ENG 306: Children's Literature
Joseph T. Thomas, Jr.
email: jtthomas@mail.sdsu.edu
!!!! IMPORTANT: Online Schedule !!!!
(These schedules are tentative. Check back often for changes and additions)
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Because children's literature, perhaps more than any other literary genre, operates directly in the process of interpellation, of inscribing gender roles, class consciousness, etc., and because many of you are education majors who will be dealing directly with actual children, I have designed this course as one which constructs children's literature as an cultural apparatus that creates for its young readers representations of race, class, and gender that are often problematic, often laudable. Thus, in addition to attending to structural and aesthetic matters, we will investigate the historical moment in which the texts on this syllabus were produced as well as the implicit and explicit ideology within them. Furthermore, we will discuss how the reception to these texts may have changed over time. I will encourage oppositional reading strategies in order for you to teach your own students how to read with and against canonized texts and the institutions that canonize these texts. As much pedagogical theory has shown, learning best takes place when students are active participants in knowledge making. So I will try to eschew long lectures. Instead, class time will consist of discussion, group-work, and in-class and out-of-class writing assignments. These activities will put the responsibility of creating knowledge largely on your shoulders. |
Texts (required):
CARROLL, LEWIS: ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND & THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
# Publisher: Signet Classics; Reissue edition (December 12, 2000)
# ISBN-10: 0451527747
# ISBN-13: 978-0451527745CREECH, SHARON: WALK TWO MOONS
# Publisher: HarperTrophy (September 30, 1996)
# ISBN-10: 0064405176
# ISBN-13: 978-0064405171LESTER, JULIUS: BLACK FOLKTALES
# Publisher: Grove Press; 1st Evergreen ed edition (June 1991)
# ISBN-10: 0802132421
# ISBN-13: 978-0802132420MOCHIZUKI, KEN: BASEBALL SAVED US
# Publisher: Lee & Low Books (March 1995)
# ISBN-10: 1880000199
# ISBN-13: 978-1880000199NESBIT, E: FIVE CHILDREN AND IT (Puffin Classics - the Essential Collection)
# Publisher: Puffin; Reissue edition (December 1, 1996)
# ISBN-10: 0140367357
# ISBN-13: 978-0140367355PATERSON, KATHERINE: Bridge to Terabithia
# HarperTrophy
# ISBN-10: 0064401847
# ISBN-13: 978-0064401845PERRAULT, CHARLES: FAIRY TALES
# Publisher: Dover Publications; New Impression edition (June 1, 1969)
# ISBN-10: 0486223116
# ISBN-13: 978-0486223117RYAN, PAM MUNOZ: ESPERANZA RISING
# Publisher: Blue Sky Press (June 1, 2002)
# ISBN-10: 043912042X
# ISBN-13:SENDAK, MAURICE: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
# Publisher: HarperTrophy; 25th Ann; First Harper Trophy edition
(January 1, 1984)
# ISBN-10: 0064431789
# ISBN-13: 978-0064431781SHERMAN, JOSEPHA: GREASY GRIMY GOPHER GUTS
# Publisher: August House Publishers (November 1995)
# ISBN-10: 0874834449
# ISBN-13: 978-0874834444SOTO, GARY: A Fire in My Hands
# Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; Rev Exp edition (March 2006)
# ISBN-10: 0152055649
#ISBN-13: 978-0152055646TAYLOR, MILDRED: ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY
# Publisher: Puffin (April 12, 2004)
# ISBN-10: 0142401129
# ISBN-13: 978-0142401125TWAIN, MARK: ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER
# Publisher: Dover Publications; New Ed edition (January 27, 1998)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0486400778
# ISBN-13: 978-0486400778
Attendance and Quizzes:
Because the success of the class depends upon your discussion and interpretations of the various texts we encounter, you should attend every class session. I will compose tests based on what we do in the classroom--from my lectures and your comments and ideas. This course is designed to facilitate your learning; thus, we will spend a large amount of our time discussing and interrogating what you find interesting and compelling about the works I assign. Of course, I will lead our analysis, playing, at times, devil's advocate, providing you with various and sometimes contentious readings of the literature. You will be evaluated on how actively you participate in and extend our classroom discussions, so please come to class with something to say. I may give reading quizzes if it seems that the class is consistently unprepared.
Late Work:
Work will be turned in on the date due or not at all. We all have schedules, and it is imperative that we keep to them. However, I am not completely draconian. In extreme cases I may accept late work, but don't count on it.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is taking someone else's words, idea, or argument and claiming it as your own. Don't do it. Cite all your sources and think for yourself. I am unforgiving when it comes to plagiarism. Plagiarism will earn you an F for the course, and, in egregious cases, may result in expulsion from the university. Please familiarize yourself with CSUN plagiarism policies, discussed in your handbook. Keep in mind, throughout the syllabus and on my links page are links to many useful web sources. Do not take the words or ideas from any of these sources without providing the appropriate citations. This goes for oral presentations as well as written work.
GRADES:
Daily Grades & Attendance (20%):
I may give you short, in-class writing assignments before or after we begin discussing each work. These assignments count as quiz grades, and will be graded pass/fail. To earn a passing grade, you have to show a familiarity with the assigned text and some degree of critical engagement. In class work cannot be made up.
Mid-Term: (30%):
Your mid-term will be composed of a short answer section and an essay section. If you read and actively engage in class discussion you should do fine. This exam is occasion for you to discuss the knowledge you've produced-so don't expect it to dwell on minutiae. It cannot be made up.
Group Author/Book Presentation (15%)
In a group of four or five, you will select a book from our reading list and prepare rom the list below and prepare a 15 minute report on it and the author. You will also prepare a one page handout outlining important information. The form of your presentation and of your handout is up to you. Ideally, your presentation will help us segue into our discussion of the work at hand.
Remember, you need to have fifteen minutes of discussion planned. You can go over, but I'd like you to be as close to fifteen minutes as possible. So rehearse and plan. These should be tight, well planned, and to the point.
Final Exam (35%):
As with the mid-term, your fina will be composed of a short answer section and an essay section. Again, if you read and actively engage in class discussion you should do fine. This exam is occasion for you to discuss the knowledge you've produced-so don't expect it to dwell on minutiae. It cannot be made up.
Final Comments:
This class should be challenging, but it should also be fun. Remember, I want you to do well. I don't lecture too much; mostly I like to chat with you, to get your impressions, to help you to understand some of the complexities and subtleties that might not be obvious. I'm here to give you biographical and historical data that will enable you to make your interpretations and conceptions of children's literature more convincing, to show you how other critics interpret the literature, and maybe to tell you how I interpret it. I look forward to working with each of you.
Grades:
20%: Daily Grades and Attendance 30%: Mid-term 15%: Author/Book Presentation 35%: Final Exam