As a current student teacher, walking through the halls of my placement, I came to a startling realization: schools have become devoid of magic. I’m not writing about the type of magic you’d see in Hogwarts, but the type of magic that drew me to becoming a teacher. Growing up, schools were places where I was given opportunities to reflect on who I was and the different parts of my identity that made me who I am today. Instead of completing worksheet after worksheet, we would play games of pretend, of discovery.  Reading David Bowles and Guadalupe Garcia McCall’s novel Secret of the Moon Conch reminded me of this magic. This novel, which brings two characters together over the span of 500 years, reflects the importance of knowing who you are now and the history that brought you there.
 
While there are many ways you could use this novel in a classroom, I present to you two writing prompts that focus on this magic of self-discovery. The first prompt focuses on where one comes from (setting). The second prompt focuses on authentic language.
 
Multimodal Setting Creation with YA Literature
Rich settings immerse readers into the plot of a story; it’s the glue that allows fictional worlds to come to life. By understanding how to write a setting loaded with imagery, students will be able to create vivid, realistic stories.
 
This YA novel is split between two main characters and their respective settings: Sitali living in modern-day Mexico and Calizto living in Tenochtitlán in 1521. The following passage is in Calizto’s point of view as he describes his walk through his neighborhood. Note the strong imagery he uses to describe his journey.
 
Passage:
“I walk through my neighborhood of Metztonalco. Twilight deepens into night. A new moon. Only stars emerge, first Venus, celestial protector, and then the rest, constellations glittering in the canals as I pass over rickety bridges. My father’s house stands silent at the lip of the city, lake water just a stone’s throw from the courtyard” (10).
 
Questions for Students to Think About:

• What do you notice about this passage?
• What different parts of his neighborhood does his describe?
• Does his neighborhood sound similar or different than yours? How? Why?
• What’s the importance of where he lives? How do you know?

Structural Breakdown:
“I walk through my neighborhood of Metztonalco. Twilight deepens into night. A new moon. Only stars emerge, first Venus, celestial protector, and then the rest, constellations glittering in the canals as I pass over rickety bridges. My father’s house stands silent at the lip of the city, lake water just a stone’s throw from the courtyard” (10).
 
Draw Student’s Attention to the Following:

• Strong word choices (bolded)
• Appositive phrases to add more detail to the described places in his description (underlined)
• Varied sentence structure and the use of phrases
• Description includes action of the environment around him
  • “Twilight deepens,” “stars emerge,” “house stands”
• Figurative language - personification (italicized)

Multimodal Activity:
After analyzing the passage, have students draw a map of their own neighborhood and the surrounding city, as well as their most important places to go. Then, have them draw a line showing how they get from one place to another. An example of what this might look like is below (color is not necessary).
 
Writing Prompt:
After completing their maps, present students with the following writing prompt:
The places we alive are important; they define who we are. Authors use specific sensory details to create imagery within their stories to transport readers from their beds or couches to the worlds of their characters. Using the map you’ve created of your neighborhood, write a paragraph that takes the reader on a journey. You should have a starting and end ending point that exists somewhere in your neighborhood. Describe what you see, hear, smell, and feel along your journey.

Authentic Language in YA Literature
For too long, authors have sacrificed the words that they want to use for the ease of reader comprehension. This is commonly seen in stories where it is assumed a character is speaking their native language, but the narrative written in only English. However, Secret of the Moon Conch by David Bowles and Guadalupe García McCall show readers just how easy it can be to weave authentic language and explanatory information for readers.
 
Passage One:
The following is a passage from the novel that can be used to show students how authors integrate authentic language in their story while also helping readers understand what that language means. Here, the authors use the word “mochila,” Spanish for “backpack,” and use vivid details that lead readers to that conclusion.
 
“‘I found a conch,’ I say, pointing to my mochila, which I haven’t used since I left school last year. It has hung in the corner of the room from the head of a rusty nail for months, empty and sad as a dry cornhusk until today, when I filled it with the bulk of my clothes and the pink shell” (16).
 
After reading this passage with students, ask them to write or discuss the following questions:

• How has Sitlali treated her mochila?
• What are some key words from the passage that tell you when and where a mochila is used?
• How does the figurative language in the passage help you picture the mochila?
• Why does Sitlali use her mochila now?
• What do you think a mochila might be based on the clues in the passage? Why might she choose to use the word “mochila” instead of one you might be more familiar with?

