https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d LIST 5326 YA Booktalk Assignment en-us 2019-05-16 19:11:32 UTC 2026-03-16 09:26:49 UTC hello@padlet.com elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360953417 2015-2019: High School English Teacher, Snyder High School (2015), Ozona High School (2016), Eldorado High School (2017-2019)
2019-2020: 7th Grade ELAR at Lee Middle School (San Angelo ISD)]]> 2019-05-16 19:14:04 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360953417 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360954374 In my high school classroom in Eldorado, I had over 400 young adult novels in my independent reading library. I will probably have to filter out a few over the summer as I prepare to move into my new 7th grade classroom. I also had a subscription to Nation Geographic.

The YA novels in my independent reading library were used all year long. Students were required to complete an independent reading project on a different novel every six weeks. Attached is the breakdown of how I did the assignment. The book report form and vocabulary page are not attached.]]> 2019-05-16 19:16:25 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360954374 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360954672 At Eldorado High School, both myself and the teacher in the room next to me (who was also the high school librarian) kept independent reading libraries in our classrooms. I used Booksource Classroom Library to track books and check out books. It helped me get insight into my student's reading habits. Between 50-100 books were checked out at any given time. I could tell the genres my students preferred and it made it easier for me to recommend books to them. Even after students were no longer in my class, they would often come in and check out books. It fostered a culture of reading in my classroom that I found to be very helpful and engaging. To make it easier/better, I would like to begin labeling books by genre with color-coded stickers next year.]]> 2019-05-16 19:17:04 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360954672 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360957918 Thomas, A. (2017). The Hate U Give. New York, NY: Balzer & Bray.]]> 2019-05-16 19:24:59 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360957918 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360958352 2019-05-16 19:26:01 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360958352 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360960080 Coretta Scott King Honor (Author)

]]> 2019-05-16 19:30:53 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360960080 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360961492 National Book Award Longlist]]> 2019-05-16 19:34:37 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360961492 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360965191 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award]]> 2019-05-16 19:46:26 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360965191 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360965683 2019-05-16 19:48:13 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360965683 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360974396 Michael L. Printz Honor Book

]]> 2019-05-16 20:19:41 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360974396 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360974856 Willaim C. Morris Award]]> 2019-05-16 20:21:24 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360974856 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360975646 This book focuses on Starr Carter, an African American teenager who attends a private high school with mostly white classmates. She lives in a mostly African American neighborhood about an hour's drive away from her school. She lives two very distinct lives: one at her school with her boyfriend and school friends, and one in her neighborhood with her other friends and family. While attending a party in her neighborhood, Starr runs into her childhood best friend, Khalil. When the party devolves into a gang war, Starr and Khalil leave the party in Khalil's car. They are pulled over (supposedly for a taillight being out) and Khalil, while trying to make sure she is okay, is shot by the police officer. At first, Starr does not want to tell anyone at school or anyone she knows that she was the witness to her friend's shooting, and only her family knows. Her father is an ex-gang member and her mother is a nurse. Her uncle is a police officer who knows the officer who shot Khalil. As details emerge and the DA gets involved, Starr realizes she can no longer hide what happened and her two lives collide. ]]> 2019-05-16 20:24:27 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/360975646 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361231210 When I first started reading this book, I knew what it was about and I knew that other teachers use it in classrooms based on some of the teacher groups I'm in on social media. After reading it, I understand why other teachers have been raving about it. It approaches a controversial subject with honesty. This book has an extremely real depiction of what some of our students go through - living two very different lives. While I've always known that we don't know what's going on at home/outside of school with our students, this book really brought that home for me. While teachers weren't really discussed in this novel, I couldn't help but think about how none of them had any idea what was going on with her. They didn't know anything about her complicated family/neighborhood life or what she had witnessed. It made me look at the students in my classroom and wonder what I don't know about them - what sort of trauma they might be going through even as they sit in my class. Since I teach in a small town, I do know a little more about them and what goes on outside of school, but I have likely barely grazed the surface even as I try to get to know them.
As a teacher, I also enjoyed the way this book might connect with novels I've taught in class. I can see it connecting with To Kill A Mockingbird (see my proposed activities and student interviews for more on that) as well as The Great Gatsby (a discussion of how the American Dream has changed and whether it is truly attainable for everyone). One moment that stood out was when Starr's private school friends were complaining about their luxurious vacations and she is horrified that they could complain about going to the Bahamas or Harry Potter World. As someone who grew up somewhat spoiled, I saw myself in the characters who were complaining and it made me cringe to remember myself that way.
Overall, I found this book to be eye-opening about issues and people I thought I already understood.]]> 2019-05-17 15:48:12 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361231210 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361237105 In addition to the summary above, this is a great book. The main character is a junior in high school who witnesses her childhood friend get shot by the police. It also involves a gang war and discusses the idea of speaking out and whether or not it is "snitching." The main character, Starr, is a normal teenager who has been put through a terrible ordeal and is struggling to find her voice and find what truly matters to her. It is told in first-person.
The book is intense and very realistic. The author truly understands teenagers and the community she writes about. I would definitely recommend it to both teachers and students.
You may need parental permission to read this due to violence, language and discussion of illegal substances.
Notable Quotes:
-"That's the problem. We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay to them and normal for us. What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?"
-"'Brave doesn't mean you're not scared, Starr,' she says. 'It means that you go on even though you're scared.'"
-“At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.”]]> 2019-05-17 16:01:31 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361237105 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361244413 This book would be best for use at the high school level. It would go well in a social justice or activism unit and could be easily paired with several novels, including the curriculum staple To Kill A Mockingbird. It addresses issues students deal with daily and has strong characterization and allusions to pop culture. It would also work well in literature circles paired with other books like All American Boys or Dear Martin to talk about racial issues or social justice. It might do best in literature circles because it would give students/parents the right to choose the novel, since it does have several issues that might make some parents unhappy. It's a strong novel that students will actually want to read and connect with. It would certainly keep students engaged.

