From: Cappiello, Maryann <mcappiel_at_lesley.edu>
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:43:19 +0000

Another element of "fall out" from the standardized test-AYP pressure cooke r that schools have been living in over the past ten years is the very role of literature of all genres in the classroom. Isolated skills instruction hit the middle and high school level almost as much as at the elementary le vel, although it took longer to get there. Literature has not played as cen tral a role in curriculum, and therefore, the awards don't get attention in the classroom. The literature that continues to play a central role in mos t cases at the secondary level remains adult literature. Many high school t eachers are still reluctant to use young adult literature in the curriculum , because of a perceived risk that this will somehow limit student's engage ment with or exposure to "the classics." It's a debate that has existed for the past forty years, but I am not sure we have made much progress, and Ap pendix B of the Common Core State Standards does not help those of us advoc ating for an increased role for young a dult literature in middle and high s chool classrooms. I think the CCSS can be a great opportunity to move towar ds a culture of reading multiple texts for multiple purposes and perspectiv es. But if everyone teaches only off of Appendix B, it will be a missed opp ortunity.

But I also think the vast majority of teachers, particularly at the seconda ry level where they might be reading Printz and YALSA nonfiction winners, d o not even know about these awards. Far too many teacher education programs do not require teachers to have a course in children's and/or children's a nd young adult literature. I don't know where I would be as an educator if I did not take "Adolescent Literature" in the first semester of graduate sc hool. It shaped my approach to everything else I did in the middle and high school classrooms in which I taught. But, just like many programs do not r equire perspective elementary education teachers to take a children's liter ature course, most secondary certification programs view an adolescent lite rature course as a luxury for which no one has time. If teachers don't know about the books, they don't know how to use them. And if they don't learn about the books, they don't know about the awards.

Finally, independent reading doesn't have the same role at the secondary le vel as it does at the elementary level, either, and so students often don't have their own interests validated by the reading material, and don't have an impetus for seeking out new books. Creating a culture where discussion of student-selected texts is a normal discourse is essential. I know there are many middle and high schools where student choices are honored, where y oung adult literature is a central component of the curriculum, and teacher s and librarians have a culture of collaboration. But we need many, many mo re of them.

Mary Ann Cappiello, Ed.D. Associate Professor Language & Literacy Division Coordinator, Collaborative Internship Partnership Graduate School of Education Lesley University

www.classroombookshelf.blogspot.com

Office Phone: (617) 349-8603 Office Location: 2-054 University Hall

Mailing Address: 29 Everett Street Cambridge, MA 02138
Received on Mon 20 Aug 2012 03:43:19 PM CDT