Instructor Contact Information
Instructor: Dr. Jeanette Shumaker
Office: West Faculty 157
Office hours: T 6-7 p.m., W 3:45-4:45 (M, San Diego, AL 274, 1:45-3:15)
Phone: 760-768-5524 (or x65524 on campus)
Email: jshumake@mail.sdsu.edu
Website: See SDSU-IV Campus website, Faculty web pages
Wait several days for replies to email.
Section and Enrollment Information
Class meeting: W 12:55-3:35
Class location: N 102
Schedule Number: 60015
Course prerequisites:
English 200 or Rhetoric and Writing Studies 200.
English 306A and 306W must be taken concurrently. Satisfies
Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement for students who have completed 60 units; completed Writing Placement Assessment with a score of 8 or higher (or earned a C or higher in RWS 280, 281, or LING
281 if score on WPA was 7 or lower); and completed General
Education requirements in Composition and Critical Thinking. Proof of completion of prerequisites required: Test scores or verification of exemption; copy of transcript.
Course Description
Reading, analysis, and discussion of classic works of children's literature. This course will acquaint teachers, librarians, and parents with the vast array of children's books available for preschool through twelfth grade. Students will learn how to devise creative, interesting ways to bring children and books together so that children will become avid readers. The course will also help students become more insightful interpreters of literature. Both analytical and creative approaches to children’s literature will be stressed, as well as the development of reading, writing, critical thinking and speaking skills. Goals include:
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1.
Provide an historical background for genres and issues in children's literature.
2.
Explore a variety of ways of introducing literature to children.
3.
Become more perceptive analysts of literature, as speakers and writers addressing adult and child audiences.
Student Learning Outcomes
1.
Present literature to children through storytelling, drama, visual aids, and writing.
2.
Write incisively for adults about children's literature
3.
Use literature to build children's appreciation for diverse ethnic groups, cultures, and historical periods.
4.
Design inventive assignments that will connect literature to children's writing, art, music, history, and science projects.
Required Readings and Materials
Our campus bookstore has copies of our books for rent or sale for $5-$10 each for most of these books. Many of our books are also available at public libraries and the campus library. Make sure you read complete, unabridged versions of each book.
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Course Website
See Blackboard.
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Assessment and Grading
Final Exam--essay format 30% of course grade; Oral Report 15%; Play written & performed for children & our class 10% (group assignment); Informal Writings and Class Participation 30%;
Storytelling 5%; Illustrated Children’s Book based on your own story 10%.
 3.85 or higher = A
 3.5-3.84 = A-
 3.15-3.49 = B+
 2.85-3.14 = B
 2.5-2.84 = B-
 2.15-2.49 = C+
 1.85-2.14 = C
 1.5-1.84 = C-
 1.15-1.49 = D+
 .85-1.14 = D
 .5-.84 = D-
 0-.49 = F
 No weekly informal writings will be accepted late, even if an excuse of illness etc. is provided. This portion of the course grade is meant to reward students who manage to come to class well-prepared and on time despite the vagaries of life.
 No laptops, phones, iPods or iPads etc. may be used during class or the student’s class participation grade will be reduced. The same penalty is applied for holding side conversations during class.
 Class participation will be assessed via students’ willingness to speak up thoughtfully during class discussion along with their attendance.
Course Activities and Schedule
Date Topics Readings to be completed prior to class
Assignments /
Activities
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Date
9/3
9/10
9/17
9/24
10/1
10/8
Topics
Talking animals, fables
Fairy tales
Fairy tales, continued
Fairy tales and talking animals
Graphic novels
Realistic fairy tales
Readings to be completed prior to class
Assignments /
Activities
Read all of Charlotte’s Web. Informal writing done in class.
Read first half of Little Mermaid
and Other Stories.
Bring a question about each tale.
Read the rest of Little Mermaid
and Other Stories.
Informal writing done in class.
Read all of Tale of Desperaux.
Read all of Hugo Cabret.
Bring 3 discussion questions.
Bring 3 discussion questions.
Read all of A Little Princess. Informal writing done in class.
10/15 American historical fiction.
Racism. Humor.
Read all of The Watsons.
10/22 Gothic fantasy Read all of Coraline.
10/29 Learning disabilities, bullies,
11/5
11/12 weight
Poem-novel, diary
Chinese immigrants, racism
11/19 Latina historical fiction, racism
Read all of Yolonda’s Genius.
Read all of Out of the Dust.
Read all of The Dragon’s Child.
Read all of Esperanza Rising.
12/3 Science fiction, utopias and dystopias
Read all of The Giver.
Bring 3 discussion questions.
Informal writing done in class.
Bring 3 discussion questions.
Informal writing done in class.
Bring 3 discussion questions.
Informal writing done in class.
Bring 3 discussion questions.
