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Mary E. Brown, Ph.D., Professor
Information Science

Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent Street, New Haven, CT 06515

Department of Information and Library Science
Fax: 1.203.392-5780 / Phone: 1.203.392-5781
Toll Free: 1-888-500-SCSU, then press 4

Resources:



ILS 300 Home

ILS 300 Syllabus

Dr. Brown Home



Using Resources and Writing Papers (self-study module)

Digital Libraries (a series of brief readings)



Buley Library

Disability Resource Center

Southern Home

ILS Home

CSU Home

You cannot open a book without learning something.
Chinese proverb

A room without books is like a body without the soul.
Cicero

"A long, long time ago, the Creator -- and who knows how many Great Beings -- gave the People language. At this time stories were born...
...Stories mirror our world, at the same time they are like rays of sunlight illuminating the dark places so that we can see more clearly...
...Without our stories...we would be lost."
-Georgiana Valoyce Sanchez
(Chumash/Tohono-O'Odham)

Welcome to ILS 300W:
Literature for Children

Welcome to ILS 300W: Literature for Children; it is one of two W-courses (ILS 244 Use of Information Sources being the other) offered by the Department of Information and Library Science.

The materials you will need for this course include:

  1. Butler, F. (1989). Sharing Literature with Children (reissue of 1977). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press. ISBN: 0-88133-463-4. [This book is available through the University Bookstore. It contains both a variety of children's literature you will need to read as well as essays about children's literature, which you will also need to read. If you want to get an early start on the course, just pick up a copy of the book and begin reading. If you read the essays before the course begins, you may want to take notes or highlight key points in the text.]
  2. Access to MySCSU and SCSU VISTA (eLearning). Accounts for both are automatically set up for you. If you are not familiar with how to access MySCSU or SCSU Vista and need more help than provided by tutorials, contact the HelpDesk at (203) 392-5123. If your username and password do not admit you to MySCSU or SCSU Vista, call the HelpDesk at (203) 392-5123.

HOW DO I ACCESS MySCSU?

How do I get a MySCSU username and password?
How do I get started using MySCSU?

HOW DO I ACCESS SCSU Vista (WebCT/Blackboard)?

How and when do I get into my Online SCSU class?
Point your browser to SCSU Vista at http://vista.southernct.edu. Login using your MySCSU username and password. You can login now, however, some sections of the course will not become visible until just before the course begins.

How do SCSU Vista classes work?
Distance education is learning that takes place using a computer and the Internet when students and faculty are not in the same room. Lessons, discussions and tests are completed online when you log into the SCSU Vista website. Class is in session wherever, whenever you have access to the Internet. Generally speaking, distance learners are: 1) Highly motivated, 2) Self-disciplined, 3) Willing to initiate calls to the helpdesk or instructor for assistance, and 4) Willing to set aside regular periods for study.

eLearning VISTA Training and Tutorials

During this term you will explore the following topics:

  • child development
  • history of children in society
  • reading aloud and storytelling
  • genres of children's literature
  • selection of children's books

This term you will also be writing a great deal. This is an W-course and W-courses have a writing requirement that must equal or exceed the equivalent of 20-25 pages. During the term you will be given five different types of writing assignments. Some assignments are designed to help you get your ideas on paper or to discover what you already know about a topic. These assignments are called Type One assignments and are evaluated very simply--did you do it or not? Type One assignments are not designed to be compositions or essays. They are simply ways to guarantee that you are thinking about a topic. Type Two assignments require that you provide the correct information in response to a specific question. Type One and Two writing assignments are designed to be completed quickly and to promote thought. In Type One or Two writing, you are not judged on the quality of the writing--just the content.

Type Three and Type Four writing assignments are designed to produce ideas and to develop writing skills. Type Three and Four writing assignments use a concept called focus correcting. Focus correcting is based on the belief that student writing improves more quickly when the student works to improve a few writing problems at a time. For Type Three and Four assignments, the instructor will be indicating errors on each paper in only one, two, or three areas. These areas will be explained and announced in advance so that you can focus your energies on them.

Type Five writing assignments are the most difficult because they require you to produce publishable work, that is, work, that is as free as possible from all errors. In some cases you will do a Type One assignment, edit and revise it so that it becomes a Type Three, and finally polish it so that it becomes a Type Five.

Readings, explorations, and assignments have been carefully spaced and timed over the term. It is important that you keep up with the schedule and not fall behind.

Due dates (Unit in which each writing assignment is due)

Themes: Type I Type II Type III Type IV Type V
Toys and Games -- (begin Type III/IV by Unit 2) Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4
Fools -- (begin Type III/IV by Unit 7) Unit 5 Unit 7 Unit 8 Unit 9 Unit 24*
Masks and Shadows -- (begin Type III/IV by Unit 11) Unit 10 Unit 11 Unit 13 Unit 14 Unit 24*
Sex Roles -- (begin Type III/IV by Unit 16) Unit 15 Unit 18 Unit 19 Unit 24*
Circles -- (begin Type III/IV by Unit 20) Unit 20 Unit 22 Unit 23 Unit 24*

* Choose only one of these Type IV papers to be revised into a Type V paper

NOTE:

Type III papers are revised into Type IV papers
Type IV papers are revised into Type V papers
Type I and II writings are intended to get you thinking about Type III/IV themes
Summary of Type III/IV Assignments
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 brownm6@southernct.edu immediately so that any error can be corrected.

           

                       

    Last Modified Tuesday, February 17, 2009

This site is maintained by Mary E. Brown, Ph.D. Art work by Valerie Samandar from photograph of the sculpture "Serie Metafisica XVIII" (1983), by Herk Van Tongeren, on Southern's campus near Morrill Hall.