 
Passage Two:
Then, show students the following passage from the point of view of Calizto in the novel.
 
“‘That won’t stop a Spanish bullet. Or a cannonball.’ Grimacing, I stare at him. ‘It’s not meant to, Ofirin. Where’s my macchuahuitl?’ ‘Your what?’ ‘My sword. Wooden macana, razor-sharp obsidian blades all along its edges, able to slice through Spanish armor like an oar through water?” (23).
 
After reading this passage with students, ask them to write or discuss the following questions:

• What is a “macchuahitl?” How does the authors help you know that?
• What are some details that help paint a picture of what a macchuahitl is?
• Why might he say the word “macchuahitl” instead of “sword?” Why is word this important?
• How does the figurative language in the passage help you picture the macchuahitl?

Student Scaffolding:
Once students understand the various techniques authors use to explain what a word means, students can begin to create their own authentic language charts. Students can either choose their native language or words, such as slang words, they use daily that others might not know the meaning of if they were to read them in the text. If students choose a native language, have them choose words that are the most significant to them. Below is an example of what a chart might look like.
 
Word
Definition
Example when the word is used

Ghosted
When you ignore another person
I ghosted my friend when she asked if I wanted to hang out because I was too busy.

Slap(s)
Said when something is really good
These pancakes slap! Loaded with maple syrup and blueberries, these truly make the perfect breakfast treat.

Gezelligheid
A Dutch word that means coziness or togetherness
Wat een gezellige huiskamer.
 
What a cozy living room. 

Writing Activity: 
​After brainstorming some of their own authentic language, have students write a short narrative using their own authentic language. For each authentic word they use, have them build in details that hint at the word’s meaning. This can also be done as poetry.
 
 

Creating these prompts was a really fun way to engage with  Secret of the Moon Conch by David Bowles and Guadalupe Garcia McCall. The text also has really good Latinx representation and historical information about the Aztec empire as well as the infusion of Spanish and Nahuatl language into the story and dialogue. While I think these prompts could be used in grades 6-10, the book itself contains some mature writing and topics that would be best enjoyed by grades 9 and up. You can find the full PDF versions of these prompts linked below. 
Processing Familial Relationships Through Writing
Describing Setting While Thinking About Tone


Elizabeth Seeker is a senior at Vanderbilt University studying Secondary Education English. She is currently student teaching, will gradaute in May, and begin a M.Ed. in Reading Education. 

AIDS. The word doesn’t emote much motivation for a Monday Motivator blog. Yet, here I am writing about a magical book that made me smile as I saw myself revert inward to examine the collective trauma that so many of us as gay men went through as young adults in the 1980s. The smile doesn’t come from remembering the trauma of the early onset of the AIDS epidemic. It emerges on my face reading about an experience that so mirrors mine in a special book. I smile thankful for the representation of identity and experience on pages I turn. That book, Destination Unknown by Bill Konigsberg, is an amazing read that provides YA readers a lens to understand the early days of the AIDS epidemic and hopefully find meaning in that time beyond facts and figures.

YA fiction has often told the tales of historical trauma. It’s a powerful tool to provide a richer understanding of the past. It’s one thing to read in a history textbook about the Holocaust or 9/11. It’s an entirely other process to provide rich, literary experiences through books. While I revere history classes, literature can compound and elevate students' understanding of past events like the Holocaust or 9/11. Books like Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars and Jewel Parker Rhodes’ Towers Falling provide the human experience for young adult readers. As a professor of literacy that is exciting to me. However, there are some events that are rarely, if ever, discussed in our schools. Some are deeply personal to us as teachers. For me that would be the onset of the AIDS epidemic in America. While AIDS impacts us all on some level, for gay men of that time, the experience is wholly unique.

There is a lost nuance about the collective trauma that happened to gay men when coming out in the 1980s and 90s. It didn’t just come with fear of legislation and people’s aversion to us being homosexual. For gay men, it also came with people’s irrationality about HIV/AIDS. And for many gay men like me, that meant a great deal of doomsday thinking. A virus that was killing the men in my community at epidemic rates. So many deaths I can’t keep count. There was little to no information and similar to the debates of masks during the covid pandemic, debates on condom efficacy raged early on. The gay generation above me was fighting to stay alive, and sadly for many men my age today, we have no older generation to pave the path to aging as they died so young. All of this amounts to collective trauma. And while we are thirty-five years past that precarious time of my life, that time deserves to be represented, archived in a sense, and told. Repeatedly told to future generations.

