Literature for Younger Readers

LIT 31001, Fall 2008

TF 2:00-3:20pm, room TBA

Course web address: www.tcnj.edu/~graham/LIT310fall08.htm, last updated 02/05/2008 17:01:55

Dr. Jean E. Graham

Office: Bliss 225

Office Phone: (609) 771-3233

Office hours: MTRF 1-1:50pm, and by appointment

Email address: graham (at) tcnj (dot) edu

 

Nature of the Course

 

The purpose of this course is to provide you with a working knowledge of Young Adult (YA) literature.  Throughout the semester as you sample works by a select, yet diverse, set of widely-read writers, you will be asked to read across genres—realistic fiction, historical fiction, speculative fiction (science fiction and fantasy), nonfiction, and graphic texts—as well as to discuss and analyze YA texts using various theoretical perspectives.   Furthermore, the course will introduce you to the growing body of criticism being written about YA literature.

 

As you are approaching these texts from the standpoint of future educators, this course will take up issues of pedagogy, canon formation, and curricular choice.  You will be expected to think about (and discuss) the role YA literature will play in your future careers.

 

Learning Goals

 

Departmental Learning Goals. As an English major, in this course you will

 

NCATE/NCTE Program Standards.

 

Required Texts

 

The following should be available at the TCNJ bookstore; they are also in the library (on 2-day reserve):

You will be expected to locate and purchase or borrow the following (also on 2-day reserve in the library):

 

Assignments

 

On the date listed on the syllabus for each essay, a copy is due in your SOCS drop-box before class, and a paper copy is due in class at the beginning of the period.  The essay is to be double-spaced, in 12-point font, and headed with your name, the assignment name, and the title of your essay.  Using SOCS will give us both a record of the semester’s work and my feedback. For the SOCS heading, please use the assignment name (e.g., “Book Rationale”).

 

Responsible Use of Sources:

Sources should be reliable and preferably scholarly (a term that will be defined in class). If you have trouble assessing a source’s reliability or any question about whether or how to cite a source, please see me before turning in the assignment. Whenever a source of information, ideas, or words is used, a list of works cited (bibliography) is required, using the latest MLA or APA format. That includes peer presentations and information from the required books listed above. Using the words and/or ideas of others, and/or information gathered by others and not common knowledge, without giving credit is theft, and as such violates the Academic Integrity Policy (www.tcnj.edu/~academic/policy/integrity.html) of our college and the laws of our nation.  All suspected violations of the Academic Integrity Policy will be reported to the Dean of the School of Culture and Society.

 

Class Participation (10% of course grade, or 100 points): As a member of this community of learners, your presence is valuable to the rest of class. When you are absent, you limit not only your own learning, but also your classmates’ as you possess ideas and experiences that they may not. Thus you are expected to attend class and participate fully in discussions and activities, including:

 

SOCS Discussion of Readings (15% or 150 points—25 points per week of SOCS discussion): Throughout the semester, you will participate in a SOCS discussion group. Your written responses are intended to provide you with ongoing opportunities to examine and evaluate each week’s readings, and to practice applying the literary theories introduced in class. The prompts will be given on the SOCS discussion board.

 

Each of six weeks (see schedule below) you will be responsible for posting several items on the SOCS discussion board:

·         your general comments and questions about the text(s) (approx. 1 page) and

·         no fewer than two additional responses (approx. 1 paragraph each) to the comments and questions offered by other members of your group. 

 

Your first posting should occur by dawn on Monday, while the others should occur by dawn on Thursday of that week. I’d like these discussions to be just that—discussions—so please participate actively and respectfully, and don’t wait until the last minute to contribute. I will read your discussions and sometimes join in. 

 

Your responses will be assessed based on quantity (that you’ve submitted your 3 postings on time) and quality (the thoughtfulness of your responses in that they demonstrate substantive reading, engagement with your group members’ ideas, and a developing theoretical familiarity and sophistication).

 

Please note that for this class, you must be able to use SOCS (http://socs.tcnj.edu/), and you must read your TCNJ email regularly. If you need assistance with either, please let me know during the first week of class; to forward TCNJ email to another address, go to http://managemail.tcnj.edu/ and follow the instructions.

