Preservice teachers’ YA favorites and instructional ideas

Meet our Contributor: Liz Pilon

Liz Pilon serves as the Instructor of English Education for her alma mater, Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. Housed in the English department, she teaches Communication Arts and Literature Methods, Young Adult Literature, and Reading and Writing Methods for Secondary Education among other English courses. One of her favorite parts of her job is having the opportunity to visit her preservice teachers during their clinical hours and watch them teach secondary students in local schools. Her research interests include YAL, trauma-informed instruction, and best practices in assessment. She is a member of NCTE, ELATE, and ALAN. 

Preservice teachers’ YA favorites and instructional ideas by Liz Pilon and Students

​As part of my young adult literature course, preservice teachers were required to expand their YAL horizons and read texts and genres different from what they would typically pick up to read themselves. They created a book log for each book with information about the text, research supporting their evaluation, and teaching tips. I then asked students to revise their work for their favorite text and share their ideas with the blog! What follows is part two of a two part series (with part one was posted in November here is the link.) Why? I simply couldn’t pick my favorites to share! I hope you enjoy the perspectives of these preservice teachers as much as I do. 

Meet Reese Hauck

Reese Hauck is an English Education student at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. She loves to read and looks forward to igniting a similar passion in her students. Her favorite past times include thrifting, buying a latte from a local coffee shop, and spending time with her friends.

Every Day, by David Levithan, illustrated by Dion MBD

In the graphic novel by David Levithan, Every day, A wakes up and finds themselves in a new body. Forced to live out someone else’s day, doomed to wake up someone else the next morning. They’ve come to terms with their lonely life, unable to form lasting friendships, have a pet, or know the strength and comfort of a parent’s guiding hand. One day, however, A wakes up in Justin’s body, it starts out like any other, but soon A meets Rhiannon, Justin’s girlfriend. They spend the day on a whirlwind date, leaving A unable to forget her no matter how much they try. They decide to bear all to Rhiannon, and the two develop an unsteady connection amidst the chaos that is their lives. As their story progresses, A finds themselves each day wanting more and more to live in the same body forever, and Rhiannon must decide if she can love someone who is no one at all.

Graphic novels, while fun, are a bit trickier to categorize reader recommendations for than a traditional narrative novel because the considerations teachers must take are not only related to the difficulty and quality of the writing but also depends on the illustrations to decipher. I had a tough time deciding where this novel belonged in relation to defining it within an age group, but I feel I’ve settled on the range between grades 10-12. I initially felt that maybe it would work best for 8-10, but there is a scene that is a bit more suggestive than I would recommend for an 8th grader. I think this would be a really good novel to use for a whole-class novel, and I think it explores a lot of pertinent themes that upper-high school students will feel are relevant to them. Some of such themes I noted were, identity, gender identity, loneliness, friendship and autonomy. Pairing this novel with one where students are writing narratively is something I would lean into, as I think that reading a graphic novel will help students connect imagery to written description.

Creating a unit, or even just a lesson around a graphic novel is a fun experience, especially because they are out of the norm of what students have come to expect they will be reading in class. Because of this, it’s important for us as teachers to lean into that and use it to our advantage. A few quick ideas for integrating this novel into a classroom setting are as follows; have students take a scene from the graphic novel and rewrite it in narrative form, this will test their ability to decipher meaning from the illustrations and their ability to connect those meanings to the actual text. Another idea is having students create their own scene for this novel. The main character is a new person every day, so students could create a “day” for A, complete with the illustrations, and write a short paper to describe the story they were telling in their graphics. My last idea I will mention is having students in groups pick a scene from the novel and act it out as though they are the ones inside the illustrations. Through this activity, students will display their ability to look deeply enough into the novel to understand characters’ tone and emotions within their given scene.

Meet Sarah Schroeder

Sarah Schroeder is a preservice English teacher at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. After graduating, she hopes to teach in a high school classroom. She has a primary interest in speculative and dystopian fiction and hopes to incorporate the genres in her future curriculum. In her free time, she enjoys reading, spending time with her pets, and listening to music.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
 
The year is 2575, and the planet Karenza is under attack. In the midst of a war between two mega corporations, a post-breakup Kady and Ezra are evacuated onto separate spacecraft. Though they appear to be in the clear at first, they soon face another unexpected challenge. After the AI for the fleet takes an unexpectedly deadly action, communications are cut, and questions begin to arise. With the clock ticking as an enemy ship approaches the fleet, Kady and Ezra must look into the cause of the AI’s action, leading to a discovery darker than they ever expected. With thousands of lives on the line, they must put aside their past and work together to get their fleet to safety. 

This book is structured as if it were made up of uncovered files, which are placed in chronological order to deliver the story. It involved multiple points of view, including some first and third person accounts. The author also has creative text formatting for different battle scenes throughout the book. Some take the form of artwork, while others involve slowly rotating the page to read the text. It provides a great opportunity for students to explore works outside of the more “traditional” book format. 

This book would appeal most to students ranging from 10th to 12th grade. Since there is a similarity in age between the main characters and students in these grades, there are many situations and interactions throughout the book that students may relate to. Its unique structure might also be appealing to more reluctant readers. It also discusses AI and the ethics surrounding it, which is very topical at the moment. 

