Academic Catalog

ENGL 8: CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2024
Units: 4
Hours: 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter)
Advisory: Demonstrated proficiency in English by placement via multiple measures OR through an equivalent placement process OR completion of ESLL 125 & ESLL 249.
Degree & Credit Status: Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE: Non-GE
Transferable: CSU/UC
Grade Type: Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass)
Repeatability: Not Repeatable

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Identify the characteristics in each genre of children's literature.
  • Analyze the cross-cultural variants in a folktale archetype.
  • Students will demonstrate critical thinking skills through formal literary analysis of children's texts.
  • Students will demonstrate competent skills in analysis, or "close reading," of literary texts.

Description

A survey of children's literature from many periods and cultures, including classics, picture books, folktales, fairy tales, biography, poetry, fantasy, and fiction. Emphasis on the ideas, didactic and sociological, reflecting relationships among global and multiple cultures included in books usually read by children. Special emphasis on books that explore the cross-cultural influences of our shared oral tradition and folklore, as well as the issues arising from a diversity of U.S. cultures.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Identify the types and major works of children's literature.
  2. Recognize archetypes, motifs, and conventions in children's literature.
  3. Discuss and analyze inter-cultural dynamics within diverse children's texts.
  4. Compose a literary analysis essay using literary terminologies and theories appropriate to an introductory college-level discussion of literature.

Course Content

  1. Types and major works of children's literature
    1. Overview of children’s literature as a genre: e.g., myth, genesis tale, fable, fairy tale, contemporary nonfiction and fiction
    2. Common characteristics in major works
    3. Terms for analysis of children's literature, including aesthetic, historical, and cultural influences
  2. Archetypes and motifs from multiple cultures
    1. Common archetypes, e.g., the journey, the problem solution tale, the cautionary tale, the strong woman tale
    2. Common motifs, e.g., becoming stuck, the power of naming, the wicked stepmother or father
  3. Discussion and analysis of diversity in children's literature
    1. African American, Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American, Arab American, multiethnic, and other ethnic representations
    2. Issues of gender and sexuality
    3. Socioeconomic diversity
    4. Religious diversity
  4. Literary analysis
    1. Development and delivery of a clear literary analysis thesis-driven essay
    2. Effective use of textual evidence
    3. Denotative and connotative meaning of words and statements
    4. Structure or development of events, emotions, images, ideas
    5. Figurative and symbolic language in relation to central theme(s) of the work
    6. Artistic synthesis of literal and figurative details with theme(s)
    7. Stylistic conventions of literary analysis
    8. Formatting and documentation (MLA and/or APA)

Lab Content

Not applicable.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

1. When taught on campus, no special facility or equipment needed.
2. When taught online, ongoing access to computer and learning management system.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Literary analysis essays
Response papers or journal entries
Discussion forum posts
Creative projects, responses to the literature
Midterm and and final exam

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Readings and analyses of multiethnic and multicultural children's texts from fields including history, social and political sciences, literature, cultural studies
Class discussions, student and instructor-led
Collaborative learning and small group projects
Instructor lectures and student presentations

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Alexander, Kwame. Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets. 2017.

Brown, Monica. Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos. 2017.

Griffiths, John W., and Charles H. Frey, eds.. Classics of Children's Literature. 2005.

Kephart, Beth, and Chloe Bristol. Good Books for Bad Children: The Genius of Ursula Nordstrom. 2023.

McKissack, Patricia. Let's Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin, and Turn It Out! Games, Songs, and Stories from an African American Childhood. 2017.

Newman, Lesléa. Sparkle Boy. 2017.

Young, Terrell, and Gregory Bryan, et al.. Children's Literature Briefly. 2019.

Although some of these texts are older than the suggested "5 years or newer" standard, they remain seminal texts in this area of study.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. Reading and analysis of multicultural children's literature texts
  2. Literary analysis essays
  3. Informal assignments, e.g., discussion posts, response papers
  4. Group projects

Discipline(s)

English