Great
Examples of a Few Contemporary Novels:
Useful
for Middle School Classrooms in
East
Tennessee
by Kelsey Bailey
for Advanced
Composition, ETSU, Spring 2011
Kelsey is currently attending East Tennessee State
University and studying English and Secondary Education. With a goal of being a
future middle and high school educator, she has studied and reviewed many types
of literature she hopes to find useful for her future students.
Figure 1: East Tennessee counties represented
in the far right, blue section of the state.
East Tennessee’s Changing Society:
East Tennessee’s, young adult
generation, also called Generation Z or the Net Generation, are constantly changing and in the most recent
past couple of decades the shift in this younger generations’ values have
changed to reflect a generation of people encouraged by self innovation and
individuality. This change in attitude of East Tennessee’s youth is most evident
in the young adult generation. Their adolescence consists of a much different
atmosphere than what adolescence may have been like in the past. The difference
in this generation will cause their adolescence to be both the greatest and the
hardest times in their lives.
Adolescence is usually a time when the
social aspects of life become the biggest challenge. Social issues such as
sexuality, cultural acceptance, and individual self-worth are all major issues
for this up and coming generation. These social issues are greatly impacted by
the media. The media and counterculture groups, groups that encourage strong
individuality regardless of what others think, make expressing who one truly is
an entirely new concept for the socially developing young generations,
including the young adults for East Tennessee.
A social atmosphere that influences
adolescents to express who they are makes adolescence an even tougher stage in
life because of the fierce and harsh reaction by older generations. For East
Tennessee’s group of young adults a strong reaction by those in this area with
more traditional values, another common attribute of the Bible belt area of East
Tennessee, make growing up a tough task. The reaction of more traditionally
valued people creates a challenge for students whose lifestyles reflect more
contemporary issues.
East Tennessee and the Classroom:
The challenge of adolescence is
extremely prevalent in the classrooms of East Tennessee. As reported on the Johnson City
Schools 2010 State Report Card, the East Tennessee area schools
service many students with multicultural backgrounds. This in conjunction with
the teacher population, which is traditionally comprised of teachers that are
white and middle class, is a recipe for a strong, often negative, reaction for
students. This is because students whose contemporary lifestyles may be
constituted by a non-traditional choice of sexuality, different cultural
background, and lifestyles choices are not made according to Christian
principals, much like the principals use to guide the lifestyles of many of
East Tennessee’s teachers.
In reaction to these changing
lifestyles of young adult generations, especially in the classroom, there is no
better time than the present to give these young adults the right tools to deal
with their social struggles. The predominant set of values to this Bible-belt area must be set aside in the
classroom and an accepting, diverse environment has to be created in the
classroom. One important way to offer this environment is to provide literature
that students can go to for comfort and example. The contemporary Young Adult
genre has books that match this need very well.
Contemporary
Young Adult Genre:
Young Adult literature, or YA
Literature, is a constantly changing contemporary genre that is being produced
quickly and with fury. This genre is literature that reflects characters that
mimic those that exist in real life. This genre is full of novels and stories
that create characters that are dealing with the diverse array of social problems
like that of our young adult society. The relevancy, relatedness, and impact of
contemporary Young Adult literature are the exact reasons why there is no
better time than now to introduce this genre into school classrooms.
The testimonial style of young adult
literature relates to students because the character shows them that they are
not alone, that there is hope, that they are sometimes the only one that can
help change their own story, and that resolution comes with tackling every
situation knowing one’s own self worth. There is no better time for this genre
to make its way into the classroom because of the dire needs students have to
find out how to live with purpose and meaning no matter what elements
constitute their individuality.
Using
YA Literature in the Classroom:
In the East Tennessee area, even in
the city of Johnson City, the evidence of difficult choices in Generation X’s
adolescence is obvious. Since February of 2010, I have been a substitute
teacher for the Johnson City School system. In my experience at the secondary
level, there is a an obvious theme in schools that targets are put on the backs
of those individuals that are dealing with social issues and making decisions
based on these issues that are not always accepted by others. Students seem to
put a defining line between themselves and others that are not like them. As a
future educator, I think literature can act as a profound tool for these
students to find help in dealing with their social struggles. Again, the
contemporary books included in the Young Adult genre seem to match this need
and knowing that I want to share some of the examples of books I found most
valuable.
