Insider or Outsider?: Using Young Adult Literature and Experiential Learning to Understand the Other

Keywords

young adult literature, insider vs. outsider perspectives, simulated learning experiences

Abstract

Author Madeleine L’Engle (1993/2002) wrote, “Story makes us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.” Stories invite readers to experience lifestyles, habits, and perspectives that are different, foreign, or unusual in comparison with their own. On the journey through stories, readers often discover, however, that others’ customs, habits, and beliefs are not as dissimilar as they may have once believed.

Teachers, librarians, and authors have long understood the power of story to help readers expand their own perspectives and to see through the lens of the other. But how can we, as individuals who share this belief, create learning spaces for adolescents that bring these perspectives to life beyond the pages of a book? In this article, we—Dawan and Maichael—discuss how students in Maichael’s 7th-grade language arts class used young adult literature to explore the perspective of “the other” by investigating this theme within their own community. Specifically, we discuss how simulated learning experiences allowed students to experiment with social norms while investigating the question, “What does it mean to be an insider and an outsider?” These experiences invited students to reexamine their own communities and consider the “other” from potentially new perspectives.

Original Publication Citation

“Insider or Outsider? Using YA Literature and Experiential Learning to Understand the Other.” The ALAN Review. 43.1 (2015): 45-55. (with Maichael Mayans)

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2015

Publisher

The ALAN Review

Language

English

College

Humanities

Department

English

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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