YA Pedagogy - Community

 

I like framing YA lit as asking “who we are and what that might mean” (51) because it values student readers and their experiences and asks them to think more deeply than simply entertainment. I wanted to note the four qualities of a classroom community in YA pedagogy: belief that the work is important, discussions that blend personal response and literary analysis, a sense of being known and valued, and collective investment in a shared experience (54). I have so many of these beliefs shooting around in an unstructured way, but seeing it simplified into four simple principles had me going “yes! This!”

The classroom portraits were all inspiring. I thought the book tree in Carrie’s class was cute with the titles. I love valuing YA reading like this, showing the students it matters by displaying all the titles they love and giving them such a voice! Buehler talks about the student buy-in (58) which I also noted - It’s the secret magic ingredient that makes everything else in the classroom lift and feel magical! She accomplishes it with the principles of YA community - her kids feel like they are important, get to respond and analyze, feel like their voices matter, and get to share in this journey together. I wish there had been a YA elective when I was in school! It seems like the dream teaching situation to get to teach a group of kids who WANT to sign up for this class and then just focus only on the YA texts you’re all most excited about!

Daria’s setting was a lot different and reminded me a bit of my old school where a lot of kids weren’t successful int traditional settings for various reasons and there was a very wide range of abilities and interests - it was also multiage. I love her emphases on reading aloud and thought it was sweet that the kids want HER to read it, not just a recording (65) - that really underscores the community piece in the YA pedagogy. 

I don’t think I would thrive well in Jennifer’s situation. Too many moving parts! All the clip board jotting and multiple novels going at once would make my head explode. Reminds me a bit of myself as a beginning teacher when I thought I had to track every little thing to make it meaningful. I think a lot can be accomplished with less. I would simplify her approach if I were to try it for myself, for my own sanity if anything else. Keep in mind, though, I teach all subjects, not just LA, though that is my eventual goal. 

While we have book groups and small group discussions in my class, there’s a lot more duty and a lot less buy in than these portraits show. I would love to get the rest of my team to buy in to a YA approach to liven that up. I am starting small with updating our short story unit, but think it will be a gateway to other contemporary texts that will excite and build authentic community.