One way we do this is through books for kids. Books about kids who were like me as a teenager who craved to see their identity, and equally as important, their experiences represented. For me, at the tender age of 51, that book is Destination Unknown by Bill Konigsberg.

Destination Unknown is the story of Micah who lives in NYC in 1987. He meets C.J. one night out dancing at The Tunnel (yes those of us a certain age will remember). CJ lives proudly and openly gay, and on the fringes of Micah’s Upper West Side life. Micah is your everyday 1980s teen who likes watching MTV, buying records and trying to come to terms with his homosexuality. But in this time, that means frank internal, and sometimes external, conversations about HIV/AIDS. The book is authentic to the experiences of being young and gay. Seeking love and first kisses. But in 1987, that meant seeing the devastation of the disease on the bodies of men in the community and to fear a disease that no one knew much about.

Konigsberg has crafted a tale so rarely told, and he told it expertly. I saw myself in Micah on every page. This book transcends generations. For gay men my age, it's a representation of identity and experience. For young, gay men, it’s a book of historical relevance. AIDS isn’t over. It may never be over. We live with it. But transmission rates, particularly in gay Black and LatinX communities has not declined with years of education. In fact, it has leveled, or worse, risen concerningly according to Wikipedia. The CDC data from 2021 shows that Black and Hispanic persons account for almost 70% of new diagnoses in the U.S. even though the groups account for only approximately 30% of the population. We all should be alarmed. We all should arm our young readers with information that can be woven through stories. Stories like the one Bill Konigsberg crafted.

This is but one example of how we can use YA books to bring to life past events for students born long after the event. We do this amazingly well sometimes with many world events; however, some events like the onset of the AIDS epidemic are uncomfortable to bring to life. As educators, we fear the uncomfortableness that comes with verbalizing words like AIDS, condoms, and gay. We should lean into that uncomfortableness the way we do with verbalizing equally as uncomfortable words like terrorism, Nazi, and concentration camp in our classrooms. There are many books to bring to light the AIDS epidemic past and present. Books like Abdi Nazemian’s Like a Love Story and Camryn Garrett’s Full Disclosure. While AIDS impacts all communities, the events and trauma of the early days of the epidemic on gay men was devastating. That time deserves deeper discussions. Discussions that can come through books to tell the stories to help young readers make meaning of an event that happened long before they were born.  
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While it may seem strange to say that a book that has the AIDS epidemic at its’ center as a motivator, Destination Unknown is indeed motivating me. To see my identity, and my experience, represented is amazing. While that time in my life was filled with trauma, to see the trauma in print makes me feel seen. It brought to the surface so much of what I’ve buried through the years. It touched me as a young man who wanted nothing more than buying records, having my first kiss, and surviving an epidemic unique to my identity as a gay man. To know that this book can make an event in history more meaningful for my students is powerful. It is a book I can’t wait to share with young readers and see their conversations and answer their questions. I think the best place to start may be with the dedication that Bill Konigsberg wrote in this novel; To my friends who didn’t make it to the 21st century. I miss you. 
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Today's post is written by Roy Edward Jackson. He is an assistant professor of education at Goshen College and holds degrees in English, Education, Library Science and Creative Writing.

Two things happened in the same week.  I had a group of students that I am working with in an informal outside-of-school writing group talk to me about how they felt about writing and being writers, and I received the book Writing in Color: Fourteen Writers on the Lessons We’ve Learned edited by Nafiza Azad and Melody Simpson in the mail.  It is one of the two books I am introducing at a panel at the 2023 ALAN Conference. The panel “Writing in Practice: Craft and Collaboration” featuring Writing in Color and Secret of the Moon Conch by David Bowles and Guadalupe Garcia McCall.  Both books are lovely, and I am beyond delighted that I have the opportunity to read them and talk about them.
 