 

Poetry Appreciation (5% or 50 points): During the semester you will be expected to volunteer to present a short poem that you consider appropriate for and appealing to YAs, and not already known to the class (i.e., any poem on the syllabus or already brought in by someone else is off-limits). You may wish to visit the NCTE Poetry Award website for ideas (http://www.ncte.org/elem/awards/poetry/106862.htm). If you have a poem you think would go particularly well with a specific text on the syllabus, try to schedule your sharing on or soon after the date for that text.  Read the poem aloud, and briefly explain why you chose it.  By the end of the class period, give me a copy of the poem (making sure to note the source) and a 1-2-page explanation of your choice.

 

Pedagogical Strategy (5% or 50 points): During the semester you will be expected to volunteer to research and bring in one teaching tool for a specific text on the syllabus.  (If you are unable to find anything for the specific text, find a teaching tool that could be adapted easily, and briefly explain how you would adapt it for the specific text.)  By the end of the period, give me a copy of the materials, making sure to note the source(s).

Jigsaw Pedagogical Discussion (5% or 50 points): Following the reading of Out of the Dust, you will read one of three chapters in Wolf and, based on that chapter, design an assignment (or set of related shorter assignments) that could be used to teach Out of the Dust.  In class, you will share your assignment first with those who read the same chapter, and then with others.  Although we will not have time for all the assignments, we will try out a few in class.  Following the discussion, all your prepared materials will be collected for assessment purposes.

Literature Circle Preparation and Contributions (10% or 100 points—50 points per literature circle): Twice in the semester (see the schedule below), you will be organized into groups—literature circles—based on your book selection. Each group will assign each of its members a “role” to play in that group: Discussion Director, Summarizer, Connector, Artful Artist (Illustrator), Passage Picker (Illuminator). See the resources section of SOCS for more information on the roles and their requirements. Although use of the forms in SOCS is optional, after the discussion you will be expected to submit written materials (including, if you are the Illustrator, a written explanation of your Artful Art) for assessment. 

Book Rationale (15% or 150 points): Following the example of Swensson’s “Out of the Dust” rationale, you will write an extended rationale of a YA book or book for older children of your own choosing (approved by me, and books on the syllabus are ineligible). This 6-8-page rationale must include the following components:

·         An epigraph (a significant quotation from the text indicating some of its major themes/issues)

·         A brief but thorough summary of the text

·         A rationale for teaching the text that acknowledges its significant themes/issues, narrative strategies, historical context, and so forth, and demonstrates your familiarity with at least two theoretical approaches (using Wolf’s categories from chapter 1).

·         A discussion of the text’s potential problems and ways to address them

·         One or two related works that could be paired with the text

·         A list of works cited using the latest MLA or APA format

Your rationale will be assessed on your ability to accomplish each of these tasks, on the effectiveness and sophistication with which you do so, and on the fluidity and maturity of your writing.

Reflective Statement (10% or 100 points): You will draft and revise a brief statement (3-5 pages and bibliography) reflecting on your goals and practices as a teacher of YA literature. The statement may use evidence from your personal experience, but the final draft should also take into consideration literary theories and issues discussed during the course, such as pedagogy, canon formation, and curricular choice.

Your statement will be assessed primarily on evidence of substantive reading and engagement with the ideas of others (including specific theorists and class members), and secondarily on development of the statement (as demonstrated by significant and thoughtful revision of the first draft in the “last abandoned” draft).

Text Set (25% or 250 points): For your final project, you and a (self-selected) partner will create and assemble a 20-text multi-level, multi-genre text set around a theme, issue, event, or historical period that you could use in your future classroom. This set must include:

·         A 7-8-page rationale/overview of the set that explains your “guiding questions” and articulates how the set works both theoretically and pedagogically.

·         An annotated list of works cited including bibliographic information for 20 texts representing a mix of reading/grade levels (picture and/or adult texts as well as YA texts), fiction and non-fiction, and genres (e.g., prose, poetry, art, music).  After each bibliographic entry, a 5-6 sentence annotation that summarizes the text and notes its function in the set.

·         A description of 10 teaching/learning activities related to the set.

·         A (non-annotated) list of any other works cited (e.g., theorists cited in the rationale/overview).

Example Topics:

·         Themes: Courage, Family, Work, Justice, Freedom, Grief, Friendship, Coming of Age, Fairy Tales, Community, Dreams, Magic, Traditions, Moving, School, Space (alien life, travel, exploration).

·         Issues: Homelessness; AIDS (or another health related issue); Child Labor; the Environment (such as Endangered Species, De/Reforestation, Land Use, Pollution); Racism (or any kind of prejudice); Cloning; [Drug, Physical, Sexual] Abuse; Teen Pregnancy; Immigration; War; Cultural Revolution; Effects of Media/Technology.

