Author: Tara Andreas
Tara’s #teachread work can be found on Twitter
Categories: YA Lit, Social Media
Tags: Twitter, Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Tweeting a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower was staring at me in its neon green jacket on my bookshelf for years. I guess I thought I had outgrown it before I even had a chance to read it. When given the opportunity to finally read it for this genre study, I was happy to have an excuse to take it off my shelf and check it out. I have not have the chance to explore much YA Lit since my high school years–but now that I am pursuing a career in secondary English education, I realize I should reading as much of it as I can (and should no longer be judging books by their covers!).

I suppose the book is so loved because many people can empathize with Charlie’s point of view–even if they haven’t been through what he has. Teenagers can especially relate to the themes of exploring identity and experiencing dramatic/dangerous circumstances. As a teacher, I would like to give students the opportunity to feel empathy for each other and for other people, even if they are characters. The one problem with merely reading this text in class is that it isn’t enough for some students–they aren’t engaged with the text because they are distracted and they see no connection or worth in what they’re reading. This renders the book purposeless to many students.

This is why I believe the Web 2.0 Project coupled with the piece of YA literature can be meaningful and worthwhile to many students. It takes something that students are already interested in/feel comfortable with and allows them to engage with the text in a different way. There are many ways to go about this, but any way you choose to do it is an extra incentive and learning tool for many students.

I chose to do the Twitter format. I wish I had chosen a different format because I don’t like using abbreviations or limiting my words, especially in a tweet. It felt awkward to have to continue a tweet to thee next one and I felt like I was violating the platform if I did that. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t eliminate this platform as an option because many students already use it and they might feel less threatened by limited amount of space. In my tweets, I chose to write as Charlie, starting off each tweet with “DW” or “Dear World” (instead of Dear Friend). I thought about how I usually Tweet (posting fleeting things that are on my mind) and writing it in his voice or words.

I really enjoyed getting in Charlie’s head and trying to understand him. Choosing words that would fit his voice (especially ones that fit the character limit) was not as easy as I imagined! I would definitely recommend this activity to English teachers.

Some suggestions I can offer:

• Narrow the focus/Web 2.0 Platforms for this assignment to fit the abilities of your students; but also encourage them to try new platforms.
• Offer entertaining/intriguing examples of how this has been done on the web with tons of characters.
• Give students time to work on this in class. Although it seems like an outside of school activity, students might not have computer access at home or they might not put as much time/effort into it if it is seen as a “side” activity.