Potential Issues: While there is inappropriate language and depiction of the use of illicit substances, it is a realistic portrayal of what students are encountering in the real world. It also deals with a controversial/political issue - the issue of police violence against the African American community. However, this book also depicts other police officers as kind and as members of that community. The main character's uncle, who is prominently featured in the novel, is a police officer, as well. ]]> 2019-05-17 16:18:59 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361244413 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361296526 110.36.E1.c4E "make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts and society"
The Hate U Give would be a great piece to bring in other texts, specifically informational and persuasive texts from current events in society (i.e. the Black Lives Matter movement and issues of police violence). Since the book touches on such a current and controversial issue, it also generates a great amount of discussion and connection. News articles and political speeches would be great to use in a unit along with this book.
110.36.EI.c6A-B "analyze how themes are developed through characterization and plot in a variety of literary texts" and "analyze how authors develop complex yet believable characters in works of fiction through a range of literary devices, including character foils"
The Hate U Give offers some great characterization. The main character realistic and true. The author uses character foils as well as pop culture allusions to make this young woman come to life. It offers great opportunity for discussion and analysis. By giving us a fully realized young African American woman, the author places us in her shoes to develop her message and theme about police violence against the African American community in America.

]]> 2019-05-17 18:42:12 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361296526 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361300532 110.36.E1.c.6D
"analyze how the setting influences the theme"
The Hate U Give has two main settings: Garden Heights, where the main character lives - a mostly African American and somewhat impoverished community - and Williamson Prep, the private (mostly white) school that Starr attends. These offer juxtaposition as well as develop several themes in the novel, such as systemic racism. It also shows us how little we truly know about what anyone else is going through until we've truly experienced it. Even the main character's friends had no idea what was going on with Starr because they lived in such truly separate settings.