YA
Books for the LBGTQ[1]
Student:
Sometimes the hard part of
adolescence is being the friend or loved one of a LGBTQ individual. In Julie
Anne Peters Luna, readers meet Regan,
whose brother is living as boy when on the inside he feels like a girl. The
reader follows Regan through the journey of watching Liam, her brother,
transform into Luna, his transgender identity. It is a struggle for Regan to
deal
She
makes every effort to be there for her but at times all she wants to do is
forget about this major obstacle in her family’s life and live her own
adolescence. She wants to fall in love with her Chemistry partner, go to
parties, do bad on a test here or there and yet every night her focus must be
on Luna. Sometimes students feel like their problems do not need as much
attention as the drastic one that others are facing, but in truth, each student
must make the same steps of self discovery even if they are not questioning
their sexuality or their gender. This character, Regan, represents those
students in the classroom that feel like maybe they do not matter, because
someone else’s problem is bigger than their own.
YA
Book for the Culturally Diverse Student:
Struggles in adolescence do not stop
at sexuality, or gender identification, students also struggle with cultural,
religious, and ethnic identification. In many places, where classrooms are
predominantly a particular race, now there are a mix of cultures, religious
members, and ethnicities. In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian the reader meets a
boy named Junior. He lives on an Indian reservation but is attempting to go
above and beyond the limitations of the “rez.” Going along with the themes in
our current society, this book represents a character who is trying to improve
his self worth, a character that is trying to make more of his life than what
is expected for him in his Indian heritage.
YA Books for the Student Investigating
Self-Worth:
The Young Adult genre is also often
defined by the term problem novel. The books previously mentioned all present a
character with a problem, and the problems deal with identity and discovery.
There are other novels, however, that deal with characters whose secrets leave
them questioning their self-worth and their belonging. A big part of
adolescence is dealing with
In Anderson’s Speak, the reader meets Melinda, a rape victim, who is suffering of
silence in a situation where her only cure will be to share with others her
story. Unfortunately, she is silenced by her pain and the reader follows her
through the steps of finding her strength to finally speak. These characters
represent the students in our classroom that are struggling with something that
cannot often be seen from the outside looking in, but still need help in
dealing with their struggles in order to
solve
their own lives for purpose and meaning.
Reasons
to Read YA Literature:
The representation of multiple
characters in these examples of Young Adult novels are perfect examples of how
this literature genre can meet the needs of adolescents who are dealing with
similar issues. The relatedness and relevancy of the characters that mimic the
characters seen in real life are the reason behind Young Adult literature’s deserved
place in the classroom. These books could provide comfort for those students
going through similar issues as the character.
Another reason these books belong in
the classroom is their academic benefits. Novels that attract students allows
for an initial connection that usually results in further exploration and hence
better learning. The literary value and devices that can be found in this
literature will be discovered in an easier way because the content of the
material will mean so much to the students reading the books.
The communication barriers that can
be broken by meaningful discussion will in the end result create critical
thinkers and students who have life skills to deal with life knowing that they
are not alone. Whether educators teach a book to the whole class, a group, or
just put it on their shelves to share with a struggling individual, the skills
and resources they are providing will have the potential to be life changing
and in some cases life saving. With that support, it can be argued, that there
is truly no better time than now, to utilize the benefits provided by putting
contemporary Young Adult literature in the not so traditional classrooms of
East Tennessee.
Book List
Alexie,
Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a
Part-Time Indian. New York, New York: Little, Brown Company, 2007. Book
Anderson,
Laurie Halse. Speak. New York, New
York: Penguin Group, 1999. Book.
Peters,
Julie Anne. By the Time You Read This,
I’ll Be Dead. New York, New York: Disney Hyperion Books, 2010. Book
Peters,
Julie Anne. Luna. New York, New York:
Little, Brown Company, 2006. Book.
Sanchez,
Alex. Rainbow Boys. New York, New
York: Simon and Schuster, 2003. Book.
