Course Description
Participants will read children’s literature for grades PreK – 8 that examines the experiences of diverse cultures in American society. They will learn and apply criteria for the critical evaluation and selection of diverse books. They will develop approaches for utilizing diverse children's literature in various community contexts.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Develop a theoretical rationale that supports classroom use of diverse children's literature. Then, using this rationale, develop a curricular unit or a set of classroom activities that include diverse literature for future implementation.
Athena Title
Diverse Child Lit P-8
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in LLED 5318E or LLED 7318E
Prerequisite
One 1000-level ENGL course or one 2000-level ENGL course or LLED 2110 or LLED 2110E or LLED 2110S or LLED 4300 or LLED 4300E or LLED 4310 or LLED 4310E or LLED 4410 or LLED 4410E
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- Students will read and critique currently available literature about,and resources related to, diverse groups in the United States.
- Students will explain their understanding of their engagement with diverse children's literature across time.
- Students will analyze literary, aesthetic, sociopolitical, and cultural issues and controversies related
to diverse children's literature.
- Students will apply and differentiate strategies for reading and responding to diverse children's literature within and beyond PreK-8 classrooms.
Topical Outline
- Approaches to selecting and examining diverse children's literature
- Ideology and theory in relationship to diverse children's literature
- Historical and contemporary representations of various racial, ethnic, gender, and class groups in the U.S.
- (Mis)representations of people and communities
- Narratives of immigration
- Stories reflecting religious diversity
- Contemporary experiences and events in diverse communities
- Self-identifications and group affiliations
- Spectra and continua of abilities
- Standing up for beliefs in and about children's literature
- Forms of resistance to and within children's literature