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Date Topics
12/10 Final essay exam
12/17 Storytelling
Readings to be completed prior to class
Assignments /
Activities
Bring blue books, a pen, and all
12 books we have read.
Turn in illustrated children’s book.
Tell your own children’s book’s story for five minutes.
Bring props if you wish.
Course Assignments
You will give a ten-minute
Oral Report
on an assigned book or topic. No more than three minutes should be spent on plot summary; just hit the high points of the plot--don’t try to cover every scene and character. Focus instead on the book’s themes and symbols, and on what assignments you would create to complement the book at a stated grade level. Background material about the author is not required, but it is always interesting. Make comparisons between your assigned book and others the class has read, if possible.
Try to speak rather than read from a script; use eye contact and vocal variation to keep your audience interested. Bring copies of your handout about your book for each person in the class; save these to use in later TE classes. If you use sources other than your assigned book, put your references at the end of your handout in a Works Cited list to avoid plagiarism.
Final Exam
essays should be analytical, avoiding plot summary. You will write about four of the books our class read during the semester. Use MLA format to cite quotations and avoid plagiarism, as in “The secret garden was no longer secret” (Burnett 182). Exams are open-book, but no notes may be used; bring blue books. We will discuss sample questions at the class meeting before the first exam.
In groups of up to four students you will write a 15-20 minute
Play
based on a work of children's literature studied in our class. You will arrange to present the play to at least six children, and will also present it to our class. You may use scenery, props, puppets, and costumes to the degree you feel that they're helpful, and you may provide a Spanish summary of the play if the children you present it to primarily speak Spanish. You may invent your own dialogue, and/ or quote from the book.
Please turn in your typed, double-spaced play when you present it to our class, including a list of the written sources you used. Evidence (i.e. photos etc.) that you performed your play for at least six children needs to be brought to me by the final exam for you to get credit for the play assignment.
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You will write and illustrate a children’s book
based on a story you invent. Your book should be at least 500 words long, with at least five illustrations. You may paper clip your book together, or hand bind it with a cover, like a real book.
Storytelling
for five minutes in front of the class will help you to develop an important skill.
You will tell the story you wrote and made into a children’s book. Don’t read your book aloud; instead, put the story into your own words, or tell it without referring to a book, pretending we are an audience of children. Be dramatic, use eye contact, and, if you wish, use props or visual aids.
Course Policies
Plagiarism
means not giving credit to published or unpublished sources for ideas or information in your writing or speaking. Plagiarism hurts other students and your professors, as well as degrading your self-esteem and preventing you from learning and growing. Studies show that college cheaters usually continue cheating in the workplace until caught and fined or jailed; if you are writing assignments for a friend or concealing a friend’s cheating, you are codepending a dangerous addiction.
Plagiarizing or cheating
in other ways (such as not attributing information or ideas from published sources during an oral report) will result in failure of the course and, for serious offenders, suspension or expulsion from the university. I punish plagiarists and cheaters in the most severe way that SDSU allows.
Students with Disabilities
Students who need accommodation of their disabilities should contact me privately, to discuss specific accommodations for which they have received authorization. If you need accommodation due to a disability, but have not registered with Student Disability Services via adviser Barbara Romero in Student Affairs, please do so before making an appointment to see me.
Oral Report Schedule (use unabridged versions of books)
9/3 Dr. Seuss picture books
Maurice Sendak picture books
Simon Silva picture books
9/10 Milne. Winnie the Pooh (no adaptations)
Almond, David Skellig
Cleary, Beverly Ramona books (choose your favorite)
St. Exupery, Antoine. The Little Prince
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9/17 Norton, Mary The Borrowers
Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Gardner, Sally. I, Coriander
9/24 Alexander, Lloyd. The Book of Three
Henry, M. King of the Wind
Hartnett, Sonya. The Silver Donkey
10/1 Curtis, C.P. Bud, Not Buddy
Gant, John. Dead End in Norvelt
Lindgren, A.
Pippi Longstocking
10/8 Hoban, Russell.
The Mouse and His Child
Nesbit, E. The Railway Children
Boyne, John. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
10/15 Dahl, Roald.
James and the Giant Peach
Spyri, J.
Heidie
Anderson, Laurie. Chains
10/22 Sachar, L. Holes
L’Engle, M.
A Wrinkle in Time
Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me
10/29 Blume, Judy Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Konigsberg, E.L. The View from Saturday
Twain, Mark Tom Sawyer
11/5 Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit
Langrish, Katherine. Troll Fell
11/12 Ness, Patrick. A Monster Calls
Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima
11/19 Snyder, Zilpha K.
The Velvet Room
Farmer, Nancy . The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
12/3 Jarrell, Randall. The Animal Family
Pullman, P. The Golden Compass
12/17 London, Jack. Call of the Wild or White Fang
Schlitz, Amy. Splendors and Glooms
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