Using Literature to Teach and ReachTweens and Teens

Today’s tweens and teens“need to be wealthy in knowledge and understanding by improving literacy skills.” Carnegie report on adolescent literacy“live in an age of media convergence.” Karl Fisch’s NOW YOU KNOWSend an average of 2272 texts a monthHave access to 1 million books a yearAnd 1 billion web sites

How do we balance the two?21st century skills&Books and reading

Framing the Discussion

www.slideshare.netwww.livejournal.comProfessorNana

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7MeaningPlayEmpathySymphonyStoryDesign

Meaning

Play

Empathy

Symphony

Story

Design

8Readers make meaning (Louise Rosenblatt) from the text. However, they need to know how to negotiate the text FOR meaning.

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The punctuation test is todayThe punctuation test is todayThe punctuation test is today

The punctuation test is today

The punctuation test is today

The punctuation test is today

meaningMeaning can be conveyed in many forms and formatsNonfiction is a good place to begin.Graphic novels and GN format is also good for developing meaning in readers.

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"Brevity gets right to the point doesn't dawdle, dicker, or delay always short and sweet whenever there is something to do or say brevity comes in handy when you are subject to a chewing out a bout of the flu a pain in the neck or waiting in line for the loo in fact, this poem has gone on so long that its recital would no longer qualify as an example of its title" 13

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Flying SoloTime to go. . . solo.Teacher hops out,open seat huge in its emptiness.Only comfort, an airplane.Butterflies swarmin her stomach.Breathe, girl.Courage beats fear.Taxi down the runway,pick up speed,pull throttle back,wheels lift off . . .Flying solo.Breathe, girl.The air up there is fine.15

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Little Brown

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PlayHumor depends on playWord play is another variationAnd do not forget PLAYS in and of themselves

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Lemony snicket is back

Word play in poetry

Obsession with butts…

Swan lake

The play’s the thing

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What is empathy?Stronger than sympathyHow many of you…Wished to be something/someone different at some point in your life?

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Who has…Mourned the loss of a family member?

35Car accidentGrandmaMotherLetters

Little Brown

Has anyone…Ever been swindled?

38There are many ways to describe Ms. Underdorf. She was brilliant and joyous, and she believed-probably correctly-that libraries contain the answers to everything, and that if you can’t find the information you seek in the library, then such information probably does not exist in this or any other parallel universe now or ever to be known. She was thoughtful and kind and always believed the best of everybody. She was, above all else, a master librarian and knew where to find any book on any subject in the shortest possible time. And she was wonderfully unhinged… And so the Amazing Armadillo.

What about…Feeling outcast or different or separate from others?

FSG

National GeographicAfter school book club

DestinyRoad tripA fair day

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Symphony calls to mindMany voices or instruments blending into one

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48Lil JKelly

A brilliant work of art that begs to be savoredSymphony can also be…

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harpercollins

First second

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Why is story important?Oldest form of communication (oral tradition in literature)Structure provides consistencySharing stories brings us closer

Story ladderMoving students slowly and carefully

56PeterFortune tellerMagicianOpera house

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designCan be visualCan be within the writingCan be almost imperceptibleMust be shown to students…..

ReadicideOverteachingUnderteaching

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61LeticiaDominiqueTrina

scholastic

harpercollins

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65LiaCassie’s deathanorexia

66Girl (Bug)meets boy at a car wash."Dog," she says."Dude," he says.And probably this would have been a sweet teen romance. . . .If Beals hadn't been sitting next to her in the car.If Beals hadn't been a supernatural repo man looking to repossess her car.And to possess her. David Macinnis Gill delivers the whole enchilada. With a side of soul.