High school freshmen at Durham School of the Arts, a magnet school in North Carolina, share their personal stories in this third installment of the Going on 15 series. A collection of short memoirs written by young adult authors and edited by their peers, Freshman vs. Self covers a wide range of topics facing youth today. From coping with unwanted stepparents to discovering inner beauty, the true stories in Freshman vs. Self allow teenagers to speak for themselves. Relevant for a young audience and revelatory for educators and parents alike, these memoirs will remind you what it's like to face the foe that is the self.

Freshman writers at Durham School of the Arts, a public arts magnet school in North Carolina, share the stories of their teenage lives in this wide-ranging collection of short memoirs. Originally written for a class project, the memoirs were edited by student Kaitlin Medlin and staff and supervised by teacher Alexa Garvoille. Covering topics from the power of the arts to the effects of abuse, from journeys of faith to chronicles of friendship, Going on 15: Memoirs of Freshmen reminds adult and teen readers alike to look beyond the friends, the classmates, the students, or the children we think we know, and listen to their voices.

Growing out of recent pedagogical developments in creative writing studies and perceived barriers to teaching the subject in secondary education schools, this book creates conversations between secondary and post-secondary teachers aimed at introducing and improving creative writing instruction in teaching curricula for young people. Challenging assumptions and lore regarding the teaching of creative writing, this book examines new and engaging techniques for infusing creative writing into all types of language arts instruction, offering inclusive and pedagogically sound alternatives that consider the needs of a diverse range of students. With careful attention given to creative writing within current standards-based educational systems, Imaginative Teaching Through Creative Writing confronts and offers solutions to the perceived difficulty of teaching the subject in such environments. Divided into two sections, section one sees post-secondary instructors address pedagogical techniques and concerns such as workshop, revision, and assessment before section two explores hands-on activities and practical approaches to instruction. Focusing on an invaluable and underrepresented area of creative writing studies, this book begins a much-needed conversation about the future of creative writing instruction at all levels and the benefits of collaboration across the secondary/post-secondary divide.

It Was What It Was is a charming and heartwarming autobiography of life growing up in the idyllic post-war era of the South during the 1950's. Relating tales of family, love, self-sacrifice, faith, and community, the author recounts life in small-town Lavonia, Georgia during an era of rapid social change. From tales of wartime sacrifice, to the Mayberry-esque quality of small town life, the booming economic growth in the post-war era, the heyday of the teenage social scene in the 1950s, and UFO encounters in the dark secluded countryside, this story has something for everyone. In relating her childhood experiences and teenage years during and after the conclusion of World War II, and ending with her professional contributions in public education, Mrs. Toney's life story is overlaid and interwoven with the history of the small southern town of Lavonia. In doing so, her story is Lavonia's story. Beautifully written and conveyed with warmth and much humor, this biography of times gone by is not to be missed!

A collection of short stories on various topics, all written by American teenage writers in the ninth grade.

- Take a step back and look into the experiences of a little girl growing up in Detroit with her two older sisters. - When the Shrine Circus was in town, her dad brought home clowns in costume, a bear trainer and a trapeze artist. - The adventures of the author and her sisters at boarding school. - The tragedy of losing her daughter Julie in a head-on collision, leaving a young husband and two little boys. - You'll laugh at the incident of the elephant on the roof, the wasp and the negligee, and the police almost arresting Santa Clause. - The happenings at their son Steve's wedding was so unusual and funny it could be an SNL skit. - The antics of a grandmother who seemed to have no filter when it came to her off-hand remarks. - You'll learn why this family loves Michigan and especially their beloved hometown, Detroit.