YA Lit.: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Wow. March was a hectic month. Between classwork, homework, and life in general; I admit that the last thing I wanted to do on my brief semester break was tear through a book. As I settled into the extremely uncomfortable bus seat for my five hour ride back to school, I reluctantly opened Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda. I knew there was a lot of hype about the book and the new movie, but I also knew that I am typically underwhelmed by young adult books the media takes by storm. I knew it was probably a cute story, but it couldn't be as good as everyone says.

Let me tell you, I was dead wrong.

Wonderfully sarcastic, completely awkward, and surprisingly clever, Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda follows sixteen- year- old Simon Spier and his group of friends as they stumble through their junior year of high school. Author Becky Albertalli tackles everything from homosexuality and bullying to cliques, new kids, and crushes-- and she does so in a seamless, almost entirely realistic manner. While Simon's love story may be a little far-fetched, I found myself captivated by the mysteries Simon was thrown into: Who is Blue, and will Simon ever meet him? Where is Nora vanishing off to? What will Martin do about Simon's secret? Get your notebooks ready to jot down any clues, because if you are like me, you'll be just as eager to solve these puzzles as Simon is.

As a future teacher, I would highly recommend Simon to my future students for its relatable tone, characters, and story lines. Even more, I would consider using the work in my classroom as a tool to stimulate discussions about difficult social topics students need to address but are often avoided in curriculum. Albertalli's main message is simple: Everyone should, and does, have to "come out." Some of my future students will come out like Simon and openly express their sexuality. Others will come out like Nora, and reveal a secret talent they had hid from their friends to avoid embarrassment. There are so many ways everyone comes out in their lives, and I want my students to feel like my classroom, their school, and their world is a safe place to do so. If my students are apprehensive to talk about the social problems they face in the halls, Simon's voice will be a good place to start. And for all it's worth, maybe Simon will help my students find their courage to be comfortable with who they are, openly.

Comments

Teaching Alternatives: Book Reports

As a part of my elementary school's annual community-building program, students in all grades (which, for us, meant Kindergarten through 5th Grade) were asked to read the same short novel at home. Now, I know that sounds odd, considering the average kindergartener is likely at a lower reading level than the average fifth grader. However, with the option to have your parent or guardian read the story with you at home, I assure you that I was able to make it through some higher level reading with little trouble. By participating in year-round activities as a whole school, students were able to relate to each other across grade levels, all because they had read the same book and had followed the same characters. I will never forget how excited I was when I won a dictionary (Yes, a dictionary... I'd be less excited now, too) for answering the most trivia questions correctly about The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs . Though, if I had one complaint about the school- wide...

Place-Based Learning: Museums and the Importance of Physical Space in Middle School Education

Before there were formalized schools, there were living rooms, church halls, back steps, battlefields, and the great outdoors. Education came in all shapes and sizes, from the modern understanding of “traditional” study through the analysis of past writings and artifacts to the natural signals one learned to recognize on the farm before an approaching storm. Students were not just young people hunched over a book shielded from the world behind brick walls. They were citizens learning how to manage a family business, reading and printing newspapers, planting seeds, plowing land, and striving to better prepare themselves for the future, whatever it held for them. Today’s students aim to do the same. Yet their education seems to have restricted itself to the boundaries of school property, or perhaps it occasionally wanders beyond county lines. What happened to learning about your environment— and all the life that lived and lives within it— by experiencing everything it has to offer fir...

Troublemakers, by Carla Shalaby

Out of any word in the English language, I think I am most intimidated by “power.” It is full of contradictions: Power provokes a sense of accomplishment while implying the achievement and maintenance of power requires competition, hierarchy, and domination. Power is given and taken easily, and it yields to external factors beyond its control. Some people fear power, others are generous with it, and still more meet their doom when pride becomes its companion. Power allows for advancement. It provides a sense of order and control, but it can also create and fuel chaos. Individuals, groups, small islands, and large nations all possess a certain degree of power. As a future educator, the environment of my classroom will depend entirely on how I and my students handle the power we are given in our teacher-student relationships. More importantly, my power as a potential change-maker in their lives— through traditional lessons, personal relationships, worldly guidance, and honest compassion...

Future Teacher, Forever Student

Search This Blog