Welcome to YA Lit, ENG 418 for Spring Semester 2008!
Hi! I'm sorry I can't see you on the first day of class, but we'll meet one another soon.
To prepare for our second week of classes, here is what I need you to do:
1. Create a blogger account for yourself. You will be required to use this blog to post assignments, reflections, etc., as I request them. So, go to http://www.blogger.com/ and hit "Create Your Own Blog" to set up your account. You can set up your own blog if you like, but we'll be using this one here, not any individual sites you may set up. I suggest that you do not use your full name. If you use something very far removed from your real name, send me an e-mail at james.b.carter@usm.edu to let me know what username coincides with your actual identity.
2. Read chapters 1-3 of the Donelson and Nilsen book. That's our main textbook, but certainly not our only one. Write a minimum 1-page reflection on these chapters.
3. If I send you a copy of the syllabus, be sure to read it over for any questions you may have once I get back in town. Yes, this course is a lot of work. Yes, you are expected to write reflections or journals on all of your readings; yes, you do have to read 12 YA books in addition to our text books readings. Yes, you do have to get 6 of them on your own. Reading through the Nilsen and Donelson can help you get an early start on building your individual booklists. If you don't get the syllabus via an e-mail, though, don't worry. We'll get to it upon my return.
4. Read The Book Thief and write a 1-page journal entry on it in which you A. set the scene of the novel (think "movie man preview voice" here), B. provide a summary, C. offer commentary on the novel. It's a long book for our first selection, so don't tarry.
1. Create a blogger account for yourself. You will be required to use this blog to post assignments, reflections, etc., as I request them. So, go to http://www.blogger.com/ and hit "Create Your Own Blog" to set up your account. You can set up your own blog if you like, but we'll be using this one here, not any individual sites you may set up. I suggest that you do not use your full name. If you use something very far removed from your real name, send me an e-mail at james.b.carter@usm.edu to let me know what username coincides with your actual identity.
2. Read chapters 1-3 of the Donelson and Nilsen book. That's our main textbook, but certainly not our only one. Write a minimum 1-page reflection on these chapters.
3. If I send you a copy of the syllabus, be sure to read it over for any questions you may have once I get back in town. Yes, this course is a lot of work. Yes, you are expected to write reflections or journals on all of your readings; yes, you do have to read 12 YA books in addition to our text books readings. Yes, you do have to get 6 of them on your own. Reading through the Nilsen and Donelson can help you get an early start on building your individual booklists. If you don't get the syllabus via an e-mail, though, don't worry. We'll get to it upon my return.
4. Read The Book Thief and write a 1-page journal entry on it in which you A. set the scene of the novel (think "movie man preview voice" here), B. provide a summary, C. offer commentary on the novel. It's a long book for our first selection, so don't tarry.
5. Create a discussion plan for The Book Thief. The DP can be anything you want it to be, so long as you feel it will help you discuss the book with your students. That's all the info I'll give you on the DP for right now.
6. Reply to this blog post by:
A. Telling me what your initial ideas are on the concept of YA literature.
B. Telling me what you hope to get out of this course.
C. By letting me know if you have any knowledge on how to post video to the web via YouTube or other outlets or software. That will be important later. :)
Here's how I've responded to Part A of item # 6 in the past:
"I admit, I used to be an elitist. If it wasn't canonical, I didn't really see why I needed it in my classroom. Back then, of course, I was still figuring out that the teaching focus wasn't on all my preferences but on the needs and interests of my students. I used to really turn up my nose at anything YA, but, I did so because I was stubborn in terms of my notions of 'worthy literature' and ignorant to the complexity, variety, and quality of YA lit available.How do you view YA lit?"
Feel free to use that as a jumping off point for your own responses.
Have your blog response posted by 5:00 p.m. the Tuesday before our next class. Be prepared to discuss The Book Thief, share your DP's, ask questions about the course, and discuss everyone's blog replies. You've got a solid week, so get to work, do a great job, and I look forward to talking with you IN PERSON next week. :)
Sincerely,
Bucky
posted by Bucky C. @ 1:16 PM
17 comments
17 Comments:
So I really do not have any ideas on adolescent literature, to tell the truth, I am not sure what is considered adolescent literature. I am sure I will find out soon. The knowledge that I hope to gain from this course is hopefully going to be classroom knowledge. Ways in which I can become a successful English teacher. As far as posting videos...I am clueless. I have not posted a video, I love to watch them, but I have no experience with videos.
I really dont have any ideas on adolescent literature, but i am sure this class will help me understand the importance of it. I am an english literature major and i think this course will help me analyze all sorts of literature. As far as posting videos, i have never done that before and have no clue on how. I am really not a computer person, so this blog experience will be a learning experience for me.
I'm not sure what books qualify as adolescent literature, but the concept of having books aimed towards adolescents is a good idea. I hope to become more familiar with the books that are available for older kids to read and what they are about. I also hope to get a better idea of how to explain and teach the important parts of a book to an adolescent. I have no experience posting videos. All I can do is record them with my camera and get them onto my computer.
Young Adult literature is a fascinating thing really. I highly enjoy reading it, sometimes more than the books made for adults. Often I've found myself in the library, hungry for a book to read, and I generally head for the Young Adult section. I am pleased with the new trend in literature for young adults today. When I was growing up, you were lucky to find a book that MENTIONED fantasy, much less was about it. Now a days, it seems there is a much larger selection. Some of my favorite authors are Holly Black, Pullman, and Daren Shann.
