Young Adult Curriculum Development

Do you want to strengthen your writing skills? Help develop literary curriculum!

The Words Alive Teen Services program supports approximately 250 at-risk youth within the San Diego county Juvenile Court and Community School system each month through our Adolescent Book Group (ABG) program. Many of our students have experienced incredible hardships including homelessness, familial violence, and teen pregnancy but with the help of ABG are now on a path to success.

ABG volunteer teams provide monthly, bi-monthly, or weekly in-class book discussion, writing, and project-based learning sessions as part of the school’s language arts program. To support the sessions, Words Alive provides a curriculum guide with discussion topics, group activities, and writing prompts which create opportunities for engagement that can inspire of love of reading.

We are looking for volunteers to be part of a curriculum team dedicated to elevating our curriculum guides through the process of researching new young adult literature, vetting books, and creating these comprehensive guides for the ABG volunteers and teachers.

Goals and outcomes:

The curriculum guides are designed to ignite good conversation, promote student participation, encourage critical thinking, and expose students to opportunities for self-expression and world exploration.

Ideal volunteers should:

• Be at least 16 years old
• Enjoy reading
• Have the ability to critically evaluate literature
• Have proficient written communication
• Be able to work under minimal supervision
• Be comfortable working within deadlines