I enjoy reading. Since my wife is an English teacher, I try to read the books that she teaches in class which helps me to understand her struggles in class with students and assignments. When she started teaching a class in her high school for college credit called, "Children's Literature: Birth to Adolescence" I discovered that I LOVE to read Young Adult Literature. The side benefit is that since I hang out in the high school library a lot with my friend the Media Specialist, I also have a lot of good discussions with kids about books.
Last year, I asked teachers to fill out the posters above and post them inside our outside of their classroom. The posters were made with Stationery Studio, but you could use any graphic program. I know for me it was the starting place for many discussions about the books I was reading at the time. When I was reading "Motorcycle Diaries" there was a lot of talk about the movie by the same title because they had watched it in Spanish class.
Want to make connections with kids by having positive conversations about learning and reading? Give it a try next year!
I am a Reader! Here is a list of my favorite Young Adult books:
Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams (Mystery - Very engaging)
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (Warning-- was 'banned' from schools because it has the word "Scrotum" a few times. Don't let it scare you off-- very sweet book)
Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles (Baseball is a major part of this story)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Took a while for me to get into it, but a great perspective)
