English 3950 | Syllabus | Summer 2016

Instructor

Dr. William P Banks
Associate Professor of English
banksw@ecu.edu

Office: Joyner 1015 (University Writing Center)
Phone: 252.328.6674

English 3950 | Syllabus

“Reading is the plague of childhood,
and almost the only occupation
we know how to give it.”
— Rousseau

Introduction

Can it be that Rousseau, influential Romantic philosopher and educator, is right? Is reading the “plague” we impose upon children? Perhaps. For Rousseau, children should be infinitely free to explore the world and find excitement and learning all round them. When they are ready for books, they should read, Rousseau argued in his educational treatise Emile; before then, forcing children to read is counterproductive and creates life-long resistant readers. Perhaps, reading oppresses children; perhaps, it liberates them. Perhaps it’s wonderously more complicated than a simple either/or; perhaps, it’s a both/and. Regardless, reading and books occupy a central place in the lives of virtually all young children in the United States. For many, exposure to books happens at home; for others, only at school or in libraries. For almost all children, books are objects that define them in some way as either literate or illiterate, smart or dumb, cultured or uncultured.

Books written for children represent some of the most important texts that our culture produces because these texts are used in educational settings and reach such a wide audience that just invoking the names of story book characters can cause an emotional stirring in people’s hearts. It may be annoyance at The Grinch, excitement at The Cat in the Hat, a touch of empathy with Max as he romps with the Wild Things, an “awww” as we think of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friendship with Piglet. Mostly, though, as adults, we think warmly and romantically about the “sweetness” and “innocence” of children and their books. But are those books really so sweet and innocent? Are children? Or is “sweet” and “innocent” more something we miss ourselves and project onto children in order to believe that there must have been a time before homework, paying bills, and dealing with all the big issues of adulthood?

In this course, we will look closely at books written for “children,” which we will limit to those human beings between the ages of 5 and 15. We will investigate both picture books and chapter books, paying particular attention to the literacy practices that these texts encourage in young people. In our study, we will likewise address the following questions:

  • What is a “child” in our current culture? What is a “young adult”? What is an “adolescent”? How are these rhetorical and political categories different now than in previous times?
  • How do various books written (ostensibly) for children and young adults construct these categories? What attributes do we give them and how do we distinguish among them? Why do we make such distinctions?
  • What stereotypes do writers for children perpetuate? What happens for readers (children, teachers, parents) when writers work outside of sterotypes?
  • What makes for a conservative or progressive children’s book?
  • What do children’s books demonstrate about our adult anxieties surrounding childhood?
  • How do we determine if a text is “appropriate” for a child reader? Are there texts that are “appropriate” for children but perhaps not “approrpriate” for classroom use? Why? How do we decide?

Because this course is populated by both education majors and non-education majors, students will have a variety of options for projects which will meet their individual educational and/or future needs (see below).

Goals of English 3950

Students in this course will

  • become familiar with the variety of genres that make up “children’s literature” for the elementary- and middle-school-aged reader, including but not limited to picture books, realistic fiction, the beast fable or allegory, the fairy tale, fantasy/science fiction, biography, poetry, etc;
  • develop analytical skills for reading both pictographic and alphabetic texts;
  • develop critical awareness of historically- and culturally-bound notions of “childhood”;
  • investigate personal and cultural anxieties about “childhood” and concerns for literacy;
  • explore the cultural diversity of texts available to children;
  • and develop the ability to discern the interests and needs of children at different levels of physical and emotional maturity.

Required Texts

Instructor Expectations (Summer/DE Edition)

I expect the students I’m working with to work with me, to be active and engaged readers, writers, and thinkers. Because this is both a summer course and a DE course, it will require a great deal of focused attention from students and teacher alike. We have a highly compressed time frame in which to read and discuss texts and ideas. If this were a campus-based class, then we would meet for 90 minutes each day, 5 days per week, for 5 weeks. Your goal should be to spend a minimum of 1 hour/day on reading and responding to discussion forum posts (5 hours/week). Keep in mind that this is not a correspondence course, so you cannot simply jump on once a week or every two weeks and write a bunch of text. Once we have moved on from discussing a book, your contributions will be less helpful. The other 2.5 hours of class time per week will be for you to participate in non-forum discussions both synchronous (through Google Hangout) or asynchronous (Twitter chats, Reading Ladder presentations).

Likewise, because this is a literature-based course, there will be a good bit of reading for you to do each day to keep up. Since the books and stories we’re reading are written for young readers, they will read fairly quickly, but since you’re reading them not as children but as adults who are critical of the ideas, values, and assumptions that are embedded in the texts, you will need to read a bit more carefully than the typical child reader. Just because these texts are written with a child audience in mind, that doesn’t mean that they don’t carry with them many cultural assumptions and values that are worth adult discussion with young people: some texts will have racist, sexist, and homophobic language or representations in them because they were written at a time when writers and readers were assumed to agree with these ideas; other texts will critique common cultural assumptions about children, childhood, religion, sexuality, race/ethnicity, gender, etc. All of these texts are worth exploring thoughtfully and with more sophistication than a child reader might be able to. Because you will likely be parents, teachers, aunts/uncles, etc., you should know how to choose books for young readers, or how to help them choose their own books. The reading, writing, and thinking activities from this course, engaged fully, should help you to do that.

