Text Messages is a monthly podcast hosted by ReadWriteThink.org focusing on the best of young adult literature. This podcast series provides families, educators, out-of-school practitioners, and tutors reading recommendations they can pass along to teen readers. Each episode will feature in-depth recommendations of titles that will engage and excite teen readers. The most recent podcast, episode 80, is “An Invitation to the ALAN Workshop”. The ALAN Workshop is an event unlike anything else you can experience in the world of young adult literature. Held each year on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the workshop brings together books, authors, and readers in a passionate celebration of all things YA. Sponsored by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE, the program consists of panel discussions, breakout sessions, and keynote speeches by leading authors in our field.
Tune in to hear testimonials from a variety of this year’s attendees. Some are relatively new to ALAN, while others have been involved for years. What they all have in common is a passion for the workshop and a willingness to talk about their experience with others. As one attendee stated about the ALAN Workshop, “I get the strength to do the hard work that we do every day at school.”
Links to resources mentioned in this episode:
- Details about the next ALAN Workshop
- Gallo Grants for early career teachers
- ALAN (Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE) home page
For additional information and images from the 2014 ALAN workshop, download this handout.
Jennifer Buehler is the host of Text Messages: Recommendations for Teen Readers. As a teacher consultant with the Eastern Michigan Writing Project, Jennifer led workshops on young adult literature for parents, teachers, and students in university methods classes. Now Assistant Professor of English Education at Saint Louis University, Jennifer teaches classes on young adult literature, English methods, writing pedagogy, content area literacy, and urban education. She was recently elected president of NCTE’s Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN), and she served as a member of ALAN’s first Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee.