College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Department of English, Foreign
Languages, and Journalism
English 300: Literature for Children
Spring, 2006
Professor: Dr. Mike Cadden
Section
01: 11:00 AM -12:20 PM T, Th in Murphy 108
Section
02: 12:30 PM – 1:50 PM T, Th in Murphy 108
Dr.
Cadden’s Office: 222-F Eder Hall
Office Hours: 9:00-11:00 AM
Tuesday and Thursday; 2:00-4:00 PM W; and by appointment.
Office
Phone:
271-4576
E-mail: cadden@missouriwestern.edu
Web Page:
http://www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/faculty/cadden.asp
(syllabus can be
found here.)
Course Description:
English 300
is our opportunity for you to learn about children’s literature as an art form,
which will have implications for those of you who will end up teaching; 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.
The course
is an introduction to the genre of literature for children. There is so much
more out there than can be covered in fifteen weeks. The course can’t be an
exhaustive look at the whole field. We’ll focus on an introduction to the
nature of children’s books. Through critical examinations of folk tales,
novels, poems, and picture books, we will attempt to understand how children's
literature distinguishes itself from "adult literature”--and when it doesn’t.
Education
majors should consider this course to be the content course companion to some
of your education methods courses: EED
320 (Language Arts Methods), EED 360 (Assessing and Individualizing Reading),
EED 380-385 (Reading Approaches), EED 440 (Curriculum Methods and Materials in
Early Childhood Education), and EED 483-4 (Practica in Reading). But ENG 300
isn’t a methods course; this is a literature course that focuses on children’s
literature.
Let’s learn
together as much as we can about what makes children’s literature tick. It is
my goal that you’ll leave the course more thoughtful about what makes
children’s literature the interesting and enjoyable genre that it is--for
adults as well as for children.
Prerequisite:
Successful completion of ENG 108 or 112.
Required Texts:
Fleischman, Sid. The Whipping Boy.
Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia.
Russell, David. Literature for Children: A Short
Introduction. 5th ed.
White, E. B. Charlotte’s
Web.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls.
The Little House on the Prairie.
Evaluation:
Participation: 10%
Midterm Exam (folktales and
novels): 25%
Final Exam (picture books): 25%
Reviews (1 book, 1 journal, 1
website): 15%
Bibliographic Essay: 25%
Attendance:
The MWSU Policy Guide
states that “each instructor will determine and make known to the class the
requirement for attendance” (45). If you don’t come to class you will obviously
jeopardize your class participation grade. I will not quantify how much
presence equals what grade. I will be judging your total participation
performance, not just your presence. I can also tell you that the exams draw
heavily from class work. Also, since
you are responsible for all announcements in class, you run the risk of missing
important information regarding other assignments; I will not accept absence as
an excuse for ignorance. In short, if you’re not here, you’re going to suffer
through other assignments directly and indirectly.
Be on time, please.
Academic Dishonesty:
All cases in which students pass off others’ work as their own will be
referred to the Dean of Student Affairs. Students run the risk of failing the
assignment as well as the course, depending on the magnitude and nature of the
offense. If you are unsure about how you are using sources, please check with
me.
Late and Missing Work:
I reserve the right to refuse any late work.
Revision Policy:
All written work may be revised any time up until the revision due date
(please see calendar). I require that all revisions be accompanied by the
original graded paper that contains my comments.
Policy on Students with Disabilities: Any student in this course who has a
disability which requires different contexts for either evaluation or
expression should contact me in the first few weeks of the course so that those
needs can be considered.
Calendar
Novels are to be finished by the first day of the week on which
discussion begins.
Jan. 17 T:
Introduction to course, critical approaches, and folktale types.
19 H: Introduction continued.
24 T: “Red
Riding Hood”—tale types and versions; Russell Chapter 8.
26 H:
Fable as children’s literature, children’s literature as fable.
31 T: White; folktale meets
children’s animal fantasy; Russell Chapter 10.
Feb. 2 H: White continued.
7 T:
Paterson; contemporary realism; Russell 216-24.
9 H:
Paterson continued; Review #1 Due.
14 T:
Censorship; Russell 7-12, 70-72.
16 H:
Censorship continued.
21 T: Fleischman; Russell 225—231; Bibliog. Essay book lists due.
23 H:
Fleischman continued.
28 T: Wilder—(auto)biography & nonfiction;
Russell Ch. 12.
