assignments ENGL344 Young Adult Literature FINAL PROJECT
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FINAL PROJECT
This class is not an education class, but it is a cognate course required of those folks in the English major who intend to be middle and high school teachers. So the course has been a blend of reading YA and teaching YA. Our focus has been on reading YA literature; our discussions of teaching have not been formal in anyway, and they’ve been largely informed by your respective experiences outside this class.
PROJECT OPTION I: LESSON PLAN
A number of you are going to go into teaching, so one option to fulfill is to develop a unit plan for teaching a YA text to a class--sort of a more formal version of the Teaching Discussion Board you've been posting to this semester. See below for complete details for Project Option I.
PROJECT OPTION II: LITERARY ANALYSIS OF ANY OF THE NOVELS WE'VE READ IN CLASS
Another option, for those of you who are more interested in reading YA texts as literature and are not going to teach, is to write a 5-7 page literary analysis, typed and double-spaced, of any of the novels that we've discussed in class. This is a standard literary analysis and a more formal version of the google.doc book club reading journals I've asked you to do in class. You should include outside sources that can include some of the supplementary reading we've done in class, but must include at least three other sources that would be new and relevant to your analysis. You should realize that probably you will not find a lot on a particular author or text, but you will find a lot on YA as a genre. That research can inform your work here. You should consider the qualities of the genre that we talked about this semester. MLA citation and works cited. Please have a thoughtful title. Consider the thematic ideas we've talked about in class--about the nature of reading, the nature of teaching reading, and YA as a genre. A good idea about a text could come from any of these. If you have an idea about a paper topic and would like to run it past me, definitely be in touch.
PROJECT OPTION III: WRITE A YA SHORT STORY
Another option, for those of you who are more interested in YA as a genre from a writing perspective, can write a YA short story. This should be roughly 2000 words.This can be an expansion of your Write Your Own You should pay attention, as you construct your piece to the qualities of the genre that we talked about in class. Additionally, you must include two other components. First, a short bibliography that can include some of the research essays we read in class and at least three other new sources that helped you to think about what makes a YA story a YA story. Finally, you must include a three page, typed and double spaced, reflection on your own short story that explains how the qualities of the genre come into your piece and, also, how the research you did informs the final project. I know I said that I'd include more details, but I'm actually at a loss for what else to say. If you have questions that this blurb does not answer, please feel free to email me with questions.
PROJECT OPTION I: DETAILS
WHAT YOU WILL TEACH
I am not looking for a unit plan or anything of the sort. I am looking for a narrative of how you would teach a particular text. You want to consider why it serves as a strong YA text by considering the characteristics we talked about in class.
WHO WILL YOU TEACH
All semester long, we've been teaching to various kinds of classes. You can elect to aim your text at any of the class scenarios we've used this semester on the Teaching Discussion Board. Make sure it is clear what your class you are teaching to is.
SOME DETAILS ABOUT FORM
SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER IN YOUR NARRATIVE
OTHER THINGS (THIS GOES FOR WHATEVER PROJECT YOU CHOOSE TO DO)
You will workshop your projects among each other in your book club groups. Part of how I will assess you on this is how thoughtful and useful you are to your colleagues in your book club group. Electronic copies, as a google.doc or a word doc, of your materials are due to me by the end of finals.
How you will be evaluated for the Final Project
The Final Project is worth 20% of your final grade. In order to earn a "B" for your final grade you must
In order to earn an "A" for your final grade you must
In order to earn a C" for your final grade you must
Failure to earn a C grade will mean you fail the 20% of your total grade made that makes up the Final Project.
This class is not an education class, but it is a cognate course required of those folks in the English major who intend to be middle and high school teachers. So the course has been a blend of reading YA and teaching YA. Our focus has been on reading YA literature; our discussions of teaching have not been formal in anyway, and they’ve been largely informed by your respective experiences outside this class.
PROJECT OPTION I: LESSON PLAN
A number of you are going to go into teaching, so one option to fulfill is to develop a unit plan for teaching a YA text to a class--sort of a more formal version of the Teaching Discussion Board you've been posting to this semester. See below for complete details for Project Option I.
