Edina Teachers Pen Summer Blog on Young Adult Novels

A London orphan in the time of Charles Dickens. A boy with facial deformities alienated from his peers at a Manhattan private school. A girl who takes larger responsibilities in the family dairy farming business.

This summer, Edina teachers of students grade six through 12 are reading through the young adult literature and blogging about the books they read, their reactions and how to teach the books.

We spoke with the Edina school district’s media specialist, Sara Swenson, about the idea for the “Book Smart” blog, and how it will be used in classrooms this fall.

How did the blog come about?

It inspiration from an idea that I’d seen somewhere else, and I thought this would be a great way to help teachers read young adult books, to read books that their students are reading, and then they can have conversations around those books. We had about a dozen teachers sign up to give it a try over the summer. People are just starting to put in their responses now. I wanted to have them tie what they’re reading to the Common Core standards as well as to think about the craft of teaching literacy—so you’ll see elements of that in the blog. It was all optional on their own, but some of the folks have gone above and beyond, some of the teachers have read more than one book, so that’s neat to see.

How will the blog posts be applied in curriculum once the school year starts?

We’ll let other teachers know that they can go there for ideas. They’ll be up all year round, and then we’ll offer the same opportunity next summer. It’s a way to grow a list of resources for teachers about recent young adult books that they might want to read or that they can recommend for students to read. This is all new for us this

How did you pick a novel to read?