Rob Simon

After two years of teaching a course in Young Adult literature for preservice language arts teachers, I was fortunate to receive an examination copy of this book, which is the most comprehensive text I have found for introducing aspiring educators to the teaching of literature.

Although this text is not uniformly solid, it is robust and thorough in many respects. The two introductory chapters provide just enough of a theoretical/pedagogical foundation for students to familiarize themselves with dialogic teaching and an inquiry framework. The chapters also provide a strong argument for the importance of context and getting to know the students you will be teaching. Subsequent chapters address teaching YA literature, incorporating multiple literacies in language arts instruction, curriculum planning, backwards planning, designing inquiry units, supporting reading comprehension, the use of multiple theoretical critical lenses or perspectives to assist students in constructing meaning from literature, responding to poetry, using a variety of writing assignments (many informal and formative in nature), and using formative assessments to inform teaching. Each chapter concludes with a synthesis/sample lesson that is more illustrative than prescriptive, and the authors carefully align their methodology with their progressive, student-centered pedagogy even as they offer honest critique of the limited value of Common Core standards while simultaneously acknowledging the practical need to address the standards in instruction. Unfortunately, the chapters on teaching media literacy and using drama to teach literature are comparatively weak. The majority of this text, however, is more than enough to support a full semester of pedagogy instruction focused on teaching literature.

I plan to use this text in my course this coming fall, and I strongly recommend it to teacher educators, preservice and in-service English Language Arts teachers.… (mehr)