The SPEAK list, so far

Thanks to everyone who has written telling me that SPEAK is in your school. If you don’t see your school below, let me know in a comment, or email to comments AT writerlady DOT com. I will be posting this on the website, along with information about why the book is challenged in schools, and how to deal with that if it happens in your community.

Secondary Schools where SPEAK is either in the curriculum, required summer reading or independent reading programs

The Agnes Irwin School, Rosemont, PA
Anderson HS, Austin TX
Arcata HS, Arcata CA
Bensalem School District middle schools, Bensalem PA
Bishop McGann-Mercy HS, Riverhead, NY
Centennial Scholl District, PA
Central Hardin HS, Cecelia, KY
Chagrin Falls, HS, Chagrin Falls, OH
Cheverus HS, Portland, ME
Christian Brothers Academy, Dewitt, NY
Columbus School for Girls, Columbus, OH
Cortland Jr/Sr HS. Cortland, NY
Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Jacksonville, FL
East Bridgewater HS, East Bridgewater, MA
Ellington HS, Ellington CT
Hamilton HS, Hamilton, OH
Hannibal HS, Hannibal NY
Hatboro-Horsham HS, Horsham, PA
Hendrick Hudson HS, Montrose, NY
Heritage Hall MS, Oklahoma City, OK
Holicong Middle School, Doylestown, PA
Houston Area Independent School Library Network, Houston TX
Indian Mountain School, Lakeville, CT
King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA
Knightdale High School, Knightdale, NC
Little Flower Catholic HS for Girls, Philadelphia, PA
Maritime and Science Technology HS, Miami, FL
McMinnville HS, McMinnville OR
Menlo School. Atherton, CA
Milken Community HS, Los Angeles, CA
Morrisville-Eaton HS, Morrisville, NY
Mount Saint Joseph Academy, Brighton, MA
New Albany HS, New Albany, IN
Noble HS, Berwick, ME
Oswego HS, Oswego, NY
Our Lady of Mercy HS, Rochester, NY
Parkview MS, Jeffersonville, IN
Paul Moore, HS, central Square, NY
Pioneer HS, Yorkshire, NY
Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect, IL
Rancho Santa Fe Middle School, Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Richland HS, Richland, WA
Saint Clement Junior Senior High School , Medford, MA
Scottsburg MS, Scottsburg, IN
Seekonk HS, Seekonk, MA
Sheboygan Falls HS, Sheboygan Falls, WI
Susquehanna Valley HS, Conklin, NY
St. Pauls’s School for Girls, Brooklandville, MD
Syracuse Academy of Science
Tallmadge High School, Tallmadge, OH
Terra Nova HS, Pacifica, CA
Theodore Roosevelt HS, Kent, OH
University Laboratory School, Baton Rouge, LA
Upper Darby HS, Upper Darby, PA
Valley SH, New Kensington, PA
Venice SH, Los Angeles, CA
Washington Heights, NY
Westmark School, Encino, CA
Woburn Memorial HS, Woburn, MA
Woodside HS, Woodside, CA

SPEAK is taught at these colleges and universities in a variety of different classes: Young Adult Literature, Creative Writing, and Adolescent Development

Arizona State University
Clarion University, Clarion, PA
Eastern Connecticut State University
Eastern Michigan University
Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, IL
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY
Hollins Univiversity, Roanoke, VA
Houghton College, Houghton, NY
Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Kansas State University
Kent State University
Michigan State University
Millersville University
Mills College
Moravian College
Mt. San Jacinto College, San Jacinto, CA
Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD
Syracuse University
SUNY Binghamton
UC Davis
UCLA
University of Buffalo
University of Maryland,
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota Duluth
University of North Texas
University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO
University of South Florida
University of Pennsylvania
Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI
Virginia Tech
West Chester University, West Chester, PA
Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
Wright State University, Dayton, OH

What am I missing?

44 Replies to “The SPEAK list, so far”

  1. My school, Hampshire Regional High, has like, 6 copies of Speak in the library, in addition to Prom and Catalyst. Oh, and Fever. I’m not sure if it’s in the curriculum, per se, but it’s been used as recommended/summer reading. My old school, Ware High, has the incoming grade 8’s read Flipped, Speak, The Wanderer, Olive’s Ocean, and Tiger Rising in the interim between grade 7 and 8.

  2. Oh, dear…yes. Where’s Ware? Take a left at the cows, drive until you feel like dying, and then keep driving! You’ll know you’re there by the confederate flags and kool-aid mustaches.

  3. That’d be great! Schools in GA, unfortunately, stick to a very dry curriculum. I know of a teacher who actually retired early because they told her she could no longer teach PARADISE LOST.

  4. If I recall correctly, we used it at Simmons College in the children’s literature master’s program. I read it for the first time in one of my writing for children classes at Brigham Young University, though.

