THE TEEN EYE IN LITERATURE

Students will read contemporary works of literature while exploring the idea of what it means to be a teenager, and how one develops an identity in an imperfect world. Through fiction, nonfiction, poetry, research, memoirs, and other media, students will discover how external influences can shape a teenager’s character. Students will further investigate common obstacles and adverse experiences teenagers face, while determining ways to overcome these struggles. Through reading, writing, speaking, and researching students will learn how past experiences influence current struggles and problems, and how reading about another person’s struggles will help in understanding and overcoming their own personal conflicts with resiliency.  As a culminating project, students will explore and research how a teenager’s voice has changed from the 1940’s to the present, and how their voices are reflected in the literature, poetry, film, songs, and/or novels of their historical time period. Students will compare their findings with contemporary works read throughout the course.