level ELA courses – novels like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Outsiders immediately came to mind. But having read these stories as a teen I didn’t feel quite the same amount of motivation or thrill one might feel picking up a completely new, and more contemporary, fictional work. While at the public library I did a Google search on popular books for teenagers and randomly picked the book The Giver by Lois Lowry. The book is a recipient of the John Newberry Medal and another dystopian novel that differs from other works in the same genre such as The Hunger Games and Feed which prompted me to ask the question what can we learn from this particular fictional genre. It seems that the school environment is not the place to spend much time on a direct critique of society, culture, and politics. The regular subjects are more intent on teaching students what is, rather than what could be. We study history to learn about the past in order to have a better understanding of the present. Science and math are subjects that focus on what is known and further breaks this down into answering why this is. As previously mentioned, English language arts allows some leeway to teach values indirectly through a reading and analysis of literature. The dystopian genre allows us to look at culture or technological forces in the modern world, and to imagine and test these forces when taken to their logical extreme. For example, the novel Feed by M.T. Anderson follows the course of current cultural trends which has seen an inclination towards materialistic hedonism and moral degeneration as institutions that have long held together the social fabric, i.e. religion, family, and education are slowly eroded. The book allows readers to imagine a type of world where values such as dignity, self respect, and human self-worth appear essential to our sense of humanity. In some of the older dystopian novels like Fahrenheit 451 we can see near-accurate social predictions such as our obsession with security and the mass media come to fruition sixty years later. The novel The Giver begins in what appears to be a futuristic utopia where conflict and suffering have been eliminated from society and people live in a state of organized harmony. As I’ve gotten further into the novel it is becoming clear that such a seemingly ideal state has its downfalls. For example, the world in which the protagonist Jonas inhabits is a monotonous existence devoid of color, choice, and emotion. With pain and suffering completely eliminated people haven’t the slightest inclination of what pleasure is as they have nothing to compare it to. The joys of pleasure lose their value when one is unable to remember a time when they felt pain. The dystopian genre forces students to look at the present in ways they might not have ever thought about before and definitely has a place in an English language arts class.

Inspiring Students Through Fiction

After reading The Hunger Games I decided to turn my attention to Ernest Hemingway’s classic short story, The Old Man and the Sea. In my quest to read the stories I intend to teach in my secondary level ELA class, I thought I’d revisit this old personal favorite. There are indeed similarities between these two stories as they both depict battles to the death and touch on themes of honor and determination. The writing style of both Collins and Hemingway, though quite distinctive, both share a straightforward prose and brevity in style. However, this is where the similarities end. In the context of an ELA course I began to wonder how to sell this story to teenagers who would are more likely to read a book like The Hunger Games on their own time. Let’s face it, on the surface a story about an old man on a fishing trip doesn’t stand up to teenagers fighting to the death in a futuristic reality show. The story of Santiago, an aged Cuban fisherman, who after 84 days without a catch strikes out on his own in his skiff and spends the rest of the story reeling in a marlin, is a story teenagers seem unlikely to pick up on their own, which is precisely why I would use it in my class. The Hunger Games is an exemplary piece of commercial fiction with all of the elements that appeal to a broad audience, i.e. a distinct plot, characters pursuing a goal, and a tease of romance. It’s an excellent way to get students interested in reading, but does not have any lasting effect on their sense of morality. In our effort as educators to impart both knowledge and values, the heavy emphasis on informative texts accomplishes the former but leaves little room for the latter – this is where literary fiction finds its place in the ELA class. As educators we should always remain secular in the classroom, but still use literature to impart a sense of morality by exploring the human spirit. Stories like The Old Man and the Sea lend themselves to deeper levels of character analysis and the cultivation of empathy and understanding as we read and discuss the motivations and values of the characters. This all brings me back to how I would sell this story to a class of teenagers. When I read this story I was reminded of epic heroes like Odysseus, Aeneas, and Beowulf all of whom possessed traits such as honor and bravery while struggling against great odds in the face of defeat. But what makes these characters human is that they all possessed a fatal flaw, which in the case of Santiago is his pride. These characters help us reclaim our sense of humanity with all of its strengths and weaknesses, in a world that often seems intent on disconnecting us – nearly anyone can relate with them. Just like the epic heroes of the past who have inspired generations of cultures and nations to aspire to greatness despite the odds, The Old Man and the Sea possess this same element that with the right execution has the potential to inspire students in an ELA class.