I hope to get a better grasp on the genres of books out there for young adults, and gain the knowledge I will need to teach high school kids to appreciate reading. As you can see, I mostly go for fantasy novels, so it'll be good to see what else is out there.
And All I know about youtube, is that there's some funny stuff on there, and thats about it.
>^.^<
Let's see, I guess I fall into the "unsure what qualifies as YA lit" category. I would assume that it would be lit that young adults can relate to and that will help them grow in their reading abilities. I am eager to become educated on this genre, and super excited about the graphic novel aspect of this class!! I hope to gain knowledge that will help me to be a successful and "cutting edge" English teacher. I want students to learn in my classroom, but I want them to realize that Literature can be more than a "boring book", but that it can be enjoyable as well as informative. As far as posting videos is concerned, I have no clue but I'm sure I can learn.
Thanks, you "first five." Now, how about the rest of you? :)
Hello!!! Adolecsent literature in my opinion are books that we read in high school. The only book I can remember reading in high school was The Giver. I'm truly excited about the class and the learning experiences that I will gain from it. I know a little bit about posting videos and absolutley nothing about blogging. I just hope I'm doing this right.
I think of adolescent literature I think about books that I read in jr high and high school. I also think about books that adolescents can relate to. I am looking forward to learning what adolescent literature is truly about. As for posting videos...well that's a "horse of a different color" Lol!!!
YA literature, as I've been reading in our book, is a tricky thing to define. My preconceived notions were that YA literature is a market. As I've been reading, however, I see there is more there. I hope this course unveils the community around YA literature for me. Finally, I watched a friend post something on YouTube once and it didn't seem to difficult. If we're going to be doing things of that nature it would be great.
YA Literature sounds like tons of fun, honestly. When I hear Young Adolescent Literature I think comic books and graphic novels and fantasy novels, I guess because that is what I read as a young adolescent. So when it comes right down to it I am hopeful that this course will be as much fun as it sounds. I, honestly, have no idea about how to post videos on the web. I am sure that I could easily learn because I have roommates who are into that stuff but as of right now...nothing.
YA literature...Hmm, let's see. You know, it took me a few seconds to even recognize what "YA" stands for. When I think YA lit., I think junior high and below. When high school comes, out come the old classics. To be honest, I don't know much about YA literature. When I was younger, I didn't read much--mainly because I didn't know what to read. Where would I start? Certainly not the "girl" books or the sci-fi books. How would I know where to begin? That is the question that I would like to learn the answer to in this class. Teaching kids what they need to know is great, but teaching kids what they need to know in a way that is tailored to them is even greater.
Though they might not identify with Huck Finn or Frankenstein, they might see themselves in a YA lit. character who is similar, and it'll be my job to not only retrieve fitting YA lit. but to also discover this similarity and bring it to the students' attention. I definitely need to expand my horizon into the world of YA literature. And to make a long post even longer, no, I don't know how to post a video to the web.
There seems to be an empty gap in some minds, my own included, when it comes to young adult literature. I've personally never been taught anything that I would consider young adult literature. Through high-school and college, so far, teachers seem to constantly subscribe to the notion that literature is either canonical or trash. In high-school literature was one of my least favorite subjects because I hated the material, I hope this class will help me avoid raising a generation of students like myself. The fact is you can't teach someone something they don't want to know, not legally anyway. That, in my unqualified opinion, is why it is so difficult to teach classics to high-school students, but enough of my rambling. Unfortunately, I am an old fashioned pen and paper kind of guy. So I'll have to jump on the "I have no idea how to post a video" bandwagon.
Young Adult Literature would be literature wrote for young adults, right? Initially I was pretty excited about this course, and I still am. I took a children’s literature class last semester and thoroughly enjoyed it, and when I saw and heard that there was a course for young adult literature I knew I should take it
Here's a post from AmyB, who was having some trouble accessing the blog:
"I'm a bit of an elitist myself. I see the value in providing literature that kids will actually like to read, but I don't think the classics should be ignored. In my opinion, they are classics for a reason. As far as computers go [....] Electronic devices and I have a mutual dislike of one another, but I'm sure we can reach a truce for this class. I have no idea about online videos, though."
I'm not sure what adolescent literature course is about. I know that this is one of my important courses to take since my endorsement is english. I hope to get a better understanding on adolescent literature by recaping the lessons I haved learned to my future students. I do not have any knowledge at all on posting a video on the web but looking forward to learning....
OK, so we're showing 16 enrolled, and we have 13 comments posted, minus one from me. I wasn't able to check the blog until 10p.m., so that gave folks a few extra hours to get things in.
So, the majority of us are doing pretty well. Any folks who have yet to post to this first entry still need to do so, even though it'll be late.
ginare, I like how you created your own blog and typed up your assignments there. That was NOT a requirement (so the rest of you don't need to get nervous all of a sudden), but it might end up being a neat way for you to keep things organized for the portfolios you and your peers will be crafting, ginare, so kudos to you for that extra effort there.
Please, all, do take time to read your peers' responses to our postings.
Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!
I didn't really have any idea as to what qualified to be adolescent literature, but I had some common knowledge that it must be something that young adults enjoy reading.
From this course I hope to apply what I learn to my own classroom and be more familiar with young adult lit and the types of genre available.
I know how to post vids so if you need any help holler at me! I have my own account on there too.
-Amanda
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