Disrupting Assumptions About Youth Readers: Constructing and Exploring Personas in a Young Adult Literature Course

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 29
  In Roundtable Session: The Roles of Readers, Media, and Literature in Ethical and Global Learning: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

In young adult literature (YAL) courses, pre-service English language arts (ELA) teachers’ discussions often involve imagining how their future students might respond to literature. These imaginings often lead to generalizations about youths’ experiences, needs, and interests based on assumptions and myths about adolescence. This paper draws on data from a qualitative research study to consider how the creation and exploration of web-designed “personas” of youth readers might complicate and disrupt preservice ELA teachers’ assumptions about youth readers. Findings from this paper illustrate both the persistence of myths and assumptions about adolescence and – by extension – youth readers, and the potential of pedagogical innovation in English education to shed light on those myths and assumptions, thereby opening them up for critique.

Authors

• Kate Dower Lechtenberg, The University of Iowa

• Amanda Haertling Thein, University of Iowa

• Nicole Ann Amato, The University of Iowa

• Katie Priske, University of Iowa