Projects

The following projects integrate the readings that we’ll do for class with the readings done outside of class.

  • Book/Story Discussions (Forum) • (40%)
    In lieu of face-to-face discussion about our readings, we will discuss each in hosted forums devoted to the books/stories. For 5 of the 7 books, students will sign up to lead discussion. Additional information on how to participate in and lead book discussions is available on the course Projects page.
  • Reader Hangouts (Google) • (20%)
    Each Wednesday, a group of students will host a live, 30 minute Google Hangout-on-Air at a pre-announced time; the goal here will be to extend the conversations from the discussion forums and to make connections across texts/readings. Additional information about how to participate in and lead Reader Hangouts is available on the course Projects page.
  • Major Project: Reading Ladders • (30%)
    Due in draft format during week four (June 8) and in final format by the last class (June 20), students’ Reading Ladders will represent their individual engagement with one of the course books and their research around developing a host of other readings (picture books, other novels, nonfiction, poetry) that extend that book in meaningful ways. Additional information about the contents and expectations of Reading Ladders is available on the course Projects page.

** The remaining 10% of your course grade will be “studentship” or “engagement,” defined as participating fully in online discussions and activities and turning in/completing assignments on time. **

Grades

My approach to grades for this course follows a contract approach: if you do the following activities, on time, and in the manner in which you’re asked (e.g., if you’re asked to write X number of words, you do; if you’re asked to include quotations, you do), you will receive the appropriate grade:

A-Level Work
To receive an A, students will participate in all online discussions and follow the guidelines for each posting situation. They will serve as discussion leaders when it is their turn and will meet all deadlines. Students will participate in at least two synchronous (live) Reader Hangouts, one as a leader and one as a participant; students will participate in at least one asynchronous (not live) Reader Hangout. Students will submit a draft Reading Ladder for peer review, as well as a revised version by their respective due dates.

B-Level Work
To receive a B, students will participate in at least seven (7) online discussions and follow the guidelines for each posting situation. They will serve as discussion leaders when it is their turn and will meet all deadlines. Students will participate in at least one synchronous (live) Reader Hangouts; students will participate in at least one asynchronous (not live) Reader Hangout. Students will submit a draft Reading Ladder for peer review, as well as a revised version by their respective due dates.

C-Level Work
To receive a C, students will participate in at least six (6) online discussions and follow the guidelines for each posting situation. They will serve as discussion leaders when it is their turn and will meet all deadlines. Students will participate in at least one synchronous (live) Reader Hangouts. Students will submit a draft Reading Ladder for peer review, as well as a revised version by their respective due dates.

D-Level Work
To receive a D, students will participate in at least four (4) online discussions and follow the guidelines for each posting situation. Students who fail to participate in any Reader Hangouts will receive a D. Students will submit a Reading Ladder, but may miss the peer review deadline.

F-Level Work
Students who fail to meet any of the requirements for a D will earn an F in the course.

Late Work

Although I often accept late work from first-year students, I expect students in junior- and senior-level classes to tackle their tasks more responsibly. As such, I will gladly accept early projects posted to the course site or by email. However, students are still allowed one late project, as long as that project comes in within one week of the original due date. Because our schedule is so full, students should not expect immediate turn around on late projects; they will be returned as soon as I can get to them, which may be several weeks from the time they were turned in. Since projects build on each other, students are encouraged to turn materials in on time or early so that they do not get behind while waiting for my schedule to open up to provide time for response.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to be honest about individual effort and responsible to peer/secondary source materials that are included in their projects. Both plagiarizing and turning in work written partially or completely by someone else are forms of academic dishonesty and carry serious penalties, the least serious of which is a grade of zero on the particular assignment (and thus a D, at best, in the course), but could also result in failure of the class and even expulsion from the university. Students who keep up with their work and consult with their peers and their professor have no reason or need to “cheat.” Plagiarism likewise extends to the use of words, phrases, or ideas of others without giving proper credit through in-text citation and a “works cited” page attached to a project. Students who are unsure about whether they have borrowed too generously from other sources should consult the professor for help.

A Comment on Computers and Technology 

Since we live in an age of ubiquitous computing, and since this course is being taught fully online, we all have to be aware that technology glitches occur: websites go down for a few hours, possibly days; projects get submitted and disappear into the digital ether; emails we think we sent do not go through. I make every effort to be understanding, but we should all guard against problems. Please keep back-up copies of all your work on your own computer. If the course website becomes unavailable, you should be able to email me any work that’s due. Again, planning ahead can save use all a lot of headaches.

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs

East Carolina University seeks to comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodations based on a disability must be registered with the Department for Disability Support Services located in Slay 138 ((252) 737-1016 (Voice/TTY)). http://www.ecu.edu/accessibility/