Dr. Roberta Seelinger Trites 438-4572Office: STV 207; Office hours: TR 8:30-9 and by appt.
ENG 272: Literature for Middle Grades
Course objective: In this class we will define concepts of childhood and children’s literature. We will also discuss what makes the literature of students in fourth to eight grades unique. We will analyze literature written for this audience in terms of literary criticism and use various theoretical models to analyze texts for this age range.
Required Texts:
Alexander, The Book of Three
Burnett, The Secret Garden
Curtis, The Watsons Go to Birmingham
Dahl, Matilda
Frank (Anne), The Diary of a Young Girl
Gantos, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
Juster, Phantom Tollbooth
L’Engle, Wrinkle in Time
Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking
Mills, The Totally Made-Up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish
Pilkey, Captain Underpants (Book 1)
Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning
Twain, Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Yep, Dragonwings
Course requirements:
Class participation and daily work:10%
Midterm: 25%
Short paper (4-6 pages):15%
Term paper (8-12 pages):25%
Final exam:25%
Policies:
Students are expected to attend class. Three absences will adversely affect your daily grade; five will affect your final grade; seven may result in failure.
Any assignment that is late will be penalized one letter grade per day that it is late.
I expect you to have read the assignments listed on the syllabus before you come to class. (All novels need to be read entirely on the Tuesday before class begins.)
Please word process out-of-class papers double-spaced with one-inch margins on standard white paper. Proofread everything you turn in, because grammar, organization, and mechanics are a substantial part of every grade you receive.
Plagiarism, collusion, or any act of cheating is intolerable.
I will not discuss any evaluation I have given your work until at least twenty-four hours after you have received the evaluation.
Do not even begin to think about texting or receiving calls during class. TURN YOUR PHONES OFF. You do NOT want to see me irritated by what I consider to be the extraordinarily rude behavior of paying more attention to your phone than class.
You earn your grade by performance, not by negotiation. Unless I have made an error of computation, please do not ask me to raise your grade.
Communication:
I consider communication between the student and the instructor a key factor in maximizing students’ learning. Please feel free to email me at the address above; I find email exchanges with students very fruitful.
I also encourage you to drop by my office during office hours, or to contact my office at 438-4572 to set up a more formal appointment. Students are my top priority; don’t be afraid to contact me!
Webpage:
Assessment:
Daily grades include written work in class, writing prompts, quizzes, and discussion.
Author papers and bibliography
Each student will write a term paper analyzing 3-5 works by one author of children’s novels. YOU MUST GET PERMISSION FROM ME BEFORE YOU CHOOSE YOUR AUTHOR! I will provide you with suggestions, and I will discourage people from duplicating one another's topics. You may not count any book we are reading in class as one of the 3-5 novels you analyze for your paper. (The goal is to write about books we have not discussed in class.)
On March 21 you will turn in the first stage of your paper: a straightforward literary analysis of ONE novel by your author and a thorough bibliography of criticism about your author. (This paper will be 3-4 pages long.) The paper needs to have a thesis that makes an argument about the novel’s theme or ideology, or you can analyze the paper in terms of one of the articles we have read. You may revise and include this shorter paper as part of your final paper, if you wish to do so. Effectively, this is two different assignments to be turned in on the same day: 1) a paper on ONE topic of your choice that does not need to include any literary criticism AND 2) a separate bibliography listing all the literary criticism available on your author. You need not incorporate any literary criticism into your paper, but you do need to compile a thorough list of the resources that will be available to you for your final paper. You can find bibliographic information in the MLA online index, in ERIC, and among the Teaching Materials Center's reference books (6th floor Milner). I recommend that you begin with two encyclopedias: Something About the Author and Children's Literature Review, both of which are located among the TMC's reference materials.
Your final term paper, due April 23,will be a literary analysis of three to five novels by one author that is approximately 10-12 pages long. You will write on one aspect of the author’s writing that applies to all of these novels. You may write on any of a number of topics, including such things as analyses of recurring issues, recurring themes, recurring (or shifting) ideologies, OR developments in the writer's style. You may also choose to analyze the novels in light of one or more of our critical readings. (Pick one of these topics; do not attempt to do them all. Well-focused papers are better than shallow papers that attempt to cover too much material.) I AM NOT INTERESTED IN BIOGRAPHIES OF AUTHORS! We will discuss the paper throughout the course of the semester, but PLEASE do not hesitate to ask me your questions about it, either before class or during office hours. Please plan to have approximately 50% of the paper written for our in-class writing workshop on April 18. (Your participation in the workshop counts as two daily grades: one grade for having a draft and another grade for your peer review.)
Examinations
The midterm and the final exam will be essay examinations. The final will be comprehensive. Please purchase two examination “blue books” and bring one to each exam. DO NOT MARK YOUR NAME ON YOUR BLUE BOOK as blue books will be collected and redistributed the day of the test.
Reading and assignment calendar for ENG 272:
Week 1: January 15 and 17
Tuesday: Introduction
Thursday: Jack Zipes “The Cultural Homogenization of American Children” (on reserve at Milner)*
Week 2: January 22 and 24Tuesday and Thursday: Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Week 3: January 29 and 31
Tuesday and Thursday: The Secret Garden
Thursday: Lissa Paul, “Enigma Variations”(on reserve at Milner)*
Week 4: February 5 and 7
Tuesday and Thursday: Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
Week 5: February 12 and 14
Tuesday:Pippi Longstocking
Thursday: Maria Nikolajeva reading (TBA)
Week 6: February 19 and 21
Tuesday and Thursday: Phantom Tollbooth
Week 7: February 26 and 28Tuesday: A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning
Thursday: MIDTERM
Monday, February 4: Extra credit opportunity!
Professor Claudia Mills, delivering the Lois Lenski Children’s Literature Lecture @ 7 p.m.
(check English department website for room number)
Week 8: March 5 and 7Tuesday and Thursday: The Book of Three
Thursday: Gooderham, “Children’s Fantasy Literature” (on reserve at Milner)*
Week 9:March 19 and 21
Tuesday and Thursday: Wrinkle in Time
Thursday: SHORT PAPERS DUEand female quest pattern
Week 10: March 26 and 28
Tuesday: Dragonwings
Thursday: Chambers, “The Reader in the Book” (on reserve at Milner)*
Week 11: April 2 and 4
Tuesday: Watsons Go to Birmingham
Thursday: Watsons and Cadden, “Introduction”
Week 12: April 9 and 11
Tuesday and Thursday: Totally Made-Up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish
Week 13: April 16 and 18
Tuesday: Matilda
Thursday: Writing workshop (bring 50% of draft of paper for peer review)
Week 14: April 23 and 25Tuesday: TERM PAPERS DUE and Captain Underpants
Thursday: Griswold, “Introduction” (on reserve at Milner)*
Week 15: April 30 and May 2Tuesday: Joey Pigza Swallowed the KeyThursday: REVIEW
FINAL EXAM AS DICTATED BY UNIVERSITY’S SCHEDULE
* =Electronic reserves for students, available on the Milner homepage under “Find Course Reserves” and “Trites” (