]]> 2019-05-17 18:53:45 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361300532 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361311035 This is an article on the National Council of Teachers of English website discussing the book being banned. Within the article, they also link several more useful links discussing why the book has educational merit and why it should not be banned. A school here in Texas removed it from middle school and high school library shelves. This could be useful in handling any challenges to the book or discussing it as part of a banned books unit.]]> 2019-05-17 19:34:59 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361311035 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361311975 This is the Cult of Pedagogy's main link for their summer 2017 study of this book. It includes links to articles on important topics in the book like code-switching. It also discusses some things the book could do better and has a video reflection. It discusses how this book takes characters that are often stereotyped and makes them real, which does back up the strong characterization in the novel.]]> 2019-05-17 19:39:40 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361311975 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361734562 This is ReadWriteThink lesson plan (written by NCTE) for building background knowledge. It has them read articles about the Black Lives Matter movement as well as do a short research project. It could be useful for doing small group literature circles, as well. It mentions several other texts that the lesson could be modified for (All American Boys, How It Went Down), which would make it great for literature circles about social justice. It also brings in several nonfiction texts (from James Baldwin’s essay “Letter from a Region in My Mind” and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Letter to My Son"). ]]> 2019-05-20 13:53:09 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361734562 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361745920 This is an activity that I believe would work best before reading the novel. At the end of the novel, the narrator names many people who have been killed as a result of racism/police violence, including Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Sandra Bland. Depending on class size, each student (or pair/group) would get the name of one of the people mentioned at the end. They would then do a presentation on this person and what happened to them. They could create a poster or some form of digital presentation. It must include: when it happened, personal details about the person (age, family life, job, etc.), a photo of the person, news articles from several different sources, a description of the public outcry/response from the African American community, whether the officer involved was tried/punished and how. This would give the students a context for what is happening, as well as giving them time to look at different biases from different sources and letting them work on speaking/presentation skills. This would be useful to bring non-fiction text/news articles into the classroom. Posters would, in a way, be best, because they could be hung in the classroom while students are discussing and reading the novel. ]]> 2019-05-20 14:16:56 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361745920 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361756624 This requires another text: To Kill A Mockingbird. While in recent years, it has been removed from some classrooms as problematic because of the issue of the "white savior," I think it might be interesting to look at it from that perspective and discuss why it's now considered to be problematic. In doing so, students could then read, in groups, novels such as The Hate U Give or All American Boys and discuss what these novels got right that To Kill A Mockingbird got wrong (the African American characters not having agency is one major discussion point here). I also think both To Kill A Mockingbird and The Hate U Give would allow for some good discussion of narrators and how a narrator's age impacts what we understand and how we connect to a novel. Using this, students could do a POV eyeball. Basically, a student is given a blank paper with a large drawing of an open eyeball. They are assigned a character and have to draw what they are seeing at some point in the novel as though we are looking through their eyes. ]]> 2019-05-20 14:37:46 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361756624 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361762804 This brings in song lyrics to the classroom, which is one of many ways to get students more engaged. Since Tupac Shakur is referenced heavily in the novel, one activity to do with students would be to analyze a Tupac song (for example "Changes"). Students could also analyze and discuss "The Rose that Grew from the Concrete," Tupac's poem (using poem annotation techniques and/or TPCASTT). Students could discuss the symbolism and any figurative language applying what they have learned from studying poetry. After annotating and discussing the poem, students would discuss how it relates to the theme of the novel and how the narrator and/or the author may have been influenced by the work of Tupac. ]]> 2019-05-20 14:49:40 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361762804 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361801494 In this activity, students will read the attached article about code-switching and, specifically, how it impacts the African American community. Students will then discuss the different personalities Starr has in the novel and how she often code-switches while trying to juggle these personalities. They will search the novel for examples of when she does this. Then, students will list the different personalities they have - who they are at school vs. at home vs. with their friends and other times. A teacher could model this: Students will then be given a writing assignment and will write it from at least two of their different "personalities." After, students will reflect on how they code-switch in their everyday lives.]]> 2019-05-20 16:10:39 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361801494 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361847240 I spoke with two students about this novel. One of them (15) had read the novel for her independent reading choice in my class this year and one (17) read it in her honors English class with another teacher.
Student A (17 years old, read in her honors English class): Student A really liked the book because it showed two different races colliding but still connecting. She enjoyed that it was something that was going on in today's world, but she felt that it wasn't necessarily fair because the white officer's perspective wasn't really given. The part that most stood out to her was how Starr's father didn't want her to date outside her race. She didn't think parents still acted like that.
Student B (15, read as an independent reading choice): Student B absolutely loved the book and was very eager to talk about it. She enjoyed it because it's a topic people don't really talk about, but the book approached it in an honest way and wasn't afraid of it. She would gladly read it in class because it's very real and has language/slang that students can understand. This student read To Kill A Mockingbird in class this year and did notice that there were similarities and differences. She liked this book better because it had an actual character who is a Person of Color and finds her voice/fights back. When asked about the activities above, she thought she'd most enjoy learning about the other people named at the end of the book and connecting it to real life.]]> 2019-05-20 17:58:11 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361847240 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361852144 I spoke with Eldorado High School's senior English teacher, Taylor Haworth. She keeps a small library of about 30 books available for students. They are mostly young adult novels and are both fiction and nonfiction. If students cannot find what they are looking for, she often sends them to my classroom where I have a more extensive (400+ books, also mostly YA) library available. She has them read daily for 10 minutes and then write about it using sentence stems. To choose books for her small library, she found a list on Facebook in a group for teachers. As for choosing what she teaches in class, she tries to make sure the books are relevant and connected to the TEKS (Brit Lit for seniors in Texas under the current TEKS) when choosing whole class novels. She believes it's important to use YA in the classroom because it helps students be more aware of important topics and different cultures.]]> 2019-05-20 18:08:59 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361852144 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361861973 Our librarian at Eldorado High School, LuAnn Shipman, is also an English teacher for part of the day. She spends three periods teaching sophomore English and one period teaching Yearbook. The rest of the time, she is in the library. She often relies on the Junior Library Guild to help her chose books due to her busy schedule the last two years. She does look at lists of recent award winners released by the ALA, Horn Books and (for elementary) Bluebonnet. She places the newest book on their own shelves for a year. She does not feature award winners, except the Bluebonnet books in elementary. As far as circulation goes, Mrs. Shipman has noticed that the most popular books are realistic fiction and dystopian fiction. She also mentioned that students really love series.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ]]> 2019-05-20 18:27:12 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361861973 elisa_gregonis https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361868187 My bibliography is attached as an MS Word Document.]]> 2019-05-20 18:42:04 UTC https://padlet.com/elisa_gregonis/tlt828wydr1d/wish/361868187