YA English Teacher

How to Read More Young Adult Literature in 2019

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In the goal-setting, resolution-making mania of the new year, let’s address reading. If you are like me, you’ve had your students set goals for their reading lives. You may have had them track their page totals and books read. But have you focused on your own reading life with the same energy? If not, do it now.

Here’s why: there are two reasons that my students out-read (and often out-perform) other teens their age. First, I have an amazing classroom library. Second, I have read A LOT of young adult and middle grade novels. I’m able to get to know students and pair them with books that align with their interests and past reading experiences. This isn’t a skill that can be purchased or achieved overnight. It takes time and effort. Here are some ways that you can supercharge your reading life in 2019.

The Goodreads Reading Challenge is pretty simple. You set a goal for the year. My goal is 60 books in 2019. That’s five books each month. You don’t have to set your sights that high though. Think you can realistically read two books each month? Then set your goal at 24 (or maybe 25). I plug back into Goodreads every year at this time. I don’t always stick with it, but I put updating Goodreads on my planner for each Sunday. That way, I mark the books I finish and update my page numbers. If you don’t have a Goodreads account, create one. It is an awesome platform to keep your list of books to read.

  • Listen to audiobooks on your commute, even if it’s a short commute.

Do you have an Audible account? I know many teachers already use Audible to listen to audiobooks regularly. It is a monthly subscription, and to me, it’s totally worth it. I also use Libby to download audiobooks (and ebooks) through my local library, but the new releases usually have a waiting list. That’s why I love Audible. My morning commute isn’t very long: 15 minutes on a busy day. But I’m still able to knock out audiobooks in this time. Yes, I still listen to podcasts in the car, but not every day.

  • Track your screen-time, and then make yourself a budget.

The real thief of reading time (for adults and young adults) is screen-time. I know that for me, social media is the main culprit. Yours might be YouTube or games. Here’s what I want you to do: get curious about your screen-time. If you have an iPhone, look at your screen-time data. If you have another type of phone, look for a screen-time tracking app like Moment. Once you get an idea of how much screen-time you are averaging, set some limits. I set Downtime on my iPhone at 8:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. I allowed Audible and Stitcher during those times, but I blocked all other apps. This may sound extreme, and I may not stick with it, but it is a good reset for my nightly reading routine.

  • Add a weekly Booktalk to your lesson plans.

If I establish some type of accountability for myself, then I’m more likely to finish books. If I know that I need to talk about a recent read at least once a week, then I’m either going to need to read a new book or pull an old one off the shelves. Sometimes I enjoy talking about books I read in past years, but I don’t always remember what I loved about them. I’m usually way more energetic about the books I just finished or that I’m currently reading. Once you have a booktalk as a part of your regular routine, it will push you to read more.

  • Start a Young Adult book club (for adults).

My YA Book Club for Grown-Ups is currently dormant, but it was a great way to meet up with others who liked to read young adult literature. Most of the members were teachers, so if you are thinking of starting one, try asking teacher friends first. Then think of other friends that you think might also be interested. Personally, I loved having non-teachers in the club because they kept us from talking shop the whole time. If you want to get really fancy, try doing dinner that relates to the book’s content. During one of our book clubs, we had read Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone. For our meeting, we got together at a little African restaurant that had recently opened in our city. It was a fun adventure that some of us might not have done without that little nudge.

I hope that these tips help you get some reading traction in the new year. I’m hoping to finish Pride by Ibi Zoboi today so that I’ve got one book checked off on the first day of this year. Please ask me if I did this. It will hold me accountable. Happy Reading!

Young Adult Novels are LIT

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Let’s talk about the Project LIT (Libraries in the) Community that was started by Jared Amato, a high school teacher in Nashville. For those of us who have been trying to move away from the old school canon to book choices that speak to our students, this movement is for us. I heard about it from my partner in all things literacy, Emily Hester. Our mission is to build classroom libraries and put good books in our kids’ hands. I’m going to speak for myself, but I know that many conclusions that I’ve come to have happened with or because of Emily Hester.

I realized a few years ago, as I taught 9th grade English, that the curriculum needed to be anchored in relevant, contemporary, diverse adolescent literature. Of course, I want students to study a few canonical texts in order to have the cultural capital for AP exams and college courses. But the reality was that many of our students, far more than we were willing to admit, were not going to stand a chance of passing an AP test or qualifying for anything more than remedial college English classes if we didn’t get them reading voraciously, like yesterday. Additionally, we were watching our students struggle with social issues that needed attention: racism, gender identity, and police violence were only a few of the issues that our students were dealing with on a daily basis.

Many of the canonical texts did not address the issues that our students faced. If they did, it was tangential, and many of our students were lost before the connections were clear. In order to develop more engaged readers, we started to gradually shift to contemporary Young Adult or Middle Grade whole-class novels. We were enthusiastic about connecting students with contemporary texts as independent reading choices, but getting our schools and districts to fund a systemic shift would take more time. We had our students buy their own books. We crowdsourced funding for our classroom libraries using DonorsChoose. Our schools began to buy the books we asked for, but we didn’t push for our classroom libraries. Just for our whole-class texts. Our test scores were strong. Other teachers and administrators began to listen to us. We wanted to move to more book clubs with more books, giving students more choices. But how were we going to get there? And what about the criticism from the old guard? I didn’t know how to confidently move forward.

Then, Emily connected with Project LIT Community. This movement is advocating for exactly what we want in our schools. See their mission here. Emily held a Project LIT Chat with YA author Ibi Zoboi when she was in town for the Arkansas Literary Festival. Students who had read American Street gathered to discuss her book with her, ask questions, and learn more about her life and process. That was the turning point for me. That was the point where I realized how powerful this movement is for the students. When they read books and meet authors, they are that much closer to seeing themselves with agency. Their experiences are validated. Our students feel connected. They are connected to authors, reading, writing, each other, and us.

We are just getting started here in Little Rock, Arkansas. This summer, our literacy team is traveling to Nashville to get together with other members of this community at the Project Lit Summit. We will collaborate and discuss great books. Will this community help disrupt the traditional English curriculum? I hope so. Learn more about the 2018-2019 Project LIT Book Club selections for this year and join the community. There are both Young Adult and Middle Grade book clubs. Also, check back here for resources to use with these books. I’m working on book club guides and other resources that will help you elevate and celebrate contemporary, diverse Young Adult and Middle Grade novels to their rightful place at the center of the curriculum.

Welcome to YA English Teacher

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Do you use Young Adult literature in your secondary English classroom? You know it’s just about the only thing you can get your students to read, so what is stopping you? Getting resources (i.e. books)? Fears of administrative or parent concerns? Are you unfamiliar with the books? Are you without resources?

I can help you. I’m pulling together a stockpile of resources to help you design your classroom around Young Adult literature. Why do I do this? Because I believe in its power to reach the students. Young Adult literature gets students’ attention in ways that I can’t, in ways that To Kill a Mockingbird can’t. Our kids are distracted. They are plugged into devices all of the time. They are also trying to figure out how to navigate this world. Enter Young Adult literature as a part of the curriculum. If you teach in a high poverty school, these resources are especially for you. We can make huge gains with students who read below grade level if we can feed them a steady diet of books that actually interest them. What’s holding you back?

Stay tuned to YA English Teacher for tips, tricks, resources, and inspiration. Our kids deserve the books that will get them reading. Literacy equals power, and I want my students to have more power and control over their lives. If that’s not the point of English class, what is?