LIBR 261-01
Resources for Children, Ages 6-12
Summer 2008 Greensheet
Penny Peck
E-mail
| Greensheet Links Textbooks and Readings Course Requirements |
Resources Blackboard Blackboard Tutorials SLIS eBookstore |
Students must self-enroll for this course on Blackboard, beginning on May 27, 2008 , and must be self-enrolled by June 6, 2008. You will be required to use a password access code that will be provided through the MYSJSU messaging system.
Course Description
An overview of literature and information materials, including media and websites, for children ages 6-12. The emphasis will be on the evaluation and selection of materials for school and public libraries. The course will also include history of children’s literature, current trends, multicultural materials, and award-winning books.
Course Prerequisites: none.
Course Objectives
Student Learning Outcomes
At the completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a familiarity with a variety of children’s literature and information books as well as various media for this age group,
- Critically review and evaluate materials, and use related collection development resources and selection tools,
- Develop a Children’s collection policy for a school or public library.
LIBR 261 supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:
- use the basic concepts and principles related to the creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation and organization of specific items or collections of information;
- use service concepts, principles and techniques that facilitate information access, relevance, and accuracy for individuals or groups of users;
- demonstrate oral and written communication skills necessary for group work, collaborations and professional level presentations;
- evaluate programs and services on specified criteria.
In addition, this section supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:
- articulate the ethics, values and foundational principles of library and information professionals and their role in the promotion of intellectual freedom;
- compare the environments and organizational settings in which library and information professionals practice;
- recognize the social, cultural and economic dimensions of information use;
- apply the fundamental principles of planning, management and marketing/advocacy;
- understand the system of standards and methods used to control and create information structures and apply basic principles involved in the organization and representation of knowledge;
- contribute to the cultural, economic, educational and social well-being of our communities.
Textbooks and Readings
- Horning, Kathleen T. From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s Books. HarperCollins, 1997. $13.95. ISBN 0-06-446167-X.
- Lynch-Brown, Carol and Tomlinson, Carl M. Essentials of Children’s Literature: Sixth Edition. Pearson, 2008. $59.40.
Go to SLIS eBookstore.
Other Assigned Reading
Be sure to see the Course Documents on the Blackboard for the assigned readings for the class, including the journal articles assigned for the class. You will also see a sequence of lectures, the weekly topic for the discussion question, and more extensive descriptions of the assignments.
You will also want to visit your local public library to find the children’s books you will use for the assignments as well as reading book reviews in School Library Journal, Horn Book, Booklist, and Publishers’ Weekly.
Course Requirements
Course Format
This is a web-based course. All of our interaction will take place on the SLIS Blackboard site; Students must self-enroll for this course on Blackboard, beginning on May 27, 2008 , and must be self-enrolled by June 6, 2008. You will be required to use a password access code that will be provided through the MYSJSU messaging system. Course materials will be available primarily through the Course Documents and "External Links" sections of the Blackboard, books from your public library, and journal articles available on the SJSU library database. Assignments for the course should be posted electronically. Our class discussions (worth 20 percent of your grade) will be conducted using a Blackboard Discussion Board - your responses to a different discussion question posted each week. You will be graded on both the content of your posts (not just "I agree"), and meeting the minimum of posting at least once a week.
Class Discussion
Our class discussions (worth 20 percent of your grade) will be your responses to a different discussion question posted each week. Always post to the Discussion Question by the date listed on our Reading Assignments calendar. You will be graded on both the content of your posts (not just "I agree"), and meeting the minimum of posting at least once a week. Last day to post to the Discussion Board is Friday, August 8, 2008. Related competencies: A, B, C, D, F, G, I, M, O.
Assignments
All assignments should be a Word file posted to the Blackboard site in the Digital Dropbox, or sent as a Word document attachment to email. All assignments must use APA format for sources.
Assignment 1: Due Monday, June 23, 2008, by 11:59pm.
Assignment 2: Due Monday, June 30, 2008, by 11:59pm.
Assignment 3: Due Monday, July 14, 2008, by 11:59pm.
Assignment 4: Due Monday, July 28, 2008, by 11:59pm.
Assignment 5: Due Monday, August 8, 2008, by 11:59pm.
Assignment 1: Easy Readers
Choose five easy readers to read and evaluate. Write a book review of each of the five books. Each book review should be at least 150 words in length, not counting the bibliographic information. Give full bibliographic information. Look at reviews in School Library Journal or Horn Book for a model. These are evaluative reviews, not just plot descriptions. Evaluate the text and the illustrations, commenting on the media used for the illustrations and how (or if) the text and illustrations work well together. The Easy Readers should be aimed at the age group that reads Green Eggs and Ham, Frog and Toad, or Are You My Mother? You may include one "moving up" or "transitional" book among the five. For a definition, see Horning’s From Cover to Cover, pages 121-148 and the Lecture marked "Easy Readers." Make sure these are not picture books! If you are not sure, email me the title so I can okay it. Related competencies: F, G, M, O.
