Textbook Reflection Chapter 6-9

Chapter 6:
How do Adolescents Develop?

• Intellectual- During this stage, young adults shift from concrete to abstract thinkers.  It is important to consider this shift in thinking because these students might need some scaffolding as they transition to abstract thinkers.
• Moral: Students' values are based on three stages: pre-conventional (based on rewards and punishment), conventional (following the rules), post-conventional (recognize the laws, but believing that human rights are more important: civil disobedience).
• Developmental: At this age, students start finding peers that share their same interests.  This is also the age where kids become more aware of the differences of the opposite sex, as well develop appropriate sex roles.  This can be a daunting task, as society holds its own expectations.  Adolescence is a stage where kids are adapting to their physical bodies.  Adolescents tend to become more independent as they begin to work for pay.  This independence and abstract thinking sometimes leads to a changing relationship between young adults and their parents.  Adolescents start forming their opinions and developing their own set of values.  This is when they start thinking of their future and what they aspire to be.  They find their path in life based on their strengths.
• Physical: Every kid develops at a different rate, different time in a different way.  This leads to young adults asking themselves, "Am I normal?", the age old teenage question!
• Reader: During this stage in a young adult's life, readers tend to read autobiographically (books with characters going through similar experiences as us), for unconscious delight: (getting lost in a book while escaping our real world and reality), vicarious experiences (looking into the window of someone else's world that we would normally not experience), philosophical speculation (questions that we have about society and the world), aesthetic experience (for the joy, passion and connection to a story). We should be looking for books that reach all these different stages in young adults.  This entails their physical development, their changing morals and values, and characters that they can identify with during this stage in their life.

There are so many books that address the changes that young adults experience, so that these kids know that they are not alone.  I loved Dr. Lesesne's final statement, "We as educators and librarians need to look for those books that help kids fall into a book, see themselves in books, look out into the bigger world, ask questions about life, and help them enjoy reading."

Chapter 7:
Literary Elements and Devices
This chapter was a refresher on elements and devices found in fiction text.  There were several words that I knew how to explain on my own, but I had to look up several words that I had not heard since I was in my high school literature class (14 years ago, eeek!)  These are all critical elements and devices presented in young adult fiction, and important to remember when evaluating YA literature.


Literary Elements:
antagonist: a character that works against the protagonist, sometimes known as the bad guy
character: a person or animal in the story
conflict: a problem that the protagonist faces in the story.  Conflict can be one of four types: person against person, person against self, person against society, person against nature.
mood and tone: the emotional feeling of the text created by the author
plot: the events that make up the story.
protagonist: the main character, usually a good or even heroic type
setting: when and where the story takes place
theme: the message or lesson that the author wants us to take away from the story

Literary Devices:
allegory: a figure of speech in which abstract ideas are conveyed with a tangible object or idea.  It is often used to teach an idea or moral
allusion: a reference to a famous person, place, event, literary text, or art work used to enhance the reader's experience
archetype: a recurrent symbol, usually through typical characters, actions or situations that represent a universal or common idea.  Some examples are heroes, villains, and good vs. evil
deus ex machina: an unexpected person or thing that saves a hopeless or unsolvable situation in a story, such as a god.  This literary device is sometimes criticized as a result of a poor plot.
hyperbole: an exaggeration, sometimes not possible, used to emphasize or create a grand effect or make a point.
imagery: language that appeals to the reader's senses
metaphor: an implied comparison between two unrelated things.  Similar to a simile, but it does not use "like" or "as".
motif: a recurrent object or idea that adds to the development of the theme
point of view: the perspective that the story is told from
simile: using "like" or "as" to make a direct comparison between two different things
symbolism: using symbols (person, place or thing) to represent ideas.  Ex: red rose = love

Chapter 8:
Awards:
The YA awards that I knew of before this chapter were the Lone Star Readers, Orbis Pictus, Pura Belpre and Scott O'Dell.  I was not familiar with the rest of these young adult literature awards, so I learned a lot from this chapter.  Here are just a few that I learned.  It is important to have these on display so students can recognize and sample some award winners, some of the best in the YA collection.

Printz: literary excellence in YA literature
YALSA: best nonfiction book published for young adults
Odyssey: best audiobook written for children or young adults
Morris: honors a debut book by a first time author in the young adult field

Chapter 9:
Poetry:
This chapter was eye-opening for me as I've always thought of poetry as a genre, but I learned that it is a "form that literature can take".  First off, the conversation between Dr. Lesesne and Dr. Perry was so fun in this video.  It was nice how you two played off each other's thoughts and ideas.  I liked the discussion of what a reader likes versus what a writer likes in poetry.  I also find that my students dislike reading free verse poems, but it is one that they choose to write because of the lack of rules.  One quote that stuck out to me was that kids should "get involved and interact with the poem".  This could be by repeated readings, choral reading, etc.

Some of the elements to look out for when evaluating poetry are the subject, imagery, rhyme, rhythm, and sound devices.  One of the main benefits of poetry for children is that they get to share experiences and feelings of the poet.

Award for Poetry: NCTE award for Excellence in Poetry is given out each year.