15 weeks of class, 10 books, and perhaps a new perspective

When I began this class, I was a little caught off guard. I expected The Adolescent in American Literature to be more about the classics involving adolescents, things we would expect to find in our curriculum: Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, A Separate Peace, and others of that nature.

So needless to say, I was a little surprised and resisted at first.

However, I always think it's valuable to be exposed to a wide variety of literature, and this was no different. I think my students will someday benefit from my exposure to YA lit. Perhaps they will be inclined to read more outside the classroom if I can present to them a variety of literature. If I can give them literature they like, they may be more likely to trust me about more mature or challenging reads.

I really like the idea of pairing classic literature with YA in order to bring out the similarities, but I have yet to really understand how to effectively do this in a classroom. I'll be holding onto that idea and looking into it as I begin to teach in the coming years.

As I've said, I really enjoyed some books more than others. I will not soon forget Looking for Alaska or My Most Excellent Year. The rest have given me a glimpse of YA Lit and the ability to find new reads for my students in the future.

Blogging with real teens

I thought for one of my final reflections it would be really relevant to touch on the class of sophomores, juniors, and seniors we blogged with about their YA Lit class.

I have to admit that at first, I didn't see the real value in this idea. I thought it'd just be sort of silly and we wouldn't get much out of it. I was quite wrong. Though we only had a brief time to interact with them, I saw immediate value.

I think many of us especially in this class, most of us English or Education majors of some sort, we probably had relatively positive experiences with reading growing up, perhaps even accelerated. Many of us said we may have skipped YA Lit at least a little, if not entirely. We missed out on this literature, but that doesn't mean that many teens don't enjoy it and benefit from it. And hearing what they had to say about why it was important to them to have this kind of class was insightful.

I just saw how much they enjoyed their class, if nothing else. They respected and liked their teacher and trusted her book choices. They seemed to actually read the books, to enjoy them, and to learn from them. Some of the students said they hated reading before this class, and I was excited to hear them say that they really liked to read some of these books. I've said from the beginning that reading is beneficial no matter what kind. And this sort of thing can definitely be a stepping stone to enjoying more challenging reading as an adult.

I also had to comment on the references to the classics. I commented on the blog that it sounded more like they had teachers who were unable to reach them with the classics, to connect the underlying themes to their lives. One student wrote how the sex, drugs, and love in the YA books they just didn't find in Romeo and Juliet... I think they missed something, which made me so sad.

It reinforced to me, as a preservice English teacher, that it is ESSENTIAL to connect with my students, to help them connect with the literature, to help them find relevant meaning. It will turn them off from reading if I can't do that effectively.

The Most Excellent book of the semester?

Okay, sorry, the titles of these posts are really sort of cheesey. I just can't help myself.

Anyway, as the last book of the semester, I couldn't help but think back on all of the ones I've read. The one that stuck out most in my mind was Looking for Alaska. I just so enjoyed that book, and after that, nothing ever quite met that expectation. Sometimes it was the genre, sometimes the characters or the plot itself, but I never quite reached the satisfaction that I had while reading Alaska... until My Most Excellent Year, by Steve Kluger. The story is one of three friends growing up, dealing with love and loss, friendship, and mostly hope.

I know many people didn't like the varying format, but I thought it so enhanced the book and kept it interesting. It gave great insight on each of the characters and helped me better get into their heads and understand their motivations. I just thought the format was appropriate. No complaints.

I also think that one of my favorite parts of the book was its ability to get across a point without making it glaringly obvious. I don't think that it had an "agenda" so to speak, but I think it's fair to say that Kluger was trying to make a point about homosexuality, mostly by not making it at all, less perhaps one line, said by Augie's dad, "I realized that we'd never had the "I'm gay" conversation. Has this generation finally made it superfluous? If only."

Though homosexuality was a theme throughout the book, it was just that, A theme, not THE theme, and nothing jammed down your throat or shoved in your face. I so appreciated that. Perhaps it was an ideal world, perhaps it wasn't "realistic" enough, but the first step to accomplishing a social goal is to be able to envision it. And I think Kluger did an exceptional job with his handling of this social issue.

The rest of the book was simply about love. Father-son love, Mother-son love, friendly love, budding love, romantic love, the love of a child, among probably others. Yes, the world is full of horrible things, and often life is not fair... but sometimes it's nice to step outside of that and remember that love prevails. It was a pick-me-up book, an easy read, something fun, and it left me with a smile. I would give it my highest recommendation for any student looking for this sort of feeling.