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Using Young Adult Literature Across the

CurriculumNicole Hochholzer

Daggett System for Effective Instruction

Lexile Literature1500 - On Ancient Medicine1400 - The Scarlet Letter1300 - Brown vs. Board of Ed.1200 - War and Peace1100 - Pride and Prejudice1000 - Black Beauty 900 - Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders 800 - The Adventures of Pinocchio 700 - Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery 600 - A Baby Sister for Frances 500 - The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth 400 - Frog and Toad are Friends 300 - Clifford’s Manners

Metametrics is an “endorsing partner” of the Common Core State Standards Initiative and they have found:

• Text Complexity of K-12 books has become easier over the last 50 years, while the text demands of college and careers has remained constant or increased.

Source: MetaMetrics

CCSS and Text Complexity

•Lexile range for 11th and 12th grade textbooks is 1050L to 1165L•Lexile range for postsecondary pursuits is between 1200L to 1400L•That’s a potential 250L difference for our proficient seniors, which means they move from a 75% comprehension to 50% comprehension!

Source: MetaMetrics

Grade Band Current Lexile Band “Stretch” Lexile Band

K-1 N/A N/A

2-3 450L – 725L 450L – 790L

4-5 645L – 845L 770L – 980L

6-8 860L – 1010L 955L – 1155L

9-10 960L – 1115L 1080L – 1305L

11-CCR 1070L – 1220L 1215L – 1355L

Are YOUR students ready for this??

Reading scores for nine-year-olds – who show no decline in voluntary reading – are

at an all-time high.

Little more than one-third of high school seniors now read proficiently.

Source: Readicide by Kelly Gallagher

Chapter 9 Practices and Instruction

Recommendations for:

• starting a literacy initiative

• working with ELL students

• making the most of professional development time

• using young adult literature to enhance a literacy initiative

MetaMetrics advocates a “staircase” of increasing text complexity, starting with

second grade.

Excellent!!!....but what do we do with the students we have NOW, who aren’t even

close to grade level??

Young Adult Literature to the rescue!!

Science: Investigating Genetically Engineered Organisms

There’s always an alternative:

The “Classic”:• To Kill a Mockingbird• Romeo & Juliet• A Separate Peace• The Great Gatsby• The Scarlet Letter• Lord of the Flies• Jane Eyre

The YA alternative:

• Spite Fences• Son of the Mob• Looking for Alaska• Jake, Reinvented• Speak• Beauty Queens• A Breath of Eyre

Using RAFTs for Book of the Month

Each month, select a high-interest Young Adult title and amass 25 copies

Create a RAFT assignment for students to complete

Once complete, student selects teacher who will give ____ amount of extra credit

R.A.F.T.

Role – What role will the student assume as a writer?

Audience – Choose an audience for writingFormat – Specify format possibilities the

writing will take (comic strip, letter to editor, feature article, poem)

Topic – Define the topic, determine questions to be answered and point to be made

Source: ICLE Strategic Reading Kit

Double Helix by Nancy Werlin

•Biology•Genetics

RAFT for Double Helix

• Role – Eli Samuels

• Audience – Dr. Wyatt

• Format – letter

• Topic – discussing the ethical issues surrounding his attempt to cure Huntington’s Disease

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

•Social Studies or History

•The Holocaust

•Connection to Sleeping Beauty

RAFT for Briar Rose

• Role – Rebecca

• Audience – General Public

• Format – newspaper article

• Topic – explaining the mystery of your grandmother’s belongings

Fault Line by Janet Tashjian

•Health class

•Dating violence

RAFT for Fault Line

• Role – Kip

• Audience – Becky

• Format – letter

• Topic – explaining your actions and what you have learned

Wuthering High by Cara Lockwood

•English

•Classic Literature

RAFT for Wuthering High

• Role – Mia

• Audience – your dad and stepmother

• Format – letter

• Topic – explaining why you want to stay at Wuthering High next year

Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

•Art class

•Photography

RAFT for Flash Burnout

• Role – Blake

• Audience – Marissa

• Format – letter

• Topic – describing your photography series to her and why you chose the photos you did

