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During my first year of teaching, I realized that students are reading less and less YA fiction. It used to be a movement–a cultish phenomenon. Now? Not so much. Read the whole article here for free. Or, continue below to read it. The choice is yours! Just over a decade ago, young adult fiction was …

For almost every teacher candidate, student teaching is an exciting time filled with a multitude of flashbulb memories. During my time at Round Lake High School, I can say, with certainty, that this was the case for me. Working alongside Mrs. Amanda Allen, I learned how to navigate the post-covid context of classroom teaching. In …

Ethical ELA published a co-authored piece written by Dr. Sarah Hochstetler, Anastasia Gustafson, Destiny Dungey, and Molly Snyder that discusses the National Day on Writing at Illinois State University. Interested readers may access this publication here.

At Illinois State University, the English Education spring 2022 cohort celebrated the National Day on Writing by creating a community-oriented cookbook that combines the art of storytelling with the act of recipe writing. The website where you may download the cookbook may be found here. Anastasia Gustafson worked as an event coordinator and as the …

When I was in middle school, I loved to read ‘trash’. What I mean by this is that people often used derogatory language when talking about the things I enjoyed reading. Twilight? For dumb girls. Manga? For weird girls. Fanfiction? Don’t even get me started on the social implications for reading that in the era …

Reading over the summer was not easy this year. As the COVID-19 pandemic began winding down (fingers-crossed), so too had my energy and appetite for reading. During the dramatic and drawn-out saga of e-learning, reading and writing had been, perhaps, the most important modalities by which I communicated with others. Every day, I was writing …

At Illinois State University, students pursuing either an Art Education B.A. or Art Education Endorsement are required, by the department, to engage in both rigorous coursework and extracurricular art-related experiences. These experiences are broken down into two categories: PAL 1’s and PAL 2’s. “PAL” stands for “Professionalism, Advocacy, and Leadership”. PAL’s are, to put it …

In ART 211, “Media, Techniques, and Inquiry Suitable for Secondary Schools”, I was responsible for crafting, facilitating, and teaching an art education unit within the Bloomington Regional Alternative School in Bloomington, IL. This page works to discuss that process, the artifacts curated, my experience, and my major educational takeaways. Description During my three-week-long teaching experience …

Anastasia Gustafson sent in portraiture art to the YouTuber, Ordinary Sausage, and was featured on his channel. The portrait depicted the creator, Ordinary Sausage, in a cartoony, dark, and Edward-Gorey-esque style. Ordinary Sausage has nearly 600,000 subscribers on YouTube. His channel consists of turning regular foods into sausages. His work has been featured by other …

Apricity is a story about a girl named Leda who awakens in the woods without her memory. With the help of the people who found her, she hopes to find out where she came from and what her purpose is. In a world where everyone has powers and Leda does not, she decides to investigate …