Sharing my thoughts

What benefits can I gain by sharing what I have read with others? There are a lot of benefits that I get from it. Personally, by sharing what I know, I realized that I have understood better about literature. I learnt how to understand the plot or theme of the book, the role of protagonist and the antagonists and many more. The most important thing is that I can share with my other friends what problems usually occur among young adults. To me it is important for us as a teacher to understand their problem.

There are 3 phases of involving us or our students in reading YAL. They are initiating, internalizing and connecting. While sharing is the ongoing dimension of the phases. The most enjoyable way of sharing my thoughts was by telling my friends what I understand about the book. For example, why it is called ‘Chinese Handcuff’. Once we have read certain YAL, we can also try to relate the situation with ourselves, others and to the world around us.

Sometimes, by using the same YAL and the model of involvement, we can create a framework that is useful for a literature classroom. I feel that sharing is a powerful tool to enhance students’ ability in creative and critical thinking. The program in the classroom can be structured using a few approaches including elements of literature, genre, author, topic, issue and theme.

Reflection & Insights

Students can gain three-faceted knowledge in young adult literature that is knowledge of self, knowledge of others and knowledge of worldview. As the readers read the book, they can relate to characters, their life situation, their challenges and their successes. This is due to the fact that teenagers like to put themselves into other people’s shoe. For example, ‘Chinese Handcuffs’ is very interesting to read because of the story. The scenario was around high school. This book is interesting because most of the problems stated in it were problems arise around most of the teenagers. After reading YAL, readers may also gain a critical understanding of themselves.

When I was a teenager, I also faced some of the problems such as conflict in feelings and relationships among peers. As a teacher now, this book will also help me how to deal with this kind of problems with my students. The book also gives me some ideas on how to be a good teacher to a problematic student. This book can also be used as a teaching aid for them because they might like it as it reflects what they are in the real world.

Some YAL also allow students to read about cultures and customs that they might never experience directly. It allows them to imagine what it is like to be someone else. Like in ‘Ganesh’, they can learn about different culture in Hindu and other religion such as Christian. Other than that, the scenarios mentioned in this book also show how the protagonist tried to mix with new environment and friends.

All in all, the books that I have read really help me in understanding the young adults’ world and at the same time I can understand myself better.