Mar. 2 H: Wilder continued; Review # 2 Due.
7 T: Mode in Literature (handout).
9 H: Exam I.
Spring Break
21 T: Popular series: Stine,
Christopher, and the American Girls.
http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/childrens/serieslist.html
http://www.ability.org.uk/childrens_series_books.html
http://www.bookloversden.com/bseries.html
http://www.bookloversden.com/gseries.html
23 H: Poetry: issues of
interpretation; Russell Ch. 9.
28 T:
Poetry; voice and age.
30 H:
Poetry; nonsense; Review #3 Due.
April 4 T:
Poetry collections reviewed.
6 H:
Picture Books: introduction and issues of format; Russell Chapter 7.
11 T:
Picture Books: 3rd dimension.
13 H:
Picture Books: 4th dimension; Bibliographic
Essay due for those who wish to revise.
18 T:
Picture books: style.
20 H:
Picture books: medium.
25 T:
Picture books: Peter Rabbit.
27
H: Picture Books: Group work.; Review
Revisions Due; Bibliographic Essays Due.
Exam II: The Final Exam will be held in our regular classroom.
Section 01: Tuesday, May 9, 11:30 AM — 1:20 PM
Section 02: Thursday, May 4, 11:30 AM — 1:20 PM
ENG 300: Literature
for Children Dr. Cadden
Review
Assignments
Worth: 15%
Length:
Approximately one-two single-spaced pages each.
I would like for you to review a web site, a
scholarly journal, and a book about children’s literature (handbook, theory,
criticism, or collection of essays). I want you to write a report for me,
yourself, and for your peers about each of those three resources.
Please
review sources that are specifically children’s
book related. Don’t review an education journal, for instance, that isn’t
about children’s books; this includes journals that deal with reading
strategies but which don’t address children’s literature itself as the primary
focus of study.
Format:
list of books on children’s literature available in the MWSU
library can be found on my webpage and in the library section marked PN 1009; a
list of links to other children’s literature websites is also to be found on my
webpage. A list of appropriate journals can be found at this website: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/%7Emjoseph/journals.htm.
When you review a journal, review the
entire journal as a whole rather than a single article. I suggest that you look
at a number of issues so that you don’t mistakenly generalize about the journal
based on one issue of the journal.
1. Provide
complete citation information for the video, research source, or web site in
question in MLA style.
Book or Journal
Last Name,
First Name. Title of Book: Including
Subtitle. Edition. Place of (indent five spaces after first line)
Publication: Publisher, Year.
Website
1. Name of
author (if given)
2. Title
of page accessed (in quotation marks)
3. Date
when the material was posted (if given)
4. Title
of the database (underlined) (e.g.. New York Times Online or ERIC)
5.
Publication medium (Online)
6. Name of
the computer service (e.g. Netscape Navigator or Lexis or CompuServe)
7. Date of
your access of the material
8. URL
(not in MLA handbook, but something useful for us):
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:
Gibaldi,
Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 5th ed. New
York: The Modern Language Association
of America, 1999.
This text
is available in the library and in my office.
MLA
Citation information provided by Diana Hacker and Bedford/St.Martins Press:
Hacker,
Diana. Research and Documentation Online. Bedford/St. Martins. 20 Dec.
2003. <http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/sample.html>
2. Summarize what the source offers the viewer/reader as
thoroughly as you can. What is
provided? If it is a story, summarize
the plot. 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. This is to be useful to someone who has not seen the text.
3. Pick a single interesting textual, subtextual, or
contextual issue connected to the journal and comment on its significance.
Examples: Is the layout surprising or interesting (text)? Does the journal
prove of use to a variety of people (context)? Does the journal seem to imply
or assume a particular position on something (subtext)?
4. Provide a critique of the site/source. Given the
information you've provided in # 2 & 3 above, how successful is this
resource? How well does it do what it
seems to want to do? 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-to-two sides of a page, single-spaced. A bit more or less is not a problem,
though much less is likely going to be indicative of incomplete development.
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. Language is important. I
expect that your work will be carefully read and edited before you give it to
me.
A Note on Revision: 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).
The act of
revision does not guarantee an improved grade. Editing isn’t the same thing as
revision. If you would like feedback beyond that which I have written on the
original, you may visit me to discuss revision strategies at any time prior to
submitting a revision.
English 300: Children’s Literature Dr.
Cadden
Bibliographic
Essay
Worth: 25%
Length: ~10-15
pages.
