LLED 441: Introduction to Teaching Children’s Literature

This course is offered by the Department of Language and Literacy Education (LLED)

Course Outline (Online 3.0 credits)

EVALUATION

  • Reading Autobiography or a Personal Definition of Children’s Literature
  • A bibliography of 15 books or personal canon that fits your teaching environment
  • Four, two-page long written responses to questions through the course
  • Annotated Bibliography
  • Discussion Forum Participation

This course is eligible for Credit/D/Fail grading. To determine whether you can take this course for Credit/D/Fail grading, visit the Credit/D/Fail website. You must register in the course before you can select the Credit/D/Fail grading option.

DESCRIPTION

This online course is an opportunity to study children’s literature as a resource for developing multi-literacies across the curriculum. The multimodal forms of literature offer content and inspiration for transformative activities and reflective thinking that serve students literacy and literary development needs. Assignments include multimodal responses to key issues such as the purpose and value of a literary canon, the creation of community canons that serve particular student populations, popular sequential visual narrative forms, and literature as a resource for developing empathy and motivating social action.

This online course explores the use of children’s literature in the classroom and elaborates on ways to use literary experiences to support instructional goals. During the course you will develop response activities employing multi-literacies and multimodal resources to use in teaching literature to students K-12. For this course, students will be asked to read material in each of the modules and from a selection of children’s literature, practical and scholarly articles about children’s literature, and current book reviews. This course aims to promote awareness and acceptance of diversity, our own and that of our peers, students and that of the creators of children’s literature.

OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course you will have explored through class discussions, written discourse and other response modalities the following questions:

  • What is children’s literature?
  • What is a canon of children’s literature? A modern canon? A canon for a particular socio/cultural context?
  • What theoretical frameworks support the study of children’s literature?
  • How can the study of children’s literature contribute to education?
  • What is a book? What are its forms and genres?
  • What is a sequential visual narrative?
  • What are other multimodal forms of children’s literature?
  • What criteria should be used for selecting children’s literature?
  • What transformative activities contribute to students’ literacy and literary development across the curriculum?

OUTLINE

This online course is offered on Canvas – http://canvas.ubc.ca

MODULE TOPIC
1 A Snapshot History of Childhood
2 A Snapshot History of Children’s Literature in the Classroom
3 A Snapshot of a Theory of Language, Children’s Early Language Development, Multimodality and the Forms of Literature
4 Context, Canon and Grand Conversations
5 The Poetics of Children’s Literature: What makes a piece of literature literary?
6 Sequential Visual Narrative Forms: Wordless Books and Picture Books
7 Sequential Visual Narrative Forms: Comics, Graphic Novels and Animations
8 Easy Reader, Chapter Books and Other Forms and Formats
9 Information and Concept Literature
10 Multimodal Response to Literature across the Curriculum
11 Canadian Children’s Literature
12 Children’s Book Creators in the Classroom
13 Troubling Tellings: Indigenous Literature

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

This is an online course. Students are required to have a computer, access to the Internet, and a Campus Wide Login ID and password to access the course website.

There is no textbook required. All Readings are related to assignments and featured topics. Each of the thirteen modules contains in depth articles, questions, activities, videos, bibliographies and links to resources in support of course topics.

LIBRARY RESOURCES: Connect From Home

Your EZproxy connection will allow you to access library resources from your computer on or off campus. For more information, go to https://services.library.ubc.ca/electronic-access/connect/

MORE INFORMATION

Telephone: 604.822.2013, or toll-free in North America: 1.888.492.1122
Email: eced.educ@ubc.ca


Latest Revision on: November 5, 2019