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O n l i n e . L e a r n i n g . S u p p o r t
Department of Information and Library Science
Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent Street, New Haven, CT 06515
Fax: 1.203.392-5780 / Phone: 1.203.392-5781
Toll Free: 1-888-500-SCSU, then press 4


Mary E. Brown, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Information Science
Brown@SouthernCT.edu



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Additional Resources:
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Recommended Reading Lists
Reviews of Children's Books
Young Adults

Week 1 : Syllabus Day 1 (T/M) Day 2 (W/T) Day 3 (R/W) Day 4 (F/R)

Week 2 : Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Week 3 : Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Week 4 : Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Week 5 : Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

SYLLABUS
ILS 300L
(Summer 2004: Session A - June 1-July 2; Session B - July 6 - August 6)

REQUIRED TEXT

Butler, F. (1989). Sharing Literature with Children (reissue of 1977.). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press. ISBN: 0-88133-463-4

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is offered in both Summer Session A and Summer Session B. The course runs from May 27-June 27 (Summer Session A) or June 30-August 1 (Summer Session B). This is the same course that is offered during the Fall and Spring semester, it is just compressed. It is very important to keep up with the reading and writing schedule. The course moves quickly and students who keep up with the schedule have been very successful whether the course is taken in the Fall or Spring (15 weeks) or Summer (5 weeks).

This course is a critical study of literature for children and includes the study of folklore, poetry, fiction and non-fiction. This course includes a discussion of child development as it relates to literature, and the child as reader.

This course fulfills one of the GE requirements for SCSU in the L-course category.

Enrollment in this course is limited to 20 students.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The student will be able to:
  1. Define the various genres of children's literature
  2. Evaluate children's books critically
  3. Select appropriate materials for various age groups
  4. Discuss the historical development of children's literature
  5. Critique current issues
  6. Demonstrate an ability to tell or read-aloud stories
  7. Compare print and non-print materials for children

READING SCHEDULE

READING SCHEDULE: [Session A / Session B]

Unit 1 Tuesday June 1 / Tuesday July 6
Read in Butler (the required text for this course) all of the following:
pp. 1-4;
at least one of the three essays found on pp. 70-84;
at least two of each type of folk rhyme (riddles, toungue twisters, counting-out, acting out, and jump-rope) found on pp. 5-7;
the folk play "Punch and Judy" found on pp. 15-22

Unit 2 Wednesday June 8 / Wednesday July 7
Read in Butler at least one fantasy found on pp. 23-55

Unit 3 Thursday June 3 / Thursday July 8
Read in Butler at least two fiction stories found on pp. 56-62

Unit 4 Friday June 4 / Friday July 9
Read in Butler at least five poems found on pp. 63-69

Unit 5 Monday June 7 / Monday July 12
Read in Butler each of the following:
pp. 91-94;
both essays found on pp. 153-160;
the myth "The Golden Touch" found on pp. 95-102;
the fable "The Man, The Boy, and the Donkey" found on pp. 105-106;
the four folk rhymes found on pp. 105-106

Unit 6 Tuesday June 8 / Tuesday July 13
Read in Butler the two literary folktales found on pp. 127-134 and the fiction story found on pp. 135-141

Unit 7 Wednesday June 9 / Wednesday July 14
Read in Butler the drama "Busu" found on pp. 142-145

Unit 8 Thursday June 10 / Thursday July 15
Read in Butler the seven poems found on pp. 146-149 and the three rhymes found on pp. 150-152

Unit 9 Friday June 11 / Friday July 16
Read in Butler the two essays "The Uses of Enchantment" and "The Ethics of Elfland" found on pp. 463-477. Return in Butler to Section I. Toys and Games and read any essays, fantasy, and fiction not read previously

Unit 10 Monday June 14 / Monday July 19
Read in Butler all of the following:
pp. 167-170;
the three essays found on pp. 245-256;
the myth "Perseus" found on pp. 171-176;
the four folktales found on pp. 177-188;
the fantasy found on pp. 189-191

Unit 11 Tuesday June 15 / Tuesday July 20
Read in Butler the fable "The Dog and the Shadow" found on pp. 192 and the eight folk rhymes found on pp. 193-194

Unit 12 Wednesday June 16 / Wednesday July 21
Read in Butler the four folktales found on pp. 195-207 and the literary folktale found on pp. 208-214

Unit 13 Thursday June 17 / Thursday July 22
Read in Butler the four fantasies found on pp. 215-233 and the biography found on pp. 234-238

Unit 14 Friday June 18 / Friday July 23
Read in Butler the twelve poems found on pp. 239-244 and the essay "A Meditation on Children and Their Literature" found on pp. 477-483

Unit 15 Monday June 21 / Monday July 26
Read in Butler all of the following:
pp. 265-268;
the six essays found on pp. 328-347;
the myth "Atalanta" found on pp. 269-272

Unit 16 Tuesday June 22 / Tuesday July 27
Read in Butler the four folktales found on pp. 273-292 and the literary folktale found on pp. 293-295

Unit 17 Wednesday June 23 / Wednesday July 28
Read in Butler the four fiction stories found on pp. 296-318 and the biography found on pp. 319-325

Unit 18 Thursday June 24 / Thursday July 29
Read in Butler the three poems found on pp. 326-327 and the essay "Tree and Leaf" found on pp. 483-489

Unit 19 Friday June 25 / Friday July 30
Read in Butler all of the following:
pp. 355-357;
the two essays found on pp. 442-449;
the two myths found on pp. 358-366;
the biblical writings found on p. 367