This book has a large focus on ethical decision-making and how censorship is harmful. It also covers a lot of topics such as war, grief, and love. Due to this, there are a few content sensitivities to keep in mind. Early on, there are portrayals of mass killings, terror attacks, violence, and loss of loved ones. It also includes a lot of implied profane language, which is established to be “censored” purposefully at the very beginning of the book. 

Given the format of this text, there are many activities that can be incorporated when teaching it. Here are some that I have come up with:
 
Since Illuminae has a unique layout, familiarizing students with it early on is beneficial for their reading experience. Once the book has been handed out to the students, give them a few minutes to flip through the book. You can also list some specific pages for them to look at so they can see the full span of different text formats within the book. Afterwards, have the students flip to the first page of the book and take a moment to read it. This page provides context for the book’s format and provides a good example of the tone of the book.
 
Illuminae also provides a great opportunity to discuss author decisions when writing a text, and how those decisions influence the storytelling. Have students work together to create a Venn diagram that compares and contrasts Illuminae with traditional formats of books. Students can then discuss why they think the author decided to structure Illuminae in such a specific way, how the format might impact their reading experience, and how the book might reinforce some general themes within the book. 

​Since Illuminae is structured as a case file, it does a great job of portraying how evidence helps support a point. Since the format of the novel is such a focal element of the book, providing students a chance to create a project themselves in a similar format is a great way for them to continue exploring the decisions authors make when writing. Have students create a “case file” about a theme present throughout the book. The first page included in this file will be where they list their thesis related to their theme. As students read the book, whenever they find a passage or page that supports their thesis, they will scan it and print it out. Then they will annotate on the page, explaining how its content supports their thesis.
 
This activity can also be adapted to analyze characteristics of different characters. In this version, students will pick a character from the text and create a “profile” for them. The first page in their folder will include a drawing of the character based on the book, words that they think describe the character, and why the character is important to the story. Students will then utilize the annotated pages to support what they included in the character profile.

Meet Peyton Moench

Peyton Moench is a preservice English teacher at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. She is a passionate advocate for diversity in young adult literature and is dedicated to creating empathy through textual engagement. Peyton loves reading and solving puzzles and hopes to teach high school English when she graduates.

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
 
In a series of personal essays, journalist and activist George M. Johnson recounts his journey growing up as a Black queer man in New Jersey and Virginia. Throughout the book, Johnson discusses his experiences with bullying, gender, masculinity, sexuality, family, and finding ways to embrace his identity amidst societal challenges. Blending his personal narrative with social commentary, Johnson invites Black queer boys to find guidance and representation in his experiences and encourages all teens to consider how race, gender, and sexuality intersect with systems of oppression. All Boys Aren’t Blue challenges readers to see the necessity of representation and the power of storytelling to evoke change.

Johnson’s memoir is best suited for mature adolescent readers, particularly those in grades 11 and 12, due to its discussion of heavy topics. Because the book addresses sexuality, trauma, racial and homophobic slurs, and sexual assault, teachers should ensure the classroom environment is conducive to having safe and supportive discussions. Before or while introducing this book, it would be helpful to establish a classroom code of conduct so that the teacher and students all have the same understanding of what behavior and speech is acceptable and unacceptable during conversations. Creating a community agreement at the start of the unit will help ensure a safe and respectful classroom environment. 

All Boys Aren’t Blue provides great opportunities for inclusive discussions about diversity and representation, systemic racism, microaggressions, and gender roles and expectations. Johnson’s narrative inspires conversations about how literature can validate people’s lived experiences and amplify the perspectives of those who have been historically underrepresented. For queer students and students of color who identify with Johnson’s struggles, All Boys Aren’t Blue serves as a source for reassurance, affirmation, and inspiration. For other readers, Johnson’s essays evoke empathy, foster an understanding of marginalized people’s struggles, and motivate the audience to become activists for both systemic and personal change. 

To explore the topics of intersectionality and identity while reading All Boys Aren’t Blue, students could create visual personal identity maps, in which they highlight different parts of who they are (e.g. personality, environment, gender, race, etc.) to get them thinking about how the intersectionality of one’s identity can shape their experiences. It would also be helpful to have students create character/theme journals as they read. In these personal journals, students can track how Johnson explores the topics of masculinity, Blackness, queerness, and family and connect these topics to their own identities and experiences or to broader societal conversations. With this activity/project, students will be both analyzing Johnson’s writing while also using it as a model for their own, drawing on his ideas as inspiration for their own personal writing.
 
After finishing the book or towards the end of the reading journey, students could engage in a full class discussion, facilitated by the teacher. This conversation might center on the heavy topics discussed in All Boys Aren’t Blue and why the book is often challenged in schools, which could lead to a broader discussion about book banning, representation, and censorship in general. The class discussion could also focus on the power of storytelling to foster empathy. These activities and conversation topics will invite students to think critically about both literature and lived experiences by reflecting on their own identities and recognizing how personal stories can shape understanding and inspire change.