But, in that weird kind of synchronicity that sometimes happens, I had the students make multiple comments about the messages they received about what it means to be a writer, what writing should look like and who can be a writer.  Azad says in her introductory note to Writing in Color,

"In my journey to becoming a published author, I was told more than once by teachers that I have no aptitude for writing and should think about doing something else. It felt like the writing world was an exclusive club and I had been denied entry.  My experience was not uncommon. For reasons unknown, the very people who are supposed to encourage you and ensure you don’t give up very often become the obstacles you need to overcome to succeed” (pxii).

This quote stood out to me—because of the students, because of my own experiences as a writer, because of what I see as a teacher. Writing in Color is a powerful book to use with writers of multiple ages because it shows the struggles and challenges of writing, but it also shows the joy and the magic of language.  The fourteen writers who have essays included in this book are all young adult authors of color.  This is a book I will be using with my writing classes as well as my young adult literature classes.  Additionally, I have started using it with the students in the writing group.
 
Here is the prompt that I developed based on the comments from students and Azad’s Introductory Note.  I wanted students to think about their writing life and create a map or other visual representation.
 
Each person has a unique writing journey. Throughout our lives there have been various people, events, places, and pieces of writing that shape who we are as writers, although we are not always cognizant of them. By reflecting on our personal journeys as writers and mapping them out, we are not only able to trace our development throughout the years, but also see how some seemingly small events made a lasting impact.
 
Writing maps can include various landmarks. Consider the following when thinking about your journey as a writer:

• Historical Trail: What are your earliest memories of writing?  What were your early experiences as a writer?
• Landmarks: What are the influential landmarks along your writing path (classes, books, people, experiences, etc.)?
• Stages: What have been the stages of your writing journey? How did you feel towards writing at different stages? Why did you feel that way?  What have been your school experiences with writing?  Your outside –of-school experiences with writing?
• Monuments: What pieces of writing stand out in your mind (proud of, loved, detested, etc.)?  What have been your successes? Your struggles?  What pieces of writing are monuments for you?
• Roadblocks:  Where do you stumble when you write? What roadblocks have you encountered along your writing journey?
• Pitfalls: What keeps you from writing?  What pitfalls to you have to watch for as a writer?
• Detours:  What pulls you away from writing? What distracts you?  When have you been distracted from a writing goal?
• Bridges:  What or who have served as inspirations or long-distance instructors for you as a writer?  Have you read a book or a poem and tried out something new based on it? Have you heard someone talk about writing or dreams and been inspired?
• Future:  What do you see in your future as a writer?
• Layout:  The layout and terrain of your map should mirror the journey that you have taken.  It may be easy to follow or it may be winding with numerous detours?

 
Creating Your Writing Map
Think about the categories listed above.  How have those specific areas shaped your development as a writer? 
Look at each of categories listed above and think about how those specific areas shaped your development into the writer that you are. It’s important that you not only include the scenic landmarks, but also any detours along the way.

• Freewrite or brainstorm ideas for each category.
• Create a visual map of your writing life using paper, art supplies, or digital media. Your goal is to create a visual or digital representation of how you became the writer that you are and want to be.

 
 

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year: American Library Association's Banned Books Week. Of course, we must work (and celebrate) to keep these texts and authors that are being challenged on the shelf year round! Yet this week there is an intense focus and a call to action for everyone to advocate for inclusivity and the right to read. 

So, how do we as teachers do this and include students.
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First we have to ask students about what is a democracy and what freedom means within a democracy. I like to use this quote by Chris Crutcher to kick off that conversation. 

After students have unpacked democracy and freedom in this context, we use the ALA website to analyze why some books are challenged and/or banned. This analysis of why books are challenged and who is doing the challenging encourages students to think critically about issues of censorship. 

Students can learn about intellectual freedom, read about the banned concepts laws in the state where they live (or nearby states), attend panels where lawyers and authors speak about their experiences as advocates, and the like. Students can also write letters to the school board asking for books to be un-banned and re-included in the curriculum or on library shelves. The possibilities are endless.

Encouraging students, who are interested, in becoming an advocate for this issue is a critical step. October 7th is Let Freedom Read Day and here are a list of actions that anyone can take if they have 5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes to take action and stand up for the right to read. 

