I have to admit that I had my doubts about this feature of the class. I saw bookcasts as a way to double check that we were expanding our knowledge of and experience with YA literature. Unfortunately, the idea of making these seemed phony to me. To report a "stirring" up inside of me and to link it to past events or present thoughts just seemed phony to me. Certainly, certain books I have read make that happen and link me back to the past in a way that I couldn't experience elsewhere. However, the thought of reading these books and just forcing a response seemed like something I could not do.
However, I broke through on my second book cast and really enjoyed creating my own story from the story that we read. It just was an interesting way to have kids thinking about something other than a summary. They have to connect the characters feelings and story to their own. It was an empowering release for me, but it also presents 2 problems in my opinion.
1) Students being afraid. They haven't experienced as much as a lot of us have (though I'm aware that some might have experienced more). A lot of kids won't know what to bookcast, they won't have an experience that the literature draws them towards. What do we do about those disconnects?
2) Why I think the disconnect is an issue is because I think it leads to a false front. High school students don't want to dig deep emotionally most of the time. I'd say that most of them might take an assignment like this and completely make some experience up that sounds like it works. We have no way of checking if the experience is authentic and moving; or just another way for that student to bs their way for a good grade. I don't see how we can check those things.
bookhenge
Thanks for raising a really thought-provoking question, Scott. I'm afraid you're right that some teens may have experienced more of life than we'd hope at some a young age. A former ECI 521 alum recently shared a compelling bookcast by a teen who told the story of feeling abandoned by her mother and how much she loved the grandparents who had raised her.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do think that teens can usually relate on some level to young adult literature, especially titles that they choose, it's probably best for bookcasts to be one of many options for response. Say you have an independent reading project and students received credit for creating artifacts from their reading experiences. Bookcasts might prove to be a really popular option.
And don't forget that text to self is only one of the options. Text to text and text to world can lead to important insights.
As for authenticity, hopefully if this is an independent project, we can de-emphasize the grade and focus on the completion of the project. If a student is a good fiction writer and the story is less than true, then you'd have to hope that they got something from the book.
Thanks again for asking the tough questions.