A high school student shares their thoughts during a school workshop.

Collection

Coming of Age in a Complex World

Developed for grades 6–12, this modular collection invites students to explore the complexity of identity and develop a sense of agency as they reflect on what it means to grow up in the world today.

Published: July 14, 2021

Last Updated: November 4, 2022

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Collection

Language

English — US

Subject

English & Language Arts

Grade

6–12

Overview

The resources in this collection help you diversify the range of stories that students read and combine reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills with ethical and empathic reflection.

The collection includes:

Back to School Toolkit to help you build community with your students
Three multi-genre text sets with lesson plans and assessment ideas
Unit Guide for teaching Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming
Unit Planning Toolkit and Educator Workbook to help you design a coming-of-age literature unit for a book of your choosing
Book Club Guide with the resources and tools to launch student-centered book clubs
Whole School Read Planning Guide

Inside This Collection

Text Set

Designed for students in grades 6-7, this text set includes lesson plans and multi-genre texts for a two-week unit exploring the essential question “How do we become who we want to be in the world?”

Female students engage in classroom discussion.

Text Set

Designed for students in grades 8-10, this text set includes lesson plans and multi-genre texts for a 1–2 week unit exploring the essential question, "What makes me, me?"

Text Set

Designed for students in grades 11-12, this text set includes lesson plans and multi-genre texts for a 1–2 week unit exploring the essential question, "How do I empower myself to speak up and take action on behalf of myself and others?”

Four students at their desks, working in a group.

Toolkit

This toolkit provides the framework and classroom resources to help you design a coming-of-age literature unit for middle or high school students using a book of your choosing.

An English Language Arts teacher prepares to teach a literature unit for middle and high school students.

Guide

Teach a unit on Jacqueline Woodson's coming-of-age memoir in verse that invites students to reflect on their own experiences and identities.

A girl leans against a wall while reading a book.

Guide

Implement book clubs that build community and help students make meaningful connections to books they are excited to read.

A close up of shelves in a school library filled with books of different sizes and colors.

Guide

This planning guide will help you design and implement a Coming of Age Whole-School Read that centers students’ voices and experiences.

Blue and purple toned books, view from above

Toolkit

This toolkit of teacher resources and classroom activities will help you lay a foundation for a reflective and caring community in the opening days of the school year.

Students move around the classroom in conversation with each other. One student looks directly into the camera with a smile on their face.

Additional Resources

Professional Learning

Virtual

Explore the process of choosing texts with a focus on equity and voice, as well as creating classroom spaces for exploring literature through a critical and ethical lens.

Professional Learning

Virtual

In this webinar, we introduce educators to Judith Heumann’s 2021 memoir, Being Heumann, an Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist and the young adult version: Rolling Warrior: The Incredible, Sometimes Awkward, True Story of a Rebel Girl on Wheels Who Helped Spark a Revolution.

A student speaks while another listens attentively.

Professional Learning

Virtual

Explore questions of identity and belonging in literature and life and learn how you can center students' identities and experiences through literature and dialogue.

Activity

Students develop their vocabulary for describing their feelings and work their empathy muscles by reflecting on the color of their mood.

Teaching Strategy

Educators will help students assess what they already know about a topic and what they want to learn.

A close up of a student writing on a piece of paper.

Teaching Strategy

Educators will help students assess what they already know about a topic and what they want to learn.

Teaching Strategy

Educators will Introduce students to the concept of inferencing and then help them develop their inferencing skills.

A student reads a handout in the classroom.

Teaching Strategy

Spark students’ interest in a book before reading it by having them make predictions and ask questions about its contents.

Teaching Strategy

Students compose poems using only words, phrases, or quotations from a text that they find meaningful.

Teaching Strategy

Get all students involved by asking them to show their stance on a statement through their positioning around the room.

A students talks with other students in a classroom

Teaching Strategy

Have students move around the classroom to explore a range of documents, images, or student work.

Students adding post-it notes to a white board.

Teaching Strategy

Encourage students to recognize the multiple causal factors behind an event from history, the present, or literature, using the visual of an iceberg.

Teaching Strategy

Students practice perspective-taking by representing the point of view of an assigned personality in a small-group discussion.

Five students sit around a table in discussion

Teaching Strategy

Make your students’ group work more effective by giving each member a specific role to fill.

Text Set

Designed for students in grades 8-10, this text set includes lesson plans and multi-genre texts for a 1–2 week unit exploring the essential question, "What makes me, me?"

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What’s the Word is a monthly newsletter for English and Language Arts educators. Get new resources, upcoming events, and professional learning delivered directly to you.

Facing History & Ourselves is designed for educators who want to help students explore identity, think critically, grow emotionally, act ethically, and participate in civic life. It’s hard work, so we’ve developed some go-to professional learning opportunities to help you along the way.

Professional Learning

Virtual

Listen to #DisruptTexts founder Julia Torres about taking a critical lens to text selection in ELA classrooms.

Three students at table, working on a project

Professional Learning

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Issues of equity and education have long existed in our country and continue to manifest today. How can writing and the power of one's voice help us respond to these disparities? Listen to writer and educator, Dr. Clint Smith, where we hear his poetry and reflections on working for justice, equity, and civic agency in our schools.

Professional Learning

Virtual

Explore approaches to centering student voice, building authentic relationships and cultivating community with Molly Josephs, the creator of This Teenage Life, a youth-driven, story-sharing podcast that started as a school club.

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Most teachers are willing to tackle the difficult topics, but we need the tools.

— Gabriela Calderon-Espinal, Bay Shore, NY

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Coming of Age in a Complex World