Meeting Pattern

Description

A book study of current fictional Young Adult Literature (YAL) and middle-grade (MG) literature to help you increase your knowledge of the diverse students within your  schools and classrooms, and reject a color-blind approach to teaching. Upon completing this course, you will have reached a deeper emotional intelligence surrounding issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, that will lead you to foster more inclusive and welcoming classrooms and will lead you to a selection of diverse and impactful literature to foreground inclusion and belonging for all of your students. 

Though this course is asynchronous, participants are encouraged to engage in discussion with others through discussion boards as well as sharing final projects and reflections.

Syllabus, Objectives, and Outcomes

Objectives:

  By the end of this course, you will be able to:

·       identify your own biases;

·       understand what intersectionality is and how it affects your students;

·       analyze and evaluate texts for authenticity, accurate representation, and bias;

·       synthesize knowledge into an organized project;

Course Texts:

Pick 5 of 6

• Aces Wild by Amanda DeWild
• Beating Heart Baby by Lo Min
• 6 Times We Almost Kissed [and One Time We Did] by Tess Sharpe
• Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl by Brianna R. Shrum & Sara Waxelbaum
• The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons
• You Don’t Have a Shot by Raquel Marie

Borrowing books from friends or libraries, listening to audiobooks, reading the ebook are all fine if you don’t want to/aren’t able to purchase the books. Choose 5 of the 6 that interest you the most:

Aces Wild by Amanda DeWild is a new take on a heist novel. A group of kids that met online and discovered they’re all asexual (ace). Jack is investigating his mother’s arrest and has the help of his friends to try to break into a Las Vegas casino.

Beating Heart Baby by Lo Min features Santi and Suwa. Santi is new to school and meets Suwa at marching band practice. Their relationship goes from maybe hating each other to bonding to something more. They’ll have to make tough decisions about their relationship as they grow up and grow apart.

6 Times We Almost Kissed [and One Time We Did] by Tess Sharpe is a slow-burn romance. Penny and Tate have known each other their whole lives because their moms are best friends. Both of their families are going through a tough time and both girls are figuring out feelings for the other. They need to learn how to speak up for themselves and work through their emotional baggage.

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl by Brianna R. Shrum & Sara Waxelbaum details Margo’s journey of learning gay culture. After she discovers her attraction to girls, she has to have everything right about being gay. Abbie needs to get her history grade up, so the two pair up to help each other out.

The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons is about Spencer’s first year at a new school after some serious bullying at his previous school. He is determined to play on the soccer team and tell as few people as possible that he’s trans.

You Don’t Have a Shot by Raquel Marie tells the story of soccer rivals Vale and Leticia, who after an intense head to head battle during the playoffs, end up being assigned co-captains on the same team at their soccer summer camp.

Note: Books may be read in whatever format works best for you: purchased, from the library, e-book, and audiobook all work.