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Teen girl reading a book

Teen girl reading a book

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Teaching Students How to Unplug

Jaclyn Finneke | February 28, 2013

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) awarded Kristen Pelfrey, a teacher at Foothill Technology High School, Ventura, California, the 2013 MAE Award for Best Literature Program for Teens. The award provides $500 to the recipient and $500 to the recipient’s library and is sponsored by the Margaret A. Edwards Trust.

Pelfrey created a program allowing her students to unplug from their digital lives and engage their imagination using the worlds found in books. The program, titled “The Best Fiction (about) Young Adults Revolution” has a simple goal asking students to read a book fromYALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults list. Once teens finished their books, they wrote a thank you to the authors for the stories, experiences, and worlds.

Students then went on to create posters for the books they read, using the graphic editing program Fireworks. They created text, incorporated imagery, and addressed visual design standards. Their final project was to storyboard and create a book trailer for their book using Movie Maker. The students will work in cooperation with the film class, and possibly with the local television station, to promote their trailers. They will also be posted on YouTube and be made available via other student- and school-appropriate channels. This program truly brought together teens’ love for literature and technology.

“I believe that ‘unplugging’ is an essential twenty-first century skill,” explained Pelfrey in her winning application. “My goal is to have a school culture in which the norm is for all students and teachers to have a book for pleasure reading in hand at all times.”

Jaclyn Finneke is Communications Manager for ALA’s Young Adult Library Services Association.

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Posted by Becky Schroeder on Sunday, April 28, 2013, at 08:31 PM
I love this idea! Whenever I read a really good book I think about what a great movie it would make. I think that if teens are able to give their own interpretation of the book is a great way to have them use technology and while still using their imagination.
Posted by Jack Robinson on Sunday, April 28, 2013, at 02:36 PM
Sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure I like how it was done. It seems like once the students are done reading, they have to 'plug' right back in. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the program? Also, I don't think reading a book as an assignment is the best way to develop a love of reading. However, like I said at first, the idea behind the program is great. I totally agree that 'unplugging' is an essential skill.
Posted by Elizabeth Gunn on Thursday, April 18, 2013, at 05:45 PM
I think this is a really neat idea. Kids nowadays should learn that there are other ways to have an enjoyable time other than social networking or video games. I also think that writing the thank you note was a nice idea. That note would make the author feel like they accomplished something hard; getting a teens attention.