Syllabus

Teacher Education
07E:123 Reading & Responding to Children's Lit
Fall, 2009

Instructors: Dr. Kathryn F. Whitmore (supervisor); Leslie Cavendish

Emails: kathryn-whitmore@uiowa.edu; leslie-cavendish@uiowa.edu

Course Web Site: icon.uiowa.edu

Course Description

This course will focus on the reading and teaching of children's literature. My aim is for you to become more knowledgeable readers of children's literature and develop expertise in using children's literature in the elementary classroom for aesthetic, personal, social, and critical purposes. You'll have a chance to read a wide range of literary texts in different genres and consider the multiple ways that readers might experience these texts given particular teaching approaches. We'll examine the ways in which readers interact with texts and with each other to make meaning as they read and discuss literature.

Required Readings

Course Textbook: Children's Literature Briefly, by M.O. Tunnell and J.S. Jacobs , Merrill/Prentice Hall, 2008.

Children's Literature: A range of children's literature representing major genres in the field of children's literature

Additional professional articles representing key issues and topics related to children's literature

Focus Standards and Student Assignments

Standards	Student Assignments
B: Diverse Learners	Response to a multicultural children's book.
C: Planning Instruction	A paper that explains how to use a text set of quality children's literature in a variety of genres for teaching reading, language arts, and other disciplines as appropriate.
I: Collaboration, Ethics, and Relationships	Response to a controversial children's book
K: Subject Matter Knowledge	A paper that explains how to use a text set of quality children's literature in a variety of genres for teaching reading, language arts, and other disciplines as appropriate.