Re-envisioning YA Book Clubs as a Culturally Sustaining Literacy Method for Transforming Teaching and Learning

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium grounds YA book clubs in Latiné and Black literary histories to reimagine book clubs as a literacy method that supports the sociocultural and literacy development of practicing teachers, preservice teachers, and secondary students in the current political context. Bringing together works from different settings and populations across the US Southwest, the presenters interrogate the role YA literature book clubs can play in teacher education and classroom contexts. These papers do more than highlight the power of literature for readers, but examine how participating in book clubs (re)shapes understandings of self and others through dialogical discussions of the literature and each others’ responses to the books, and the implications of this experience for transforming teaching and learning.

Sub Unit

• Division K - Teaching and Teacher Education / Division K - Section 01: Teaching and Teacher Education in the Content Areas

Chair

• Katherine M. Sciurba, University of Georgia

Papers

• Pláticas, YA Books, and Teacher Identity Building: A Book Club as Teacher Professional Development - Monica Baldonado-Ruiz, San Diego State University

• Pre-Service Educators Re-imagining Teaching through YAL Book Clubs - Sandra Saco, Arizona State University

• “Reading Just to Read”: Secondary Students’ Perspectives on YA Book Clubs in an ELA Classroom - Sybil Durand, University of Arizona

Session Organizer

• Sybil Durand, University of Arizona

Discussant

• Jody N. Polleck, Hunter College - CUNY