·         Historical Events/Periods: the Holocaust; the Great Depression; the Civil Rights Movement; Sept. 11th; the American Revolution; the Trail of Tears; Westward Expansion; Japanese Internment.

Feel free to develop your own topic. All project topics must be approved by me.

Alternatives to working with a partner: solo, 15 texts required; trio, 30 texts. Other expectations remain the same.

As this project builds on the expressive and analytic skills developed in earlier assignments like the rationale, it will be assessed not only on your ability to explain how your text selections hold together both theoretically and pedagogically, but also on your writing and the fluidity and clarity with which your argument is articulated.

Grading

Each essay or other assignment gives you the opportunity to earn a certain number of points (given above in parentheses), and your course grade will be based on a 1000-point scale:  A = 930-1000 points, A- = 900-929, B+ = 870-899, B = 830-869, B- = 800-829, C+ = 770-799, C = 730-769, C- = 700-729, D+ = 670-699, D = 600-669, and F = below 600.

 

Throughout the semester as you begin working on an assignment for this course, you will either be provided with an assessment rubric OR we will develop it together in (and as a) class.

Other Policies

Accommodations: Anyone requiring special adaptations or accommodations will benefit from contacting the Office of Differing Abilities Services (http://www.tcnj.edu/~wellness/disability/).  If you require special assistance, I will make every effort to accommodate your needs and to create an environment where your special abilities will be respected.

Emergencies: In the case of illness, vehicular malfunction, or other personal emergency, it is courteous to inform faculty as soon as possible. If you will be absent a week or more, TCNJ offers to notify instructors for you; you should contact Toni Buchanan (2825 or buchanan@tcnj.edu) in Records and Registration. Such notification does not necessarily guarantee that absences will be excused. See TCNJ’s absence policy: http://www.tcnj.edu/~academic/policy/attendance.html.) 

 

Late Work: Unless I receive documentation of an emergency (see "Emergencies," above), each late assignment will be marked down 10 points (for each person involved, if a group project) for each day it is late and the college is open.  A prepared text set presenter with an absent partner will lose no points if s/he presents solo to the best of her/his ability; the unprepared or absent partner will have an opportunity to present to me in my office, with an appropriate reduction in grade.  If a day of religious observation or special family celebration (e.g., out-of-town wedding) interferes with an assignment, I will be glad to discuss a different due date if given advance notice.

 

Finding Articles: Articles not in SOCS and without an URL are in at least one electronic database (specified below—Academic Search Premier or Project Muse) accessible through our library.  You can find the article by going to the library homepage—www.tcnj.edu/~library/index.html—and clicking on either “journal titles” or “articles” (which allows you to search for databases by name or by subject). The first link will also let you know whether the library has a paper copy of the journal, if you prefer. 

 

Schedule

 

Date

Primary and Secondary Text(s)

[to be read before class]

Associated Books

[to be read in class]

Assignments

due

T 8/26

Cart, “From Insider to Outsider: The Evolution of YA Literature” [SOCS]

Kohl, “Should We Burn Babar? Questioning Power in Children’s Literature” [SOCS]

Crutcher, “Politically Correct: A ‘Conservative’ View”  [SOCS]

McClure, “Censorship of Children’s Books”  [SOCS]

De Brunhoff, Babar

Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

 

F 8/29

Wolf, Ch. 1: “Critical Perspectives”

Hinton, The Outsiders

 

 

Reflective Statement

draft due in SOCS

F 9/5

Gillespie, “Getting Inside S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders” [SOCS]

Wolf, Ch. 2: “Literary Elements in Prose & Poetry”

McClure, “Children Responding to Poetry: A Century of Research and Commentary” [SOCS]

 

 

T 9/9

Nodelman and Reimer, Ch. 5, “Common Assumptions about Childhood” [SOCS]

Fleischman, Seedfolks

 

Beeler, Throw Your Tooth on the Roof

SOCS posting

Poetry Appreciation and Pedagogical Strategy sharing begin

F 9/12

Howe, The Misfits

Swartz, “Bridging Multicultural Education: Bringing Sexual Orientation into the Children’s and Young Adult Literature Classrooms,” Radical Teacher  [Academic Search Premier]

 

SOCS postings

 

T 9/16

Flake, The Skin I’m In