| Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism Division of Liberal Arts & Sciences Missouri Western State College English 300.15: Literature for Children Summer, 2000 Dr. Mike Cadden Class Time and Place: A-202, 7:30 am - 10:20 am MTWTh Office: 309-J Murphy Hall Office Hours: 10:30 am - noon MTWTh and by appointment Office Phone: 271-4576 E-mail: cadden@missouriwestern.edu URL: http://www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/faculty/cadden.asp Course Description: What makes a good teacher? Richard Ishler writes in "The Preparation of Elementary School Teachers: A University-Wide Responsibility": Persons who will spend their professional lives as elementary school teachers must be liberally and broadly educated, more so than individuals with other careers, because of their positions as role models for our children--positions that are crucial not only to the students whose lives are directly affected, but to the general society as well. Other than a student's parents, no other person has such an opportunity to influence, to motivate, and to inspire a child to value the intellectual life. In fact, acting as an intellectual role model may well be the single most significant aspect of the teaching profession. English 300 is our opportunity for you to learn about children’s literature as an art form, which will have implications for your teaching, ultimately; but the point of the course isn’t to teach you how to teach children; the point of the course is to teach you about children’s fiction. The two things aren’t at all mutually exclusive, but they also aren’t the same thing. Prerequisite: Successful completion of ENG 108 or 112. ENG 300 is required in the Elementary Education program. This class does not count as an English literature elective for English majors. Policy on Students with Disabilities: Any student in this course who has a disability which requires different contexts for evaluation or expression should contact me in the first week of the course so those contexts can be arranged. Late Work: I reserve the right to refuse any late work. "Late" will refer to any work that is not turned in by the beginning of the class hour at which it is due. Required Texts: Evaluation: Attendance Policy: May 31 W- Introduction to the course and discussion of course description; Critical Approaches to Children’s literature; Children’s Literature, Fable, and Folklore. 5 M- The Moorchild. 12 M- Midterm Exam (in class; take-home due); picture books introduced. 19 M- Bridge to Terabithia; J & T: Ch. 9. Library Hours for Summer: I would like for you to review a web site, a scholarly journal, a book (handbook, theory, criticism, or collection of essays), a children’s chapter book, and a picture book this term. I want you to write a report for me, yourself, and for your peers about each of those five resources. When you are done revising any given review, we will discuss the possibility of putting them on reserve for your classmates to consult, copy, and take with them for future use in classes and for teaching. Format for reviewing a journal, book, and website: 1. Provide complete citation information for the video, research source, or web site in question in MLA style. Website Vandergrift, Kay. "Author Biography and Autobiography Page." Created January 31, 1996, Last Updated February 8, 1997. Online. Netscape Navigator. July 9, 1997. http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/authorbios.html For more specific detail on some of the subtleties of citation: 2. Summarize what the source offers the viewer/reader as thoroughly as you can in about a third of a page, single-spaced. What is provided? How is it arranged or organized? Remember, you are providing yourself (and possibly your classmates) a review that will enable the reader to visualize the source as well as possible in print. 3. Explain for whom this site/source might be of most use and why. If you think that more than one audience is implied, identify them and why you think so. Why might it be better for childcare workers or parents or teachers or siblings or the child him or herself? Please don’t simply assume that the source is for teachers just because most of you in the class are education majors. 4. Provide a critique of the site/source. Given the information you've provided in # 2 & 3 above, how do you rate this resource? Is it something you think you'd return to? Could you improve it somehow? Would you only use part of it? Give us a sense of the strengths and weaknesses of this resource so that when you look back on it later you can remember what you thought of it. Try to give a thoughtful response to this resource beyond "I liked it" or "I didn't like it." Start with those reactions as you review and ask yourself "why?" and move on to details. Format for reviewing a picture book and a chapter book: 1. Provide complete citation information in MLA style (see above). 2. Summarize the story. Remember: you are providing yourself a review that will enable you to have a complete sense of the story later when you refer to this. Don’t hold back on the ending; it’s not a TV Guide listing or something for the back of the book! 3. Focus on one textual feature that the book employs. This might be something to do with the use of character, plot, setting, narrative perspective, language, arrangement of chapters, pictures (be specific about some aspect of the pictures if you go this route) or anything structural. 4. Focus on subtextual issues in the book. What idea, message, issue, or concept does the book contain? Don’t feel the need to comment on the “moral” here; don’t reduce it to fable, in other words. 5. Focus on a context in which this book might prove useful or interesting (reader) or consider the implications for the context of the writing (something about the author, the place and era in which it was written, etc.) 6. Provide a critique of the site/source. Given the information you've provided in # 3-5 above, how do you rate this book? Is it something you think you'd return to? Could you improve it somehow? Would you only use part of it? Give us a sense of the strengths and weaknesses of this resource so that when you look back on it later you can remember what you thought of it. Try to give a thoughtful response to this resource beyond "I liked it" or "I didn't like it." Start with those reactions as you review and ask yourself "why?" and move on to details. All reviews should be about one side of one page, single-spaced. A bit more or less is not a problem. Please proof-read the page before submitting it. I will want it to be as professional-looking as it can be in case we should decide to distribute these to each other. A Note on Revision: You may revise each review one time. If you are submitting a revised copy of your review, please resubmit the original copy that has my written comments (staple or paper-clip the old to the new). |
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