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Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2025

Young Adult Literature for Educators (Face-to-Face)

ENGL 3280-01

Course: ENGL 3280-01
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2025
Department: ENGL
CRN: 32272

Course Description

An introductory course in adolescent and Young Adult literature emphasizing pedagogical models for teaching diverse texts in a variety of genres. (Fall) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Prerequisite(s): ENGL 2400 and (ENGL 2900 or ENGL 4530) - Prerequisite Min. Grade: C- Registration Restriction(s): English and English Education majors and minors only

Course Overview: This course focuses on Young Adult Literature and how teachers conceptualize using it in the classroom by itself and with classic texts. We will also experience how YA Lit can be used as a bridge to help students understand a variety of issues and literary concepts in both literature written for them as well as in the classic texts schools expect students to master. We will also consider how informational text written for teens can help teachers accomplish their goals with the Utah Core Standards. To accomplish this, we will deliberate the thought processes behind the development of the classroom teacher’s philosophy for teaching literature and how this, in turn, determines the choices made to facilitate student learning. You will be able to see some of this for yourself as you perform 30 practicum hours in an area middle school over the course of the semester. Another feature of the course is a survey of YA literature. The class will make critical evaluations of the literature as well as investigate strategies for encouraging student reading; we will also assess how many of the activities we discuss related to these texts can also be used to meet UCS by grade level. Finally, we will explore Nancie Atwell’s reading workshops in secondary classrooms, and you will all take part in an Atwell-modeled workshop.

Course goals: In taking this course, you will become more competent and confident in understanding approaches to the teaching of literature to young adults, in assessing reading materials for young adults, and in implementing the use of literature—YA, classic, and informational—with young adults. The goal I encourage you to set for yourself is to read as much and as widely as possible. You will have required readings as well as readings of your own choice that we will use in class discussions and other projects. 

Required Texts

Atwell, Nancie.  In the Middle, 3rd

Austen, Jane.  Pride and Prejudice

Acevedo, Elizabeth.  The Poet X  YA

Adib, Khorram. Darious the Great Is Not Okay YA

Cushman, Karen.  Catherine, Called Birdy YA  

Flinn, Alex.  Breathing Underwater YA

Kluger, Steve. My Most Excellent Year.   YA

Reynolds, Jason and Brandon Kiely. All-American Boys. YA

Reynolds and Kendi. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You YA

Stork, Francisco X. Marcelo in the Real World. YA

Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese YA

Zusak, Marcus. The Book Thief YA

Learning Outcomes

In taking this course, you will become more competent and confident in understanding approaches to the teaching of literature to young adults, in assessing reading materials for young adults, and in implementing the use of literature—YA, classic, and informational—with young adults. The goal I encourage you to set for yourself is to read as much and as widely as possible. You will have required readings as well as readings of your own choice that we will use in class discussions and other projects. 

During this course, you will be asked to role play the part of students and teachers as I model different classroom approaches; you will also have numerous opportunities to provide feedback on what was modeled. One aspect of becoming an effective teacher is learning to appreciate the ideas and feedback of others as well as to understand how one becomes part of an effective community of educators. You will be expected to share your reactions, experiences, and questions with the class, often during our full class discussions but sometimes in small groups. Do not assume that everyone shares your beliefs. As you work towards becoming a professional educator, you will find that there are times when your perspectives and beliefs will be challenged. You do not have to agree with everything brought up in class, but you do have to interact with maturity and respect. 

You will also spend 30 hours in a middle school practicum. We will discuss this more in class; note that this experience will mirror practica you are doing in your other methods courses. 


Course Requirements

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1)      Attendance, homework, and active participation: Every day of class is worth ten points.  I will discuss this more in class, but it is directly related to your Atwell reading and the in-class reading workshops I will facilitate in class. (This is called modeling: a possible approach to dealing with less-motivated students…this will come in handy during student teaching and beyond!J) 

2)      Book Raves: A book rave is required for each YA book read (note that they are bold-faced above) and 8 more YA lit texts of your choice for a grand total of 18; you need to have covered all areas on the YA list noted on the bibliography table of contents; I will provide details in class. These should be designed to be helpful to you as a reference. They should include author, title, place of publication, publisher, copyright, ISBN number.  This should be followed by a brief plot summary of the book (5-7 lines). This is followed by a target audience as well as the category of the book, and, when appropriate, page references to use for a read aloud segment as you might use them in the classroom. Finally, you will want to include approximately 3-4 ideas, concerns, themes, or connections with other texts you consider might be important for yourself or others who might teach this particular text. You can also send me these by attachment after the first one, which I must have as hard copy. The subsequent raves must be in to me by 5 pm on 12/11/25.

