Due: 23 March 2006 at noon

The purpose of the midterm is to give you the opportunity to use writing to reflect on your learning. Writing is "thinking on paper." You have been exposed to a number of ideas, concepts, and philosophies so far this semester. You have read many young adult books. You have participated in literature circles and other learning experiences that may be new to you. It is important to pause, to take time to think about the ways this course may have begun to influence your beliefs, values, and teaching/learning practices.

What are some of the characteristics of a quality reflection?
A good reflection:
· is honest.
· answers the questions or responds to the statements.
· contains examples and details to support opinions and thoughts.
· helps the person who wrote it understand him/herself better.
· informs the audience (teacher, classmates, self).
· shows that the person really thought about the question before writing down a response. In short, it shows thinking.
· comes from a personal perspective.
· is easily understood by the reader.

Choose to write on two out of three of these questions (10 points each). Be specific in your responses. Share insights gained from literature circles and/or class discussions as well as your experience outside of the classroom. After your responses, answer A and B below (5 points). Your complete midterm should be no more than three pages in length.

Note: If these questions don't "speak" to you, you're invited to ask and answer one of your own, plus one of these.

Email your midterm to me as an attachment on or before March 23rd at noon: storypower@theriver.com. I will read your work, comment and return it to you via email.

"The future isn't something hidden in a corner.
The future is something we build in the present."--Paulo Freire

One of the ways we help build the future in through our present work with young people.

1. Read over your response journal and review the books you've read and/or discussed with classmates thus far in the course. Choose one book/character that stands out. Briefly describe the impact of this book and/or the discussion of this book on your thinking/feeling. Imagine a young adult reading this book and then discuss the ways (from both aesthetic and efferent stances) in which this book could empower a reader to critically examine her/his life. Refer to adolescent psychology and/or the challenges of adolescence. Include his/her individual life as well as the larger societal context in this discussion.

2. Reflecting on the themes and topics of the books you've read so far, is there an injustice (a social or political issue) that has particularly potent personal meaning in your life? How might the author's (or authors') treatment of this theme/topic move a reader - a student - to go beyond identifying this issue to taking action? (This is the fourth phase in Ada's Critical Literacy Framework.) How can you as the teacher help him/her "formulate possibilities for action to change the world" (Banks, 2003, p. 18)? What kind of action can you imagine? Read about a ten-year-old student who is standing up against high-stakes testing in Colorado: http://susanohanian.org/show_yahoo.html?id=50

3. If you were teaching in a middle or high school that used the traditional ("dead white guys") literature canon as the reading component of the language arts program, what would be your rationale for changing the curriculum to include young adult literature? How would you gain support for this revolutionary proposal?

A. Books Read So Far/Reading Record Goal: Example 14/28

B. Briefly summarize your progress toward other course projects.