Youth Learning On Their Own Terms: Creative Practices and Classroom Teaching

Situated in a framework of new literacy studies, youth cultural studies, and theories of extracurricular learning, this rich ethnography explores the creative subcultural practices of three teenage boys. Leif Gustavson reveals how teenagers from different racial and class backgrounds become involved with, refine, practice, and learn from distinctive creative forms: zine writing, graffiti, and turntablism. Youth Learning On Their Own Terms convincingly shows how developing a respect and understanding of the youth-initiated creative practices that occur outside schools can offer educators the opportunity to directly influence their teaching in schools by making classroom spaces personally meaningful and rigorous for both students and teachers.