LAE 6407 Early Childhood Literature, Spring 2015 Me e ting T ime : Mondays, 4:00-7:00 (see calendar of meeting dates) Me e ting Place : TBD Ins tructor: Dr. Carrie Ge ige r Phone: 352-392- 1554 ext. 268; 352-222- 3162 (text) Email: cgeiger@pky.ufl.edu; geigerc@ufl.edu To help me keep track of emails from you, please include LAE and your last name in the subject line of any correspondence sent via email. Cours e Ove rvie w: The purpose of this course is to provide you with the theoretical knowledge and practical experience for integrating children s literature, focused on social justice themes, in the early childhood school curriculum. Literature is an authentic resource that can be the foundation of a literacy (reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing) program, as well as a major resource for other curriculum areas. In this course, which uses a genre approach to literature study, you will read and learn how to select high quality children s literature that can serve classrooms with diverse student populations. You will also learn how to plan for a literature studies curriculum, how to meet the needs of ESOL/ELL (English as a second or other language) students, and how to assess your own and young children s critical responses to literature.
Primary Methods of Instruction: The primary methods of instruction in this course will be lecture and discussion, small group discussion, individual inquiry assignments and projects, and cooperative learning. Students with Disabilities: Students requesting classroom accommodations must first register with the Dean of Students Office. T he Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation when requesting accommodation. If you have need for accommodations due to disabilities, please meet with me by appointment. Cours e Obje ctive s : 1. You will grow in your capability to critically re ad, analyze, and re s pond to young children s literature. 2. You will de mons trate your ability to se le ct high quality, current, diverse literature in a wide variety of genres to share with young children. 3. You will de mons trate your unde rs tanding of the the ore tical unde rpinnings of a critical reader response approach to analyzing and teaching literature. 4. You will us e a wide varie ty of print, Inte rne t, and te chnological re s ource s to find out information about children s books, authors, illustrators, and curriculum applications. Re quire d Co urs e Materials: 1. Short, K. G., Lynch- Brown, C. & Tomlinson, C. M. (2014). Essentials of Children s Literature (8 th Ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. 2. Two novels for which you will sign up in class. These can be purchased or checked out from the library. 3. Re s pons e Note book/digital Journal (bring to class)
Re ading As s ig nme nts : Note that for all assignments in this class you must read and share books published from 2001-2014 unless otherwise noted in the assignment. Use Children s Literature Comprehensive Database (available online in the UF Education Library) to help in determining quality book selections and award winners. The Alachua County Public Library Website is http://www.acld.lib.fl.us/ Tips for using the Alachua County Public Library o Re s e arch CLCD for pos s ible books. o Plan ahead and look up books on the Internet so you know their availability. Send them to the library where you want to pick them up, and make sure you pick up any books you have placed on hold. o Only ask librarians for help if you are stuck. You should be able to find books and get them on your own. Librarians should not be doing assignments for you, and exploration is a big part of the fun! o Re turn books imme diate ly whe n you are finis he d with them, recognizing that there are other children s literature classes with similar assignments. Procedures: For written assignments, please include bibliographic information in APA format. Keep a running record of books read for each genre. See the following website for information on APA formatting: (http://owl.e nglis h.purdue.e du/handouts /re s e arch/r_apa.html) Bring your textbooks to class on the days the reading assignments are due and be prepared for discussion highlight, sticky note, or take notes on the readings so that you are prepared to be an active contributor to the class discussions. Note that all papers written for this class outside of class need to be typed on clean paper and double spaced with 12- point font. Electronically submitted documents will be noted in the syllabus. Plan ahead for computer glitches and keep copies of everything you submit. When you submit something electronically, please include your FIRST and LAST NAME and the ASSIGNMENT NAME in the subject line of the email. Assignments need to be turned in the day they are due. In order to be fair to all students, any work that is turned in late will lose 1/4 of the full points automatically. Deduct an additional two points for each additional calendar day (not class meeting) an assignment is late. Assignments submitted electronically are due before class on the assigned due date.
