Approaches to Integration of Adolescent Literature in the Curriculum

A Thematic Approach to Integration of Adolescent Literature into the Curriculum

Now that I have gained and understanding of integration and what is Adolescent Literature I am now able to outline how a teacher can integrate adolescent literature into the classroom. I must say that I was very intrigued and enlightened and very much interested in the    strategies that can be used in order   integrate adolescent literature into the curriculum.  

Marshall A. George (2001) in his article ‘What’s the Big Idea? Integrating Young Adult Literature in the Middle School’ outlines how young adult literature can be integrated in the curriculum.  Form my understanding the ‘Big Idea’ referred to a thematic unit. By thematic I mean that adolescents or our students will be using various genera’s of literature for example novels, plays, poems, articles etc. that has a similar theme for example inequality. However, the theme chosen must have so relevance to the students, in that they should be able to relate to this theme in their everyday lives. Thus, the theme must be authentic and must add or relate to their experiences.   

This aspect of integration can be used using various strategies in the classroom such as the formation of book clubs. After students are finished with the core material that is surrounded around a particular theme the teacher can provide extra material to students that are of the same theme. Students can therefore, choose from the books that have made available to them that they like. A small book club can be motivate students highly especially as they are familiar with and can relate to the material that they are reading. Thus, students will read and discuss texts that they themselves have chosen.

In relation, to our curriculum there are lots of books, poems, plays that we as teachers can use with similar themes in our classrooms. For example, ‘Colonial girls School,’ ‘From the immigrants,’ ‘Animal Farm,’ ‘This is the Dark Time my Love,’ ‘House for Mr. Biswas,’ all have the similar theme of colonization. Adolescents may be able may be able to relate to this theme in that they may feel that they are restricted by their parents, certain rights are not granted to them, they are not allowed to go certain place, do what they  want  and have certain friends. I will surely make use of thematic units in the teaching in literature in my classroom.

This is a site that I have made available to gain some insight as to what types of books are regarded as Adolescent Literature and why. Click on the link to view.

http://facstaff.uww.edu/annuccim/adlit.html

What is Adolescent Literature

Young Adult or Adolescent Literature

   What is young adult literature?

    What are the characteristics of adolescent literature?

 I was not aware that there was a type of literature referred to as young adult of adolescent literature until my time at teachers training college and from my reading Adolescent Literature is a bit of ambiguous genre of literature to define. There have been many disagreements as to how to distinguish it from children’s and adult literature. Who is an adolescent and how does literature affect them, who comes up with the definition all need to be taken into consideration when defining adolescent literature. Nonetheless, in my opinion it is the materials from all genres of literature   that attract the attention of adolescents in other words what they are interested in reading.  It should focus on the struggles that adolescents face as they it grow up and mature these experiences may range from issues with family, forming friendships, search for identity, equality among others.

These are some characteristics of adolescent literature:

1. It is simple and straight forward – students should be able to read most of the books without making use of a dictionary. The plot should also be a very simple one.

2. It is about childhood – the books should focus on the experiences that children face as they grow up or mature.

3. It is optimistic – hope and optimism are critical elements of adolescent literature. Our students must feel that something good will happen or will come out of what they read.

4. A form of pastoral ideal - there is an element of rural life that exists and the joy and innocence that exists in that life is portrayed. Characters are close to nature and friends.

These are a just a few of the characteristics of adolescent literature and now that I am aware of theses I should be able to select books that display these characteristics. Selection is very important as it determines the motivation levels of my students, how well they respond to the material given, and how well they learn and relate to the experiences from the literature read. Books that I did at secondary school such as ‘Annie John’, ‘Harriet’s Daughter’ and ‘Green Days by the River’ are reflective of adolescent literature. These books focus on the struggles that children face as they grow up such as the search for their identity.

Literature Based Approach to Integration

Literature Based Approach to Integration

As a teacher, I have often wondered what was the literature based approach to integration, what the term integration meat with regard to the teaching of English and English Literature and how do implement it in my classroom. From the perspective of my classmate, integration of the two subject areas meant that literature textbooks had to be used to teach concepts in grammar for example subject verb agreement, punctuation and so on. However, from other classroom discussions and my reading I have learnt that is much more than that. In fact the most important aspect of integration is how we approach it.

In order to ensure that integration of the two subject areas are effective students need to be given the opportunity to take charge or take control of the reading and writing process. Students especially adolescents need to be given the opportunity to read as writers. Simply put, teachers need to provide instances where students can engage themselves in the writer’s craft. Thus, students need to put themselves in the writer’s shoes, to feel what the writer is feeling, how the piece is structured, use their experiences to relate to what the writer is saying  and most importantly they should take pleasure in this process. However, the question remains how I as a teacher encourage my student to engage in the writer’s craft.

Firstly, as teachers we need to choose material that is appropriate for adolescents.  We can include them in the process of choosing books by asking them. Students need to feel and see the relevance in what they  are reading, that they can relate to it, or it is part of their experiences and  they identify with  message  of the writer. Erickson referred to this stage as ‘Identity Crisis’ where students are searching for identity ‘Who am I?’ Therefore, the material that students read should satisfy theses needs.

In addition, I have learned that  as teacher I need encourage class discussions where students are given opportunities to respond to the material they read. The use of journals and logs can also be used where students write what they think about texts based on their experiences. Also I as a teacher must be enthuastic about the subject and make it interesting for my students to be  enthuastic and interested in what they read and the subject as a whole.

welcome

hi this is Shera and I would like to welcome you to my blog. I do hope that you have a pleasant time reading my entries.