YA Lit, Music and Movies: Creating REEL Interest in the Language Arts Classroom

Dark hair swinging, black hoodie zipped half way, John penetrateed my room with a nod and a "Hey" before taking his place in the back of the field Intelligent and articulate outside of class, he had little patience for To Kill a Mockingbird, no matter by what mode relevant I tried to make it to my students' lives. John's world consisted of the religious stone band he played in upon the weekends, the various characters his older brother had for him in film-making endeavors and the looming shadow of his parents' new divorce. He simply had no interest in gymnasium of any shape or size, particularly if it involved classical literature.

With John's grade hovering just above 50 percent I approached him after class, asking him to bear with me another week: I was positive he would relate more to our nearest unit. Quickly, I explained that he would have a choice of several young adult novels, revolving around our "Coming of Age" theme. A spark flickered in his dark eyes; previous English classes had not ever offered the prospect of choice in reading, and small in number novels had featured teen protagonists. His attention captured, I continued to describe the assignment that would accompany the unit, a throw out that involved two of John's passions: music and film. A smile slipped across his face.

Although unique in many ways himself, John's feelings about English were not unique at all. each day, students shuffle in and on the outside of classrooms modeled after realities that are now just faded memories of their parents and grandparents. In a world that spins faster and faster each day, a world created by dint of an impatient society crammed with conflicting ideas at handed in songs, on film, and from one side advertisements, studying the traditional literary canon no longer prepares our pupils to be the critical thinkers we desire them to be. pupils suffer, frustrated with class satisfied and ill-prepared for the workplace, and teachers be augmented exhausted after hours of attempting to "teach" to unwilling pupils

Fortunately, for the couple teachers and students, a fresh canon of young adult literature already exists, combining the teacher's desire for finely crafted works with the student's ne of relevant characters and topics. After a review of research leadershiped on the use of young adult literature in the classroom, Santoli and Wagner (2004) consistently lay the foundation of that its use "promotes and encourages lifelong reading habits," a goal that all language arts teachers should list at the top of their priorities. Beyond this benefit, however, remains the fact that young adult literature rotates around the themes found within the pages of the classics and tender the same literary elements (Santoli and Wagner, 2004)

But this solitary answers one aspect of the question Although students must be able to analyze traditional body s the reality of today's world turn rounds around texts that our students' grandparents could not at any time have imagined. The novel no longer remains a sacred part of the abiding-place Instead, televisions and computers litter each room. Literacy can no longer be defined through a single definition of body Rather, today's literacy possesses a fluidness that encompasses a mixture of music, images and html And this literacy is constantly changing as technology continues to race forward. If teachers want to mold literate scholars it has become critical that educators broaden the definition of literacy. individual way to do this is through embracing the very media that for a like reason successfully garners our students' attention. Embedding media within the language arts curriculum will not alone teach students the critical thinking skills emergencyed to interpret the onslaught of media messages, on the contrary will also allow teachers to use the media to teach and motivate learners in the areas of reading and writing.

This reality is not a fresh one. Educational researchers have been studying the impact of media since it became prevalent in students' lives. In their 2000 article, Donna Alvermann and Margaret Hagood argue that if educators want learners to perform well in the couple the world and on novel assessments, "they will need to evolve a critical understanding of in what manner all texts (both print and nonprint) position them as readers and viewers within different social, cultural, and historical contexts" (para. 2)

One ultimate part to adequately preparing students eases upon ensuring that students to the full understand the subject's concepts. Many scholars fail to understand why they are sitting within their classrooms, and, therefore, lack the motivation required to largely explore the ideas presented to them. For a certain number of however, it is their depressed self-efficacy that leads to depressed motivation. O'Brien (2003) asserts that the instructional programs designed to identify and label scholars who are lacking in the reading areas of decoding, flowing quality and comprehension have led to intensely negative perceptions about students' abilities level as the programs strive to correct their reading deficiencies. Because scholars develop these feelings early in the education proces O'Brien further argues that these scholars begin to see failure as something beyond their command and to develop a learned helplessness. Others argue that the gymnasium curriculum can lead to depressed motivation by stifling children's choice in reading and continually setting limits upon reading, which can permanently affect by what means students see themselves as readers (Alvermann, satellite and Hagood, 1999). Whatever the origin, depressed motivation can seriously hinder a student's progres within the language arts classroom.