Unit 20 Monday June 28 / Monday August 2
Read in Butler the two folk songs found on pp 368-369, the folk play found on pp. 370-372, the three folktales found on pp. 373- 382, and the literary folktale found on pp. 383-386

Unit 21 Tuesday June 29 / Tuesday August 3
Read in Butler the fantasies found on pp. 397-397 and the fiction story found on pp. 398-410

Unit 22 Wednesday June 30 / Wednesday August 4
Read in Butler the poetic fiction found on pp. 411-430, the fourteen poems found on pp. 431-439, and the rhyme found on pp.440-441

Unit 23 Thursday July 1 / Thursday August 5
[no reading assignment]

Unit 24 Friday July 2 / Friday August 6
[no reading assignment]

GENERAL POLICIES

Each student will
  • assume responsibility for your learning
  • use the provided learning guides and resources; conduct data searches when necessary
  • manage your time effectively (plan a schedule and practice time management)
  • ask for assistance when you need it; avoid unnecessary frustration and confusion
  • remain active in the Message Center, Email, threaded discussions and other activities
  • prepare all work at upper undergraduate (junior/senior) performance levels
  • follow good online etiquette

The instructor will

  • provide assistance/knowledge in facilitating understanding of the course content
  • guide students through the course
  • facilitate discussion through questioning, probing, examples, etc.
  • provide feedback
  • maintain records
  • mark exams/assignments and maintain records
  • respond to messages

GRADING POLICIES

WRITTEN PAPERS:

L-courses require a minimum of 5000 words (approximately 20-25 double-space printed pages) of writing. and work on improving writing content and style. Each student will write a series of short papers over the semester. The Type 1-2 writings (graded 1/0 for completed/missing) count 25% of your course grade. The Type 3-4 papers count 25% of your course grade (graded by focus corrections). The final Type 5 paper counts 25% of your course grade.

QUIZZES

A short 5 question quiz will be giving at the end of each daily lecture. The quizzes are timed for a maximum of 10 minutes. All questions are multiple choice or true/false. Some questions require the student to apply what is learned from the lecture. Other questions ask the student to recall specific material from the lecture. There are a total of 110 questions at 1 point for each correct answer. To determine your overall quiz grade for the course, divide the total number of points (out of 110) by 25. [A+=4.2-4.4; A=4.0-4.1; A-=3.7-3.9; B+=3.3=3.6; B=3.0-3.2; B-=2.7-2.9; C+=2.3=2.6; C=2.0-2.2; C-=1.7-1.9; D+=1.3=1.6; D=1.0-1.2; D-=0.7-0.9; any average below 2.0 (C) is below expected level of performance.] Quizzes count 25% of your course grade.

READING ALOUD AND STORYTELLING:

Each student may prepare one story or book for reading aloud and one story for telling and present these to groups of children, such as at a daycare faciltiy or library. Students will then write about each experience. Each student who submits an acceptable read aloud or storytelling experience will receive extra credit for up to one presentation. Acceptable presentations will raise the final grade average by one step. That is, if your final grade average is a "B+" and you have one acceptable presentation, your final grade will become an "A-". The instructor reserves the right to increase the extra credit to a maximum of two presentations for each student; that is, raising the final grade up to two steps for two acceptable presentations.

CLASS ATTENDANCE:

Attendance is automatically monitored and recorded by the WebCT courseware. While it is expected that every student will participate regularly, there may be times when illness, official university activities, etc., force a student to miss a day(s) of online activity. Final course grades may be lowered for each unexcused absence from online activity. Attendance for the purpose of this course is defined as a combination of frequency and duration of activity in any given week. A student who does not participate--or participates only marginally--in any one week can expect to have their final grade lowered by 10% for each week of "absence" from the course. For example, a student does not participate for a week and has not received written permission from the instructor for the absence; if the student's grade would otherwise be an "A" (4.0), it is now a B+ (3.6) and if the student's grade would otherwise be an "A-" (3.7), it is now a B+ (3.3). [A=4.0; A-=3.7-3.9; B+=3.3=3.6; B=3.0-3.2; any average below 3.0 (B) is below expected level of performance.]

SPECIAL NEEDS:

Any student with long term or short term special needs should contact Dr. Brown, Brown@SouthernCT.edu, and give specific instructions on adaptions or accommodations needed.

FACULTY BIO

Professor Brown received the Ph.D. in Information Studies from Drexel University. Her major area of concentration is information systems and her minor area of concentration is management of organizations, including course work in social systems sciences (Wharton, University of Pennsylvania) and additional work in cognitive psychology, intelligent tutoring systems and statistics (Princeton University). She also holds a ALA-accredited Master of Science in Library and Information Science (Drexel University) and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education (West Chester University). Her current research interests are in categorization and naming of thematic information, digital library development, and information-seeking behavior.She is published in leading journals in psychology and in information science, and has been a presenter at conferences and workshops on Distance Education, Digital Libraries, Web-Based Testing, Grantsmanship, and Managing a WebSite for Classroom Support. She is a successful grantwriter (federal, state, local levels) and has served as a reviewer for federal and local funding agencies.


On this class site, every effort has been made to acknowledge the work of others. Any omission is unintentional. If anyone finds an oversight, please contact me at brown@southernct.edu immediately so that any error can be corrected.

           

                       


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This site is maintained by Mary E. Brown, Ph.D. Art work by Valerie Samandar; photograph of sculpture on Southern's campus.