The Task
You will choose a particular author, theme, or genre in
children’s literature in order to investigate it further. You will
choose a number of representative works by that person, relevant to the
idea/theme, or in the genre in question. The number of books will vary
according to your project, but seven to ten is the usual range depending on the
availability of books. Seven books is the minimum number.
The goal here is to become well acquainted with one small piece of the big
picture of children’s literature beyond our course readings.
Who or What?
Author: One
possibility would be to choose someone who is a good fit for the readers you’ll
encounter in the grades you want to teach; but then I also encourage you to
read whatever author you’re interested in despite his or her curricular
“use.” If I think your choice is either
inappropriate or if I just don’t know the name, I’ll likely talk to you.
An
alternative to picking one author is to choose another context of origin to
examine. You might look at books written by people from a particular place
(region, country), ethnicity, tradition, or belief system. Books by
Japanese-American writers (as opposed to simply being about Japanese-Americans,
which might be written by a non-member of that ethnic group) is one choice.
Theme/idea: You might decide that you want
to look at older and/or recent books about orphans, poverty, AIDS, divorce,
death, circuses, animal characters, environmentalism, Christianity, gay-lesbian
issues, talented/challenged characters, immigration, dance, homelessness,
birthdays, dragons, left-handed podiatrists, etc.
Genre/mode: Adventure stories, folktale
sub-genres (creation myths, Marchen tales, trickster tales, etc.), picture
books (though this would have to be paired with another genre or theme or
author/illustrator), comedy, tragedy, irony/satire, parody, coming-of-age stories,
mysteries, travel, historical fiction, dream stories, poetry (of various
sorts), science fiction, diaries/journal-forms, utopia/dystopia, etc.
Where?
Where to find names or ideas from which to choose? Other than your own or your child’s reading histories
and the fine lists in our textbook, I suggest that you pore over the
bibliography information that I handed you, the websites listed on my links
page (http://www.MWSU.edu/~cadden/), the list of resources on children’s and
young adult literature at our library, the local library’s children’s section,
and local bookstores. I’ll be very glad and interested in talking about
possible choices for you depending on interests you might have. Start looking at options right away so that
you can begin reading and taking notes. I may have some ideas about books
that fit your interests as well and may be able to steer you toward a more
manageable focus within your chosen area, so please don’t hesitate to employ me
as a bibliographic resource!
How?
I don’t give models. Why?
Well, because I find that people tend to take the model and push the
content into that container whether it fits or not. Rather, I’ll describe what
I want and you try to provide that making your own organizational decisions to
accomplish the task.
Let’s consider a sense of format that also deals with
matters of focus. I won’t give you a page limit here, but you might consider
that in terms of double-spaced pages, you could devote a page or two to
introductory materials (see below), a couple of pages for each book (summary
and analysis), a few pages of conclusions, and a works cited page. This might
mean that you have somewhere between twelve and twenty pages.
The introductory material: briefly tell us a bit about the
author/theme/genre that you’ve chosen. What interests you in the subject and
what exactly will we be discussing?
What have you ruled out in the course of defining this focus? Then tell us a bit about the main
connection you’ll be covering across the books--the “thread” that ties them
together. If I’ve chosen Gary Paulsen, for instance, I might focus on the fact
that he writes about boys in adventurous outdoor circumstances. I’ll be sure to
compare the books in terms of that focus as I go through the paper. The
introduction might note various other trends or patterns in the collection of
books that are of secondary importance and interest.
The body of the essay is devoted to discussing each book in
turn, focusing on the thread that connects each to the others, but also explaining other observations
about the book that might not have anything to do with the other books.
Begin your discussion of each book as you do in a book review: summarize the
book for us as briefly as you can
(brevity is tough!) What makes a bibliographic essay distinctive from other
essays is that the writer assumes that the reader isn’t familiar with the books. Be mindful of proportion—the summary
shouldn’t be most of your discussion, and you should be careful to include commentary on the idea that links the
books as well as on other noteworthy things you’ve discovered. Don’t just
note the presence of the focus (“In this book too Paulsen writes about boys in
the wilderness.” “This is another book
in which Paulsen writes about wilderness-lovin’ boys,” etc.); discuss it and
compare to other books’ use of it. If most of what you have is summary and you
don’t have much commentary, there will be problems.