3)      Reading ladder—Assignment is due on December 3 in class. For this assignment, you will be asked to create a reading ladder for a “type” of student you choose on the day I give the assignment as well as a rationale for the text choices you made for the ladder.  Your resources will be books you’ve read for class as well as those I’ve book-talked for the class or ones you’ve found from your own reading in the past or from the YA Lit Bibliography that I shared with you.

4)      YA Lit Presentation: Choose a YA Lit text from the following list My Most Excellent Year, Marcelo in the Real World, Darius the Great Deserves Better, American Born Chinese, or The Book Thief to share with your colleagues. You will present this book in terms of the specific prompt I will provide for each text (each will have an educational context within which you will develop the presentation). You will want to show your instructional creativity or awareness of educational trends through this particular assignment.  Plan to work in groups of two with the expectation of presenting for 15-20 minutes.

5)      Reading letters: During the first two weeks of the Atwell workshop, you will write one reading letter to me.  During the third week, you will write a letter to a classmate and then be responsible for writing a response letter of your own (modeled after mine) to your partner.  This will be a total of 3 letters; specific information about these will be presented in class.

6)      The reading conference: You will be responsible for one reading conference held with me during our reading workshop time.

7)      UCS debriefs: You will be asked to match standards to specific activities I model in class. https://www.schools.utah.gov/file/fe061940-8817-4b1a-b87a-a371c31f86e

8)   Practicum hours in middle school. As part of your requirements to complete the English Education program and meet state requirements, you need to complete 30 hours in a middle school course with a focus on reading/literature. Specifically, you will be supporting small group reading going on in the classroom. Dr. Arter will be your liaison for this and will have all appropriate forms and technology support to track the hours you are completing in the school. You will need to start your practicum during WEEK 4 in order to meet the 3 hrs/week needed to meet this expectation. 

9)      Final project: Time Capsule Project. Using a short story from the collection Time Capsule and working in groups of two to three, choose one decade and create some type of project that you could use with students.  You and your partner will decide the grade level this project is directed towards.  What you create is up to you, although it must be clearly aligned to the UCS.  You could: 

a)      create a (modified) unit of instruction using that decade as the focus and add YA lit books around the short story as needed/necessary.    

b)      create a packet of activities that highlight the short story and other YA and classic Lit options could be used in conjunction with the short story and its decade.

c)       create a web-page with corresponding on-line components that tie-in to the short story and related YA and classic texts 

d)      create a project around some brilliant idea of yours that you’ve okayed with me.

This project must contain the following components:

i)        A project that is, at minimum, 10 pages long and double-spaced as appropriate; formatting will be up to you.  

ii)      The project must use technology in a significant way.

iii)    The specifics of the project following one of the choices above with a table of contents (not part of the 10 pages) that provides a clear indication of how the project will unfold.

iv)    An analysis of the standards listed on the rubric and how each has been met within the delivery of the project.  (Not part of the 10 pages). 

v)      Self-reflection (one from each person, not one from the pair and not part of the 10 page project itself) on the development and presentation of the project and the last three standards on the rubric.  What was successful?  What would you change?  What additional information might you have needed to be more successful when working by yourself or with your partner? 

All teams will present their projects on December 10 (your team must talk for ten to fifteen minutes).  Your project is due by December 10 at 4:30 IN CLASS or by e-mail attachment to jeanboreen@suu.edu (as I expect to see you in class no matter what). You must also upload your project to our class Canvas shell. When you present, your team will provide a one-page handout for your colleagues focused on the important considerations/ objectives of the project.

Course Outline

Class Schedule

 August 27

a)   

b) Introduction to the course. Dr. B will overview Lit Circles and you will choose your books to read for next week. You will also sign up for your YA Lit presentation novel. We will explore the definitions around YA literature and consider its history in the classroom. We will also do an activity called “It’s My Party” and talk through what UCS debriefs will be like.

September 3

a)      DUE: UCS for “It’s My Party” activity; Lit circle handouts; Lit circle texts with reading accomplished accordingly; CCB through “January chapter”

b)      In class, we will begin with lit circles and debrief accordingly. That will be followed by a

discussion of the Time Capsule project and you will choose your short story for the project. We will finish the day with our beginning discussion of Catherine Called Birdy and begin discussing the concept of bridging “YA Lit to the Classics.”

September 10

a)      DUE: Lit circle texts with reading accomplished accordingly; the rest of CCB; Chapters 1-19 in Pride and Prejudice; Pool essay; Kaywell handout; Time Capsule short story based on decade chosen

b)      Short lit circle, then we’ll discuss how CCB begins the “bridge” into Pride and Prejudice.  We will also use the reading from Pool to consider additional ways to contextualize P & P. Finally, we will talk about the use of short stories written for young adults.

