Literary Contact Zones in the Upper Secondary Classroom: Using Kiley Reid's Such a Fun Age to build health and life skills

Abstract

This thesis utilizes Kiley Reid’s novel Such A Fun Age with its realistic characters and themes as a method to teach students about the interdisciplinary topic of health and life skills in the new national curricula, LK20. Because the LK20 began its implementation in Norwegian schools the year prior to this thesis, there is a need for more in-depth knowledge about the interdisciplinary topics as well as how to teach them. This thesis contributes to the development of teachers’ in-depth knowledge about the topic of health and life skills. I suggest three topics that are important in this interdisciplinary topic, namely career anxiety, intercultural competence, and empathy. In regards to these topics, this thesis provides a close analysis of how the characters and themes in Reid’s fictional work can provide new ways of thinking, as well as presents methods to how teachers can utilize the novel and how it can contribute to upper secondary students’ building of health and life skills. My hope for this thesis is that other teachers will find inspiration in the methods, exercises, analysis and ideas suggested to see new perspectives and ways of teaching the interdisciplinary topic of health and life skills.