PROJECT OPTION II: LITERARY ANALYSIS OF ANY OF THE NOVELS WE'VE READ IN CLASS
Another option, for those of you who are more interested in reading YA texts as literature and are not going to teach, is to write a 5-7 page literary analysis, typed and double-spaced, of any of the novels that we've discussed in class. This is a standard literary analysis and a more formal version of the google.doc book club reading journals I've asked you to do in class. You should include outside sources that can include some of the supplementary reading we've done in class, but must include at least three other sources that would be new and relevant to your analysis. You should realize that probably you will not find a lot on a particular author or text, but you will find a lot on YA as a genre. That research can inform your work here. You should consider the qualities of the genre that we talked about this semester. MLA citation and works cited. Please have a thoughtful title. Consider the thematic ideas we've talked about in class--about the nature of reading, the nature of teaching reading, and YA as a genre. A good idea about a text could come from any of these. If you have an idea about a paper topic and would like to run it past me, definitely be in touch.
PROJECT OPTION III: WRITE A YA SHORT STORY
Another option, for those of you who are more interested in YA as a genre from a writing perspective, can write a YA short story. This should be roughly 2000 words.This can be an expansion of your Write Your Own You should pay attention, as you construct your piece to the qualities of the genre that we talked about in class. Additionally, you must include two other components. First, a short bibliography that can include some of the research essays we read in class and at least three other new sources that helped you to think about what makes a YA story a YA story. Finally, you must include a three page, typed and double spaced, reflection on your own short story that explains how the qualities of the genre come into your piece and, also, how the research you did informs the final project. I know I said that I'd include more details, but I'm actually at a loss for what else to say. If you have questions that this blurb does not answer, please feel free to email me with questions.
PROJECT OPTION I: DETAILS
WHAT YOU WILL TEACH
I am not looking for a unit plan or anything of the sort. I am looking for a narrative of how you would teach a particular text. You want to consider why it serves as a strong YA text by considering the characteristics we talked about in class.
WHO WILL YOU TEACH
All semester long, we've been teaching to various kinds of classes. You can elect to aim your text at any of the class scenarios we've used this semester on the Teaching Discussion Board. Make sure it is clear what your class you are teaching to is.
SOME DETAILS ABOUT FORM
- Your narrative should be between 5 and 7 double spaced pages.
- You should present an argument for why this text or texts.
- You should make it clear how this text and these activities would be right for this population/class.
- You should indicate the day-to-day activities that students would engage in.
- You should include any handouts you would use as part of the unit as addendum to your narrative.
SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER IN YOUR NARRATIVE
- What are your end-goals for this assignment—so, essentially, your learning outcomes for this lesson? To be clear here, be sure to identify what reading and writing goals you have beyond any "life lesson" stuff you hope students might learn.
- What will you do with students to support their understanding and success as they read the book?
- How will you integrate media (If you elect to use media) so that it is supportive and fully a part of the assignment and not just another thing they have to do?
- What will the culminating assignment/project/whatever look like where students demonstrate that they’ve met the learning outcomes?
- How will you assess it?
OTHER THINGS (THIS GOES FOR WHATEVER PROJECT YOU CHOOSE TO DO)
You will workshop your projects among each other in your book club groups. Part of how I will assess you on this is how thoughtful and useful you are to your colleagues in your book club group. Electronic copies, as a google.doc or a word doc, of your materials are due to me by the end of finals.
How you will be evaluated for the Final Project
The Final Project is worth 20% of your final grade. In order to earn a "B" for your final grade you must
- Complete all of the required components of the option you elect to focus on.
- Participate thoughtfully in a workshop with your book club reading journal google.doc group.
- Turn in your completed materials by the end of finals week.
In order to earn an "A" for your final grade you must
- Compete all the requirements for the "B" grade.
- Attempt to include, thoughtfully and pointedly, those significant ideas about reading, writing, and teaching YA that we have discussed over the course of the semester.
In order to earn a C" for your final grade you must
- Complete all of the required components of the option you elect to focus on.
- Turn in your completed materials by the end of finals week.
Failure to earn a C grade will mean you fail the 20% of your total grade made that makes up the Final Project.