Chew on This by Eric Schlosser & Charles Wilson

•Economics

•Health Class

•Foods Class

•Social Studies

RAFT for Chew on This

• Role – McDonald’s executive

• Audience – the American public

• Format – press release

• Topic – defending your practices

First Part Last by Angela Johnson

•Teen Parenting

•Child Development

RAFT for First Part Last

• Role – Bobby

• Audience – a future parenting class

• Format – an advice column

• Topic – giving them advice based on your own experiences

SWS Geography project

Ghana

Rwanda

Sudan

Iraq, Russia

SWS & Spite Fences

Spite Fences by Trudy Krisher

•Alternative to To Kill a Mockingbird

•Works well with CCSS documents

“The Common Core Standards…push students, teachers, and districts to include both critical analysis and media production

in all classrooms, not simply ELA.”

-Sheehy & Clemmons, 2012

The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

•Twelve-year-old Robert is visited in his dreams every night by the Number Devil, who presents concepts such as prime numbers, square roots and infinity.

MATH

Project Idea:•Students create storyboard based on their assigned “dream”

•Work collaboratively to select scenes, conflicts, turning points and dialogue

•Use electronic presentation or movie-making technologies to create a storyboard

-All project ideas from Teaching Young Adult Literature Today by Hayn & Kaplan

MUSIC Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going

•296 pound Troy is about to jump off a subway platform when he meets Curt. Can joining Curt’s band as a drummer (even though he can’t play) change his life?

Project Idea:•Students analyze the importance of music to Troy and Curt

•Develop a timeline for an important year in their own life that reflects how music impacted their life

•Use software to create a soundtrack of their own life, along with fictional headlines

SCIENCEThe Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd•Laura lives in London, in 2015 where carbon rationing is required of all citizens. This affects her cell phone use, her travel and even her food supply.

Project Idea:•Students determine their own carbon footprint

•Research a country’s carbon emission’s related to its population

•Create charts, tables, reports and presentations reporting their research and analysis

WORLDLANGUAGES La Linea

by Ann Jahamillo

•Miguel is fifteen and finally ready to cross the border, but his journey becomes even more dangerous when his little sister tags along.

Project Idea:•Students read the Spanish phrases and learn about customs

•Discuss and analyze the many facets of immigration issue

•Create website documenting Miguel’s journey, researching weather, communities along the way and resources

•If possible, written in Spanish

SOCIALSTUDIES Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet

by Sherri L. Smith

•Ana Shen learns about her Chinese American and African American heritage as all four grandparents help prepare her eighth grade graduation meal.

Project Idea:•Students learn history and geography as they read about Korean War and African American experience

•Groups create wikis to represent different cultures and different experiences with war

•Create newspaper/journal from viewpoint of assigned cultural group

HEALTH SCIENCE Wintergirls by

Laurie Halse Anderson

•Lia’s battle with anorexia intensifies after her friend Cassie commits suicide.

Project Idea:•Students choose an unhealthy behavior to research

•Using presentation and video software, create Public Service Announcement (PSA)

•Share PSA with school or other appropriate audience

BUSINESSFeed by M.T. Anderson

•Titus and his friends love “the Feed” that gives them 24/7 information. But falling in love with Violet after his breaks down causes him to question what he has always taken for granted.

Project Idea:•Students choose Feed or another YA title to promote

•Use movie-making or publishing software

•Use knowledge of marketing, advertising, public relations and budgeting to create an ad, “branding” the book

THEATER ARTS orCREATIVE WRITING

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

•Was Steve really involved in the fatal shooting or a convenience-store owner, or was he in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Project Idea:•Students analyze the movie-script format of the book

•Create a storyboard, choosing scenes from the book to answer the question, “Is Steve a monster?”

•Film their own short movie trailer based on the scenes chosen

Strategies for YA Lit:

•Anticipation Guides

•Minute Paper

•Somebody Wanted But So

•TFCN

Twilight Mania…

Nicole Hochholzer(920)766-5948(920)766-6113 x5430nhochholzer@hotmail.com