What Literacy and Adolescent Literature Mean to Me

 Honestly, when I used to think about literacy, I kept it pretty simple—reading and writing. That’s it. But teaching middle school has quickly shown me it’s a lot more than that. Literacy, to me now, is really about making meaning. It’s being able to read something, process it, talk about it, and connect it to something bigger. It’s active.

In my classroom, I see this every day. I have students who can read the words on a page, but when it comes to breaking it down, explaining it, or applying it—they struggle. That’s where literacy really comes in. It’s not just “Can you read this?” but “Do you actually understand what you just read?” This week’s readings really reinforced that for me—that literacy doesn’t just stop after elementary school. Middle school is where it gets real, where students move from “learning to read” to actually reading to learn.

Thinking about And Then…Boom and Song of the Blackbird also made me think about how literacy connects to voice and identity. Both texts go beyond just surface-level reading—they push you to really think, reflect, and feel something. That’s the kind of reading I want for my students. Not just answering questions, but actually engaging with the text. When students can say, “I get this” or “I relate to this,” that’s when literacy becomes meaningful.

For me, adolescent literature is anything that speaks directly to that age group—texts that reflect what middle and high school students are going through. It’s real, relatable, and sometimes a little messy (just like them). From my experience as a reader and a teacher, students are way more engaged when they see themselves in what they’re reading. When the characters sound like them, think like them, or deal with things they understand, they’re more willing to participate and open up.

And I’ve seen it happen—students who don’t want to read will suddenly have opinions, questions, and things to say when the text actually connects to them. That’s why I don’t see adolescent literature as “easy.” It still has rigor, but it makes students care. And when they care, they try.

Overall, I see literacy as the ability to think, understand, and communicate across all content areas—not just ELA. And adolescent literature is one of the main ways we can get students there. It bridges the gap between skill and engagement.

At the end of the day, if my students can read something, understand it, talk about it, and connect it to their own lives—that’s literacy to me.