TeenTober replaces YALSA’s previous Teen Read Week and Teen Tech Week celebrations to allow libraries the flexibility to celebrate all types of literacies according to their library and teen patrons’ schedules anytime during the month of October. To help libraries and other groups plan programming for TeenTober, YALSA has developed a list of suggested weekly topics for the celebration month. We have combined NCTE and ReadWriteThink.org resources for each of these proposed weeks.
Week 1: Literacies
“A Call to Action: What We Know About Adolescent Literacy Instruction,” a position statement from NCTE, provides a research-based resource for media, policymakers, and teachers that acknowledges the complexities of reading as an ongoing, developmental process and addresses the needs of secondary readers and their teachers. Literacy encompasses much more than reading, and includes writing and a variety of social and intellectual practices, including digital and interdisciplinary literacies. Learn more at https://ncte.org/statement/adolescentliteracy/.
Week 2: Writing
In Writing Can Change Everything: Middle Level Kids Writing Themselves into the World Shelbie Witte and a diverse group of middle school teacher-writers share their approaches to mentoring, modeling, and facilitating middle level writers as they explore their places within our world.
Listen to this episode of NWP Radio featuring volume editor Shelbie Witte and contributors Sarah Bonner, Tracei Willis, and Joe Pizzo as they talk about their classrooms and the power of writing to build community, support inquiry, and convey sympathy.
Week 3: Technology & Gaming
“Using English class to teach technology isn’t about adding coding skills to a Don Quixote unit or foregoing essays to focus on the hottest new social media app. To prepare for the future, students need to develop critical technology thinking alongside more traditional how-to skills.” Read more in this blog post from Marissa King.
Week 4: Art & Music
NCTE recognizes the importance of music as an integral part of literacy education. NCTE’s Summary Statement on Multimodal Literacies begins with the declaration that “Integration of multiple modes of communication and expression can enhance or transform the meaning of the work beyond illustration or decoration” and calls for the inclusion of “art, music, movement, and drama, which should not be considered curricular luxuries.” This blog post offers some NCTE resources to help make the connection between music and literacy in the classroom.
How can we recognize TeenTober in our classrooms and educational spaces?
It is the policy of NCTE in all publications, including the Literacy & NCTE blog, to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, the staff, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.