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My fascination with teenagers began when I was nine, and never entirely disappeared, even after living through the teens myself, even after having grown up enough to be thankful those years were behind me. My early influences undoubtedly contributed to this, as I grew up during the “accent on youth” culture of the late 1960’s and the 1970’s. Much of my continuing fascination with the tumultuous state of adolescence, the time of being neither a child nor an adult, is linked to my livelihood: I teach in an urban high school. Thus, I am surrounded by teens all the time.
I am a natural storyteller, and when I decided to teach, I chose a graduate school program in which storytelling was highly respected and encouraged as a teaching tool. As a result, storytelling became an integral part of my teaching strategy. I have employed storytelling in every teaching position I have held. My nieces and nephews have looked forward to “Aunt SaSa” (myself) telling stories since they were tiny. Now the older ones are moving into adolescence. As a loving aunt, I want to be on the front lines of teaching them how to make good choices, and to keep themselves safe from bad influences.
I have held teenage attention consistently by incorporating elements of my own adolescence into my stories. I have stressed that it is okay to make a mistake, because experience is the best, and the toughest, teacher. I follow with the sentiment, “Try not to make the same mistake twice!” I do deal in fiction; this is apparent to adults I grew up with who read my jaunty witticisms and follow the flawless judgment in my stories that they know for a fact I didn’t have at that age! Yet, because there is a strong circle of love that exists for me, I know they will never give my young audience that “word to the wise” about SaSa!
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