    (Simmons–Boston, MA, BYU–Provo, UT)

  5. UW-Green Bay

    University of Wisconsin Green Bay teaches Speak in a Young Adult Literature course. When I took the course in 2004, Karen Bircher was the professor. She is very knowledgable on young adult literature and promotes reading banned books in schools. In fact, we had a class debate on banned books as part of the curriculum for college students studying to be Secondary English teachers.

  6. Maya Angelou Public Charter High School in Washington, DC features SPEAK on several recommended/independent reading shelves.

  7. It wasn’t a class, but I compiled a list and display of recommended reading for Sexual Assault Awareness Month at Warren Wilson College (in Asheville, NC), and I included Speak.

  8. Speak in High Schools

    I teach Speak in sophomore english at Hoisington High School (Hoisington, KS). The students love it and it sparks some GREAT discussions. Also, thanks for the great information you passed on to those of us lucky enough to hear you speak at Fort Hays in Hays, KS – the kids enjoyed hearing about everything you said!

  9. Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley High Schools (Naperville/Aurora, IL District 204)

    Illinois State University, in various Ad Lit classes.

    We’re about to start SPEAK in my students Contemporary Lit class and I have been informed that I have to make modifications for one of the counslers when they come in to prepare the students for the subject matter. (I’m a TA)

  10. UWEC

    I know the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire teaches it in Adolescent Literature, with Robert Reid. I’m taking the class next semester and I’m very excited to actually READ it in a college setting 🙂

  11. I read Speak at Marshall High School in Marshall, MN for a Contemporary Adolescent Lit. class. We had to do an independent author study, and I chose you. It was great!

  12. Speak is taught in sophomore language arts class at Bay Port High School in Green Bay, Wisconsin. =)

    That’s where I first learned about you!

  13. We’re covering Speak in my children’s/YA literature class at Riverside Community College in Riverside, CA. In fact, I’m the one assigned to “introduce you” (give a general background) to the class before we begin the book.
    I’ve already read and LOVED Speak, by the way, and I just picked up Catalyst from the library and look forward to reading it.
    As my intro is a few weeks away as yet, is there anything about your life/background that you think will enhance people’s perception of Speak? Any chance of a shout out, at least?
    ;^)

  14. It’s on the summer reading list for Licking Valley High School in Newark, Ohio, and I think another district or two around. Not REQUIRED reading, per se, but on the list of required books they have to choose from. (And always the one I suggest!)

  15. Don’t forget me!

    Saratoga Springs High School Saratoga Springs, NY

    Just got done teaching it as my first unit for my ninth graders. What a great start to the year. We studied Picasso, hammered symbolism and the kids wrote the BEST pieces which were their own versions of “The First Ten Lies They Tell You in High School.” This inspired pieces like “High School is a Candy Shop”, “High School is a Jungle”, “High School is a Baseball Game” and so on and so forth. It was great. And to teach it to ninth graders as they started high school with 2000+ new faces. It was awesome.

    Plus, I grew up in Liverpool, so the Syracuse references make me laugh.

    Oh, but I do have one question. A student posed this to me this year and I was dumbfounded for not noticing it.

    Why are Melinda’s eyes two different colors on the cover? I drew my own conclusions but I wanted to know if you made that choice specifically.

  16. speak

    Please add Eureka High School, Eureka CA to your list.
    We teach Speak as part of our Freshman curriculum.
    Also, in Marilyn Reynolds’s book I Won’t Read and You Can’t Make Me, she offers practical legal and ethical advice to teachers who are facing literary challenges.
    Another interesting discussion of banned books is found in Chris Cruthcher’s new novel The Sledding Hill.
    Literture is meant to challenge assumptions, to open minds, to foster compassion. Let’s fight to keep these fine books on our shelves!

  17. Add to Speak List

    Happy Birthday Week. Mine was Oct. 15. Please add us to your Speak list.
    We are reading Speak in the Junior/Senior Book Club. We are meeting tomorrow, Oct. 25 to discuss Speak!
    Loved the book!
    Susan Mullen, Olympia High School Librarian, Stanford, Illinois

  18. “speak” was in a box of books we were allowed to study when i was in tenth grade at lansdowne junior secondary school (grades 8-10) in victoria, bc, canada. i read it because it was different from anything else being offered, and later realized my best friend had read it the year before and i had, at the time, asked to borrow it when he was done.
    but lansdowne is now a middle school (6-8) and i don’t know if anyone there teaches it. they should.

    so i guess it can’t be added to your list, but we had it. 🙂

  19. Re: Don’t forget me!

    i was wondering that, too. mainly because i noticed it because my left eye is hazel and my right eye is dark brown.

  20. Thomas Stone High School, Waldorf, Md. … one of the most inspirational books Ive ever read

  21. Another School

    We use Speak at Estacada High School in Estacada, OR. We are a suburb of Portland.

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