This week at Vanderbilt, we are opening a Banned Books Little Library as a silent protest or act of activism. The texts available in the library are all banned/challenged books. Our goal is to provide access to material that might be censored. Additionally, there is a QR code on the door of the library that takes interested individuals to resources about Celebrating the Freedom to Read. A second event is a panel open to the public with a public librarian, public policy officer, teacher, author, LGBTQ rights advocate. 

​What events are you planning? How are you advocating for the freedom to read? 

Poetry was meant to be heard, but its reading aloud is difficult and requires practice for educators, students triply so.
 
Placing students in situations where they must read unfamiliar material aloud to classrooms via popcorn reading, reading in the order of their seating, small groups, or any other method is usually less than ideal.  Further, doing so is detrimental to poorer readers having more difficulty with pronunciation (true of anyone suddenly asked to perform), causing embarrassment and certainly lowering self-esteem. 
 
Generally, students are more concerned with their personal contribution rather than listening to others; before their turn they are focused upon what they are to read and afterwards, relieved to be finished, pay little attention to others.  Such types of reading aloud do not allow for much understanding or familiarity of the piece selected, or enjoyment.
 
Importance of Reading Aloud and Listening

• Engagement in expressive reading [enunciation, expression, tone, pausing, etc.] as reading the text as it was meant to be heard. 
• Develops stronger vocabularies and more sophisticated language structures [symbolism, nuances, reading in-between the lines, foreshadowing, etc.].  Listening to that which they may skip or misunderstand in print assists student understanding/knowledge.
• Increases attention spans, learning how to listen for important points, and listening to others.  Students have forgotten how to listen in our technology-heavy classrooms as information is often given to them.  Listening requires students to acquire needed information. 
• Assists in understanding more sophisticated pieces.
• Helps students visually picture a scene; those who are poorer readers or read infrequently tend not to visualize details (a character’s appearance, the events occurring during a party portrayed) while reading.
• Naturally, it provides more practice with the English language for ESL/ELL students.
• If done correctly, reading aloud and listening improve student skills and confidence.

Instructions and Examples
As with most new activities, begin with poetry that is easier to understand, allowing students’ prior understanding of terminology, meaning, etc.  The task here is having more than one read from the same poem and deciding which verse combination expresses the piece most effectively, and why. 
All poems are from Shel Silverstein.
Silverstein, S. (1974). Where the sidewalk ends. Evil Eye Music Inc.
Silverstein, S. (1981). A light in the attic. Evil Eye Music Inc.

• This activity may be completed on paper, using highlighters, or directly on the computer, then downloading and printing.  
• Students are placed into groups that equal the number of readers for each poem (2-3); two readers are generally best for shorter works and three for larger ones.
  • Groups may be given the same poem for comparison/contrast discussions, or different poems for each to hear a wider variety.
• After the group reads the poem, each selects their color (green, yellow, orange) and practice highlighting lines that will be read by each person.  After deciding upon its most effective reading, they should be able to state why this version was chosen.  Next is double-checking that each in the member has the same highlighted lines, followed by practicing reading aloud.
  • Once students become more confident with this activity, two or more may read the same line or lines.
• For reading, students should stand apart in the classroom, such as one on either side and the third at the back, one on both sides, etc.  This provides a stronger version to listeners, as they are focused upon hearing the poem rather than watching a group at the front.  It also eases reader embarrassment, as such placement removes the feeling of being on display.
• Students read the poem aloud to the class by the colors selected and the order appearing in the poem. 
• Whole class discussion can begin after each poem, or after all have been read, considering each separately.

How was each group’s highlighting different, and why?  Which was most effective, and why?
 
Examples

Tryin' On Clothes

​Recipe for a Hippopotamus Sandwich      

Today's post was written by Lisa A. Hazlett. Dr. Hazlett is a professor of secondary education at the University of South Dakota, where she teaches middle/secondary English language arts education courses and specializes in young adult literature regarding presentations and publications; special interests include gender issues and rural education. Her 2023 text, Teaching Diversity in Rural Schools: Attaining Understanding, Tolerance, and Respect Through Young Adult Literature, was published by Rowman & Littlefield, among numerous other publications centered on young adult literature.
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She also serves and provides leadership for numerous NCTE assemblies, special interest groups, and committees, especially ELATE, and as an avid reviewer she regularly evaluates young adult literature novels and manuscripts for various journals and publishing houses.