September 17

a)      DUE: Lit circle texts with reading accomplished accordingly; Finish PP; First RAVE (mainly to make sure you’re on the right track with these); In the Middle, Chapters 2, 3, and 4 

b)      Lit circle, then we will continue with Pride and Prejudice, focusing our discussion on what is going on in these texts and why we might choose to read them in conjunction with each other.  We will also watch excerpts from the A & E production to consider an additional bridge and to discuss the topic of active viewing. Anytime we have left will be focused on a beginning understanding to the use of workshops in the classroom.

September 24

a)      DUE: Lit circle texts finished; In the Middle, Chapters 5, 6, 8 and 9; Read Aloud handout from Jim Trelease in class shell; Breathing Underwater, pages 1-126. 

b)      After our final lit circle and 4-minute share, I will model a type of discussion in conjunction with Breathing Underwater. We will also begin discussing the importance of read-aloud in the secondary classroom and talk about character development, etc. using one’s voice. This will be followed by an in-depth discussion of the Atwell workshops that we will start next week.

October 1

a) DUE: In the Middle, Chapter 13; Breathing Underwater, pages 127-end; UCS debrief on lit Circles; book to read for Atwell workshop.

b)  After our first Atwell workshop (during which we will discuss the reading letter you will create for next week), we will debrief and then I will explain the reading ladder assignment. We will talk through your UCS debrief on lit circles and then finish Breathing Underwater by discussing it with another discussion style. I will also model another approach to discussion/classroom activities to scaffold texts through the use of the “Author’s Promise” activity.

October 8

a) DUE: First half of All-American Boys(through page 162) and Stamped, Sections 1, 2 and 3; self-determined based on YOUR workshop expectations; first reading letter. 

b) b) We will discuss the importance of multicultural literature and how to handle potentially controversial books in the classrooms after our initial discussion of AAB. The importance of the use of non-fiction written for young adults will also be discussed as we consider the two books you read for today.

October 15)

a)  Bring materials to class to work on your Time Capsule project.

b)  Guest Speaker—Dr. Rosalyn Eves. After Dr. Eves has finished, please work on your Time Capsule Project with your partner(s).

October 22

a)      DUE: The rest of All-American Boys and Stamped, Sections 4 and 5; self-determined based on YOUR workshop expectations.

b)      After our Atwell workshop, we will continue to talk about multicultural lit and non-fiction. We will also discuss the difference between censorship and selection in the classroom. You will also begin an activity in class with a non-fiction text that you will finish for class next week. 

October 29

a)      DUE: Second reading letter to a classmate. Activity to go with non-fiction text and related UCS; all of The Poet X. Self-determined based on YOUR workshop expectations

b)      Atwell workshop. We will then move on to your presentation of your non-fiction assignment and consider any final thoughts on how to use non-fiction in the classroom. Finally, we will discuss “Novels in Verse” and their place in the classroom, both for poetry lovers and reluctant learners

November 5

a) DUE: Marcelo in the Real World; Response to reading letter due to partner (and then both letters turned into Dr. B for points); self-determined based on YOUR workshop expectations.

b) We will have our final Atwell workshop; we will then take some time to consider reading workshops and what we have learned from those as you consider your future classrooms. We will also have our first YA Lit presentation over Marcello in the Real World. Any time left in class will be focused on other activities that can be used in the classroom.

November 12

a) DUE: UCS on Atwell; My Most Favorite Year; The Book Thief

b) We will have YA Lit presentations over My Most Favorite Year and The Book Thief. These will be followed by more activities to use in the classroom.

November 19

a)      DUE: American Born Chinese; Darius the Great Is Not Okay

b)      We will have our final YA Lit presentations on American Born Chinese, Darius the Great Is Not Okay, then discuss additional activities and approaches to our use of YA Lit..

December 3

a) DUE: Reading ladder; UCS on YA Lit presentations

b) We will discuss the reading ladders and what we learned from putting them together. We will also look at additional activities that can be used in the secondary classroom using YA Lit and related pieces.

December 10

Final Project Time Capsule presentations during last class meeting; projects due by 4:30.

NOTE: The rest of your book raves are due by 5 pm on Thursday, December 11.     

 

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Late work is not accepted unless Dean Boreen is notified in advance that the work will be late and why. This class is to help you prepare for becoming a professional; a professional takes responsibility for work and communication with their supervisor.

Attendance Policy

Attendance at every class is required and expected. You cannot make up activities that you do not experience. More than one absence will have a significant impact on your grade. 

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

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Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

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In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

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You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

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SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

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Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.