Never Too Late To Teach An Aging Dog New Tricks.- Trying Something New With a Grad Course, Adult Literature Circles

I admit it: I couldn't make up my mind which book to.choose for this Spring for The Literate Learner because I wanted to position three different books on the front burner of my thinking for a semester. I've been strategic about putting YA texts in my courses that I plan to be writing with and about in my own academic work. This fall, however, I couldn't make up my mind because the three books that were immediately on my radar had different appeals (New Kid was a no-brainer).

Alas, my textual self was a little skeptical of putting a graphic novel into the syllabus for a 'developmental reading' course, only because they require a different kind of reading. Then I was like, "Uck it," I'm after story and Hey, Kiddo and New Kid deliver in phenomenal ways. But then I listened to Jason's Look Both Ways and I thought, "Shoot, I just want to have a middle school semester and see what comes of it." Instead of choosing one, I chose all 3, and have given graduate students to gravitate to the book that most appeals to them.


Lucky for me, it was an even split. Tonight, I will be hosting my first-ever academic literature circles where the graduate students not only discuss the books, but think about teaching them to middle grades youth. Strange, too, is the fact that the majority of in-practice teachers with me this semester are also middle-grade teachers. I had no plan of this when I chose these books to think about. I'm a little bit scared of how this evening will turn out, but I'm optimistic and hopeful that it will work out smashingly.

And I must admit that I listened to Jason's Look Both Ways and didn't read it. I know that listening is good, but it's not always the best way to capture the nuanced writing that occurs. I'm hoping that will come forward in the conversations.

Yes, Yes. I know. I know. I am usually good about offering girl authors, too, and I fail this semester. They are 100% boy stories and I am calling myself out for it.

The early teen years out of childhood into adolescence is such a peculiar, odd time. I'm thankful to know, however, that there are writers out there aiming their texts at these readers. Hey, Kiddo, is probably the most mature of the three, but when you break down New Kid and Look Both Ways, those narratives/stories are equally as complicated, especially when you take a socio-cultural view of the story-telling.

I am willing to take the gamble with a new strategy after 25 years in the classroom and in front of kids (I can officially say that is has been almost half my life). What's probably scarier, however, is the fact that the graduate students with me today, were in elementary school when I was teaching high school.

I don't want to go there.

Instead, I'm simply hoping for a successful Tuesday, stress-free instruction that goes smoothly, and wonderful transitions for the work-week ahead.