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Special
Interest Page
Syllabi
Page
Web
site on culture
Analysis
of a Picture Book
Testing
Page
Visual
Interpretive Analyses
Creation
of a Visual Interpretive Analysis
Online
Art Journey
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COURSE DESCRIPTION
An examination of children's
picture books from a feminist standpoint and various cultural perspectives.
Emphasis on the identification of books that use powerful verbal and visual
images to promote self esteem and cultural awareness among young children.
Students will access the world wide web to increase information and experiences.
Opportunities will be offered for a community dialogue among the students
and with various experts in other parts of this country and abroad.
PRE- AND/OR
CO-REQUISITES
None
COMPETENCIES
ADDRESSED
KNOWLEDGE OF--
- The varieties of materials
for children, including publishing trends in multiculturalism.
- Illustrative techniques
and their effectiveness in relation to particular texts.
- Criteria for evaluating
children's picture books for their cultural authenticity.
- Intellectual freedom: Exploration
of challenges to multicultural issues in pictures books.
- Problems of translation
of children's books from one language and culture to another.
SKILL IN-
- Evaluation and selection
of materials with positive gender images and representations of various
cultural groups.
- The use of critical abilities
in the discussion (both oral and written) of gender-fair and multicultural
picture books for children.
- Interpretation and evaluation
of research relating to children and multicultural materials.
NATURE OF
THE COURSE/RESOURCES FOR THE COURSE
This course is designed to
permit the greatest possible dialogue and exchange of views. The sharing
process will require you to bring a variety of materials to the attention
of others in this distance education course in order to demonstrate points
you wish to make. You will receive a password protected account on WebBoard
to help you in the organization and communication throughout the course.
Additionally, you will be given a SCILS email account.
There is an Introduction to
this course that provides the general itinerary for our online journey.
Internet access to the www
site on culture will provide you with a range of information and resources
within the professional community. Remember that the WWW is case sensitive!
You are expected to become
familiar with a wide variety of resources about children's multicultural
picture books, although the major emphasis should be on the children's
materials themselves. It is also important to examine what critics and
reviewers have said about particular books, especially older books that
may have been perceived differently over time.
Several bibliographies are
listed below that most clearly match the content of this course and will
give you some insight into the priorities and prejudices of the professor.
--On
Illustration and the Art of the Picture Book
--On
Translation
--On
Gender and Culture Background Readings
--On
Gender and Culture Websites
An additional set of Thought
Capsules is provided on the Gender and Culture www site. These will
be used throughout the course as the basis of some of our online discussions.
In several cases the authors are willing to answer questions and comments
through email. You will receive a list of email addresses in the course.
As a part of this class we
will be working with colleagues at Florida State University who are in
a comparable course. Although they are examining a broader range of resources
(K-12) they will join with us in the discussion aspects and in an assignment
directed to the picture book. We will provide a list of FSU student names
and Professor Eliza Dresang will be working with us throughout the semester.
Additionally, the University
of South Florida is sponsoring an Institute
on Library Service to Youth of Hispanic Heritage, March 12-14, 1999.
The focus will be on innovative service delivery, sensitivity to cultural
diversity, development of collections, and education of staff to provide
excellent services to youth
of Hispanic Heritage. Featured speakers will be Dr. Isabel Schon and Pat
Mora. Dr. Isabel Schon is the director of the Center for the Study of
Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents and an accomplished author
and consultant in the field of Spanish-language books for children and
young adults. Pat Mora is a Mexican-American author who has written eleven
children's books in English and Spanish, five collections of poetry and
two volumes of non-fiction. Institute concurrent sessions will
include bilingual literature, developing Spanish collections for children,
programming for pre-school to high school students, internet resources
for serving Spanish-speaking youth, developing ties with community resources,
curriculum focus for schools on Hispanic youth, community college programs,
Spanish-language subject headings for youth, and outreach strategies for
Hispanic populations. We will have the opportunity to discuss many of
the points made at the Institute with our colleagues in FSU.
Access to several lists of
picture books is also provided on the web page for this course, and students
may find using these to be an expedient approach. Most of the books listed
should be in local public libraries.
A cyberlibrary containing a
number of the readings useful to this course has been added. Because of
copyright regulations it is a password protected space and you will be
given the User ID and Password in a separate email.
In order to provide
Notes for the Analysis of a Picture Book a webpage has been developed.
You will want to frequently use this page.
A new aspect for this course
is the development of a testing database. Each student will have the opportunity
to test their own factual knowledge in relation to this course. The testing
page is fun. As a class project, we may develop a set of test questions
useful to others.
ASSIGNMENTS
FOR THE COURSE
Students are
expected to complete Assignments 1, and 2. Additionally, they may choose
among 3 or 4 or 5 as the other assignment.
- Participation in course
discussions which demonstrates your knowledge of outside readings (both
children's and professional materials) as well as thoughtful consideration
of ideas and opinions offered in online course discussions and materials
accessed from the www. Throughout the semester, you will be expected
to respond to specific topics, worksheets, questions, articles, etc.
- Using the Visual
Interpretive Analyses as a model, create a similar website with
colleagues from Rutgers and/or Florida State in a team. You will need
to read the Notes on the Creation of
a Visual Interpretive Analysis by Rebecca Platzner.
- Identify three to five women
of different cultural background about whom there is at least one picture
book biography. Prepare a one to two page sketch of each woman's life
and accomplishments, indicating authoritative sources from which that
information was synthesized. Locate as many picture book biographies
about each woman as possible and evaluate those biographies in light
of informational, literary, cultural, and gender criteria. If
this assignment is submitted as a website, extra credit will be awarded.
OR
- Select one aspect of child
life (E.g. Food, Home, Education, Toys and/or Games, Clothing, Holidays,
Religion, etc.) and explore that topic as it is portrayed in picture
books representing at least four different cultures. Indicate whether
or not it is possible to verify the accuracy and authenticity of the
portrayals in the selected books. Discuss the procedures and the resources
used to evaluate the cultural authenticity of these works. If
this assignment is submitted as a website, extra credit will be awarded.
OR
- Using the Online
Art Journey as a model, create a comparable site for children
in grades K-3.
Notes
- Literary quality is assumed
in your selection of titles for all assignments.
- All of us in this seminar
will be working together to expand and enhance our knowledge of and
sensitivity to feminist standpoints and multicultural perspectives in
children's picture books. Therefore, as colleagues, we will assist each
other in and share the results of our work for this course through the
use of our dialogue discussions as well as placing papers on the www
for class consideration.
This is a drawing "Peacock"
by 4 1/2 year old Kaiqing Lee, February 1996, Hong Kong. It is reproduced
here with the gracious permission of the child and her father.
Last Reviewed and Updated
January 25, 1999 and is continuously revised.
SCILS, Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey
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