Be sure your name is on every written assignment that you submit for credit. For assignments that ask you to read in the professional literature, look in the following sample publications in the Education Library: Journal of Childre n s Literature, Dragon Lode, The New Advocate, The Reading Teacher, The Florida Reading Quarterly, or Language Arts. There are many other literacy journals available in the library. You will write a numbe r of short pape rs for this clas s. Future te ache rs mus t be capable writers if they are to communicate effectively with administrators, parents, students, and the public. If you have problems with writing assignments, visit the UF Reading and Writing Center (RWC) located on the mezzanine level of SW Broward Hall. The website is www.at.ufl.edu/rwcenter. A Note about Plagiarism: Any writing that you produce in this course must be entirely your own work. You mus t docume nt, in APA style, all source s of information that you us e for every assignment, including those from the Internet. You are strongly advised to purchase a current APA stylebook if you have not already done so, as APA style is required in most College of Education courses. Develop a note- taking system that works for you when reading information to be used later in a paper. Paraphrase and summarize from original sources as you take notes. If your notes are not copied word- for- word from the original source, but are put into your own words instead, you are less likely to plagiarize. Plagiarism is a criminal offense and will be penalized by failing the course. Please do not turn in papers you have used in other classes for any assignment in this class. If this is determined, you will receive a failing grade on the assignment. The Honor Code: We, the me mbe rs of the Unive rs ity of Florida community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest standards of honesty and integrity. On all work submitted for credit by students at the University, the following pledge is either required or implied: On m y honor, I hav e ne ithe r giv e n nor re c e ived unauthorized aid in doing this assignment. Information on proce dure s is locate d in the Stude nt Guide at www.dso.ufl.edu/stg/ and is set forth in the Florida Administrative Code.
Clas s Atte ndance and Participation: Class attendance and participation are important elements in your learning for this class. Absence diminishes the quality of this class for others; therefore full attendance and punctuality are required for all scheduled class sessions. Attendance means being present in class, with class assignments ready to turn in, and with your textbook marked or with accompanying notes on the chapters due each session. Please do not conduct unrelated class activities, including text- messaging, working on work for other classes, reading the newspaper, or emailing during class sessions. Deduct 2 points for every class session you miss; schedule appointments outside of class time. Tardiness will also result in deducted points (1-2 points for each class session). Please turn off or silence your cell phones during class. Phones should not be visible during class sessions. Points will be deducted for use of phones during class. Keep your professor informed of any health issue, emergency, or life experience that might impact your performance in this class. Policy Regarding Missed Exams: Students may make up a missed exam in the following instance: At least 24 hour notice is given to the instructor explaining why the student will miss the test. The explanation must involve illness, death in the immediate family, accident, or
some other unexpected unfortunate event and must also be documented with the appropriate evidence. This notice must come within 24 hours before or after the test has been given. There are only two exams given in this class, a midterm and a final exam. Students may contact the instructor to set up a time convenient to both parties to take the exam once the absence has been excused. The rescheduled exam should be completed within 48-72 hours upon the student s return to campus. Another version of the exam will be substituted for the original exam. Essentials Text Chapter Requirements: Be sure to read the designated chapter(s) in preparation for each class session. List important highlights of the chapter (highlight, post- it or notes). What questions do you have? Be prepared to discuss each chapter in class. Keep notes for individual study needs. Sample children s books should be brought to class every class session that we meet. This is a literature class, thus we will be conducting book discussions each week. Points will be deducted each week you come to class unprepared. Explanation of Major As s ignme nts : 1) Re ad Aloud Expe rie nce Proje ct: Stude nts will participate in s ite - based read- aloud practices and produce documentation summaries and reflections on the experience. 2) Virtual Classroom Library: Students will create a collection of 70 books to include in a future classroom library. These should be books that have actually been read/explored by the student over the course of the term. The collection should include: a. Books from all genres covered in class b. Award- winning books c. Books that represent diversity d. Books by authors of interest to both the teacher and students e. Books that represent many art media, styles, and formats
Evaluation: Final Grade: A grade in this course is determined using the grading scale below. However, the final grade will be assessed based on the completion of all assignments (major ones listed above and minor ones given during the term), your class attendance, and class participation. If any major assignment is not completed, your final grade (computed points) will be lowered by one letter grade. Grading Sc ale : A =93 or above C = 73-76 Midte rm Ex am: 2 0 points A- = 90-92 C- = 70-72 Clas s Assignments: 10 points B+ = 87-89 D+ = 67-69 Participation: 10 points B = 83-86 D = 63-66 Final Exam: 20 points B- = 80-82 D- = 60-62 Re ad Alo ud Project: 20 points C+ = 77-79 E = 59-0 Virtual Library: 20 points