The conclusion of the essay is very important, and is not
simply a formality in which you sum up what you’ve said. The conclusion should
be where you share, in a few pages of detail, what you think makes this study
interesting, significant, and useful, and where it might be taken from here.
Dwell further on the threads that unite them. Feel free to point out shortcomings
or problems. What, after having looked at these books in comparison, is your
thoughts about trends, limitations, successes in the area of study? Draw thoughtful conclusions about all of
these books, their relationships to each other, and the implications they have
for young readers.
You should include a bibliography that cites the primary and
any secondary materials used. You aren’t required to use a certain number of
(or any) secondary materials, just what suits your task. You may have consulted
a website, biography, journal article . . . cite those. Please use MLA style (available on line--http://www.mla.org or in
the MLA Handbook available in my office or the library). Be sure to cite any material quoted or paraphrased from another source.
There are several sources which will give bibliographies of
books published by an author including:
Something About the Author (Ref. PN 451 .S696), Contemporary
Authors (Ready Ref. Z 1224 .C761 .A1), and the Dictionary of Literary
Biography (Ref. PS 221 .D554). There also were several other biographical
sources mentioned on the MWSU bibliography linked to my web page, but some of
them are getting quite old. For additional sources of biographical information
you may want to consult the following index:
Biography and Genealogy Master Index (Available on the computers,
and on Index Table 5).
A word of caution. Few published lists of an author’s work
are complete or up-to-date (in the case of living authors). You need to check
the date of publication of the volume which contains the bibliography you’ve
found. Often the bibliography will not include the author's works published
during the previous year or two.
For more recent information on new books published, you
should consult the various periodicals mentioned on the bibliography and more
general periodicals such as Publisher's Weekly. Many of these
periodicals are indexed through the Reader's Guide Abstracts, Humanities Index,
or Masterfile Elite on the library computers. Amazon.com and the Barnes &
Noble sites are good resources as well.
Another source of more recent information is the Baker &
Taylor CD-ROM, available on most of the computers in the Reference room. It
lists books that are being published, as well as many which have gone out of
print. You can search by author, therefore this would be a good place to look
for updating most of the printed bibliographies. This is not a reviewing source
as it gives only citations.
You’ll find lots to comment on as you read. I suggest that
you read each book with a pen and paper handy, and even plan on returning to
books as you read the others (Reread?!
Heavens!) I think that with the
pieces of this assignment, the number of books, and the many links, you’ll be
able to generate a lot of interesting material.
Before you submit this assignment be sure that you have done
some careful proof reading and editing. Good language use isn’t “extra”—it’s
inseparable from what you are saying.
I hope that you will share these final copies with each
other when you’re done! Good luck!
Grading Criteria for Writing in Dr. Cadden’s English
Courses:
A: 90-100 pts.
B: 80-89 pts.
C: 70-79 pts.
D: 60-69 pts.
F: 59 pts. and below
The
high end of each range (~7-10) should be considered “plus”; for example, 88 is
in the B+ range.
The middle of each range (~4-6) should be
considered a solid letter grade; for example, 75 is a solid C.
The
low end of each range (~0-3) should be considered “minus”; for example, 92 is
in the A- range.
“A”:
General Qualitative Description: Excellent,
Superior, Outstanding.
Conception: Your idea should contain
some new, perhaps surprising, element, some angle that is uncommonly thoughtful
and insightful. You are not rehearsing other people's ideas, and you are going
beyond an average reading. You expose and challenge the explicit and implicit
assumptions of the text. If you are incorporating research, you will have
WORKED your sources--using what supports your argument, and acknowledging and
dealing with what challenges it.
Organization: Your organization should be
flawless and should match your content. You should anticipate, address, and
work through opposition to your argument and build a strong case for your own.
You should employ evidence with regularity and in appropriate circumstances. If
you are incorporating research, you will spend some time positioning your
argument in the context of the larger conversation.
Style: Your presentation should be artful. You have
obviously paid attention to the way your language sounds as well as what it says.
You have found a way to make your presentation style match the content of your
paper (other than a groovy font style!), perhaps through a sustained metaphor,
or a particularly apt example that you carry through and refer to in the entire
paper.
Grammar and Mechanics: Your paper should be absolutely
clean and free of grammatical and mechanical errors of a rudimentary nature,
though you may have a few problems with complex functions of grammar. You
should never avoid complex language in order to avoid errors, in other words.
“B”:
General Qualitative Description: Above average, Good, Commendable.