Assignment 2: Folklore
Choose one illustrated folktale – not a collection of folktales or fairytales, but a single tale published with illustrations, like a picture book. This should not be an original story, but a folktale, fairytale, tall tale, legend – a traditional tale (see pages 46-68 in Horning). It should have been published between 2000 and 2008, not earlier. Give an evaluative review of at least 250 words, commenting on the text and the illustrations, including the media used for the artwork. Things to include: brief plot description, description of artwork, do the illustrations and text work together or not? Are the text and/or illustrations true to the culture from which the folktale originated? Is the source of the story documented? Comment on the source note (see p. 52-56 of Horning). Related competencies: F, G, M, O.
Assignment 3: Genre Fiction
Read a chapter book aimed at 4th-6th graders, from the mystery, historical fiction, sports, adventure, animal story, fantasy, humor, science fiction, or contemporary/realistic fiction genres. This should be a book considered "literature;" not a paperback series knock-off but an award-winner or runner up, or by someone considered a good writer in the field. If you are not sure, email me the title so I can okay it. Read the book and write an evaluative review at least 250 words in length. Write a 3-5 page description (approx.) of how that book could be used in a Reading Circle (sometimes these are called "Mother/Daughter Book Clubs," or Readers’ Roundtable, etc.). Include at least 5 suggested discussion questions tailored to that particular book, and complete step-by-step instructions for some related fun (non-homework-like) activities (art projects, food, games, crafts, etc. with complete step-by-step instructions.) Suggest at least 4 other novels in that same genre but by a different author, that a reader may also enjoy (You should read these books in their entirety, and give full bibliographic information and a two or three sentence evaluation of each of the books). List all the sources you used. Related competencies: C, F, G, I, M, O.
Assignment 4: Informational/Nonfiction Books
Choose a nonfiction/Dewey Decimal numbered subject area to do a "collection development" project. This area should be somewhat limited; i.e. "Insects and Spiders," not animals, or "Baseball," not sports. Other topics could include poetry from a specific culture (African-American, Latino, Asian-American, etc.), history from a certain time period (the Holocaust, the Civil War), biographies of a specific focus (contemporary American women), etc. Select ten items to suggest for purchase in that subject, for children grades 3 through 6. All of the items should be in print, and at least one of the ten items should be a video, DVD, CDRom, CD or other non-book media you would purchase, and one other should be a website. Compile these into a list, with each item having a short two or three sentence annotation that includes both what the book is about and why you chose it. Write up a 2 or 3 page description of the selection tools, review journals, and other sources you used to select the books; which were most helpful? What tool(s) did you use to determine if an item is still in print? How did you decide what to choose? What did the local library have or lack in this area? Which items did you actually read or see? How did you choose the media item? How did you choose the website? Be sure to give a list of all the sources you used. Related competencies: F, G, I, M, O.
Assignment 5: Reader's Advisory Notebook/Database
Create an entry for 40 items appropriate for children ages 6-12. Each entry should include the bibliographic information, a brief plot description, a genre label, a reading level, and mention of any books that are similar in style content, theme or characters. Also include any of the following items that you think might help you with reader's advisory activities in the future: Personal thoughts, Subjects/themes, Awards, Series Information, Character names/descriptions, One/two sentence high interest annotation (that might be used on reader's advisory bibliography), and programming/lesson ideas. Complete project should include entries for all different book genres and reading levels discussed in class. Complete project should include several recent (1990+) award winning titles.
Entries should be written up using Microsoft Word. You may not use any of the books used in your other written assignments. These are 40 other books besides those. However, you may use books discussed on the Discussion Board. You must include at least (but not limited to) 10 novels. The other 30 can be a mix of easy readers, transitional fiction chapter books, nonfiction, folklore, poetry, biography, graphic novels, DVD/video, CDRoms, or audio recordings for our age group (but not websites). Related competencies: A, C, F, G, I, M, O.
Grading
Class discussions are worth 20 percent of your grade; Assignment 5 is worth 25 percent, Assignment 2 is worth 10 percent, Assignments 1, 3, and 4 are worth 15 percent.
Grading Scale
The standard SJSU SLIS Grading Scale is utilized for all SLIS courses:
| 97-100 | A |
| 94-96 | A- |
| 91-93 | B+ |
| 88-90 | B |
| 85-87 | B- |
| 82-84 | C+ |
| 79-81 | C |
| 76-78 | C- |
| 73-75 | D+ |
| 70-72 | D |
| 67-69 | D- |
| Below 67 | F |
In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:
- C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
- B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work;
- A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.
Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0.
Reasonable Accommodation of Disabilities
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability,
please e-mail me as soon as possible. Presidential Directive 97-03 requires
that students with disabilities register with the Disability Resource Center
(DRC) to establish record of their disability.
No matter where students reside, they should contact the SJSU DRC to register. The DRC Web site: http://www.drc.sjsu.edu/
Academic Integrity
Your own commitment to learning, as evidenced by your enrollment at San José State University, and the University's Academic Integrity Policy requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the Office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The policy on academic integrity can be found at http://sa.sjsu.edu/student_conduct.
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