Conception: Your idea will be better than
average, but you may have overlooked or not
acknowledged or interrogated the assumptions
that inform it. The claim/idea is ambitious and, for that reason, may have
gotten away from you. You will be rewarded for being ambitious even if you fall
a bit short.
Organization: Your organization will be
strong, but the signaling might still be a bit
Awkward; you may find yourself using a lot of directional
phrases because your argument doesn't flow naturally. (Ex. "As I said
earlier..." "Firstly, secondly, thirdly...") Here too the organization will match the
content rather than being formulaic.
Style: It's clean, readable, there's a consistent sense of
voice, and there aren't any places
where a reader has to go back and reread a sentence just to
understand its structure.
Grammar/Mechanics: Very few (almost no) errors of a
rudimentary nature.
“ C”:
General Qualitative Description: Competent, Average, Fine.
Conception: Your idea for
your paper should reflect that you have read, thought about, and paid attention
to the way we have talked in class about similar issues. Your main point should
be clearly stated and defended with appropriate evidence. You should remain
focused on your topic throughout your paper, and you should have thoroughly
examined the aspects of your topic from your perspective. Your ideas should be
internally consistent. There won’t be anything terribly surprising, daring, or
unusual here.
Organization: Your paper should have a
logical, clearly identifiable organization. Each
paragraph should address only one aspect of your topic, and
when you change aspects, you start a new paragraph. Transitions between
paragraphs should be competently handled. Your strategy, that is, how you
manage the interweaving of your idea and your organization, should be standard
and straightforward. For instance, if you follow a traditional pattern of an
introduction that includes a flagged thesis statement ("in this paper I
will..."), then proceed with evidence and close with a restatement of the
initial problem. That's a standard, straightforward organization--a C strategy.
Style: Your style should be clear and readable.
Grammar and Mechanics: Your paper should not contain
many distracting errors in grammar or mechanics. Minimally, you should have run
a spell-check program, and you should know the difference between a complete
sentence, a fragment, and a run-on.
“D”:
General Qualitative Description: Incompetent, Inadequate, Below Average.
Conception: Your idea will be immediately obvious to a
casual reader--a no-brainer—yet it will be presented as news. It will likely
also be not quite clear what it is that you are really saying. Split focus on
more than one thesis or issue is likely.
Organization: Perhaps you
split your focus (which means you start out talking about one thing and shift
to another) which means that you are covering several or many issues in short
paragraphs. You jump from one idea to the next with no logical strategy or
transitions. If there is no plan, or if you don't stick to the plan, this is
faulty organization. It may be evident that there wasn’t ever really a
structural strategy at all.
Style: Unclear language, usually. This may also be a
matter of using the wrong words for your ideas. Simply put, the language is in
bad shape.
Grammar/Mechanics: Consistent problems in sentence
structure with little sign of proof-reading.
“F”:
General Qualitative Description:
Unacceptable.
(The most common cause of an F is a failure to adequately
address the assignment. For instance, if I specify that this assignment is to
be researched, or if it is to address a certain topic in a certain way, you
have to at least complete the assignment.)
Conception: No clear idea governs the words
on the page.
Organization: No plan is evident, much less
achieved.
Style: Incomprehensible most or all of the time.
Grammar/Mechanics: Consistent problems with
rudimentary mechanical matters.
*******************
The four major areas
of concern discussed above (conception, organization, style, and mechanics)
will be considered separately, when that is possible. I may find that it is
difficult or even impossible to assess conception if the style and mechanics
are at the “F” or “D” levels. It may well be the case that your organization is
a real problem while conception, style, and mechanics are all quite good. The
ultimate assessment, then, will be the combined consideration of all four
areas. Any challenges to my assessments need to employ the above issues in
those challenges.
I cannot assess
effort. Note that I do not say that I will
not assess effort; nobody can assess effort unless, perhaps, he or she is there
watching you work. I assume that you all
work very hard on your writing. I can only assess the final product.
I do not give grades
based on your perceived needs. If you need a “B” in the course to keep your GPA
up for a scholarship, loans, or admittance into a program, then be sure you
perform at a “B” level.
I do not give grades
on the basis of your sense of identity or personal academic history. I assess
each piece of work on its own merits. Just because you consider yourself an “A”
student does not mean that you will do “A” work each time; just because you
consider yourself a “C” student doesn’t mean that you won’t do “A” work. Try to
separate your performance from your identity.