Dr. Roberta Seelinger Trites (309) 438-4572Office: STV 207; Office hours: TR 8:15-9:15 & 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 for 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. This course is designed to help you develop your critical thinking skills in terms of both critical reading and critical writing.
Required Texts:
Alexander, The Crossover
Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Curtis, The Watsons Go to Birmingham
Dahl, Matilda
DiCamillo, Flora and Ulysses
Frank (Anne), The Diary of a Young Girl
Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Lindgren, PippiLongstocking
L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
Park, Project Mulberry
Pilkey, Captain Underpants (Book 1)
Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
NOTE: You are responsible for ensuring you are reading the complete and correct edition of every book!
Course requirements:
Class participation and daily work:10%
Midterm: 25%
Short paper (3-4 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.
Papers that are turned in late will be penalized one letter grade per day that they are 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 day for which they are first assigned.)
- Theoretical articles from Milner’s electronic course reserves, which are listed on the reading schedule by author’s last name, must also be read before class the day they will be discussed.
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.
- Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Disability Concerns at 350 Fell Hall, 309 438-5853 (voice), 438-8620 (TTY), or visit the website at disabilityconcerns.Illinoisstate.edu.
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 me by email () 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, “tickets in,” and discussion.
Author papers and bibliography:
By the end of the semester, each student will write an 8-12 page term paper analyzing the ideologies at work in 3-5 works by one author of children’s novels. Ideology is a statement of socio-political belief; when we analyze ideology, we are analyzing either the author’s “agenda” or his/her “bias”—or both!
Step 1: Sign up for an author; this must be approved by Professor Trites
Step 2: Read one novel by that author
Step 3: Identify at least one ideology (the author’s “agenda” and/or “bias”) in that novel
Step 4: Check with Prof. Trites (preferably via email) if you are stating your ideology correctly
Step 5: Write a 3-4 page paper that analyzes the ideology/ies at work in one novel
Step 6: Create a separate bibliography of as many critical sources as you can find about your author. This bibliography MUST be in MLA format, but you do NOT need to read the scholarly sources. You are finding information to help you write your final paper; you do NOT need to include these sources in the first paper.
Step 7: Turn in both the short paper and bibliography for Prof. Trites’ assessment on the due date
Step 8: Read 2-4 more novels, identifying additional ideologies
Step 9: Use your first paper and expand it into the term paper, paying close attention to Prof. Trites’ feedback on the first “short” version of your paper
Step 10: Read any of the scholarly sources you found to see if the critics comment on the ideological issues you have identified.
Step 11: Incorporate those sources in your paper, but ONLY if they are pertinent to your thesis
Step 12: Bring at least half of your long paper to the writing workshop
Step 13: Revise and complete your paper based on feedback from the writing workshop
Step 14: Turn in the term paper (a.k.a. “long paper”) on the due date
To summarize: on October 2 you will turn in the first stage of your paper: a 3-4 pageideological analysis of ONE novel by your author AND a thorough bibliography of criticism about your author. (You may revise and include this shorter paper as part of your final term 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 ideology in the novel you’ve read (that does not need to include any citations to published literary criticism) AND 2) a separate bibliography listing all the published literary criticism available on your author. You need not incorporate any literary criticism or any of the sources you have found into your paper, but you do need to compile separately a thorough list of the resources that will be available to you when you write your final term 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. Your bibliography MUST follow MLA style. (Bibliographies that do not follow MLA style will automatically have ten points deducted from them.)
Your final term paper, due November 17,will be an 8-12 page ideologicalanalysis of three to five novels by one author. You will write on one or more ideology that the author continually repeats. 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 final paper written for our in-class writing workshop on November 15. (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: August 23 and 25
Tuesday: Introduction
Thursday: Read Jack Zipes “The Cultural Homogenization of American Children” (on reserve at Milner—NOT the English department’s website or Reggienet....MILNER’S website: “Find a Reserve”!)*
Week 2: August 30 and September 1Tuesday and Thursday: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Week 3: September 6 and 8Tuesday and Thursday: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz(by L. Frank Baum)
Thursday: Ozand Lissa Paul, “Enigma Variations”(on reserve at Milner)*
Week 4: September 13 and 15
Tuesday: The Wizard of Oz
Thursday: Chaston, “The Ozification of American Children’s Films”(on reserve at Milner)*
Week 5: September 20 and 22
Tuesday and Thursday: Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
Week 6: September 27 and 29
Tuesday:PippiLongstocking
Thursday: Pippiand Maria Nikolajeva reading (to be distributed in class)
Week 7: October4 and October 6Tuesday and Thursday: Project Mulberry
Thursday, October 2: SHORT PAPER + BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
Week 8: October 11 and 13Tuesday, October 6: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Thursday, October 8:MIDTERM
Week 9: October 18 and 20Tuesday: MatildaThursday: Matildaand Griswold, “Introduction”(on reserve at Milner)*
Week 10: October 25 and 27Tuesday: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
Thursday: Gooderham, “Children’s Fantasy Literature” (on reserve at Milner)*
Week 11: November 1 and 3Tuesday and Thursday: Wrinkle in Time
Week 12: November 8and 10
Tuesday: Watsons Go to Birmingham
Thursday: Watsons and Chambers, “The Reader in the Book” (on reserve at Milner)*
Week 13: November 15 and 17
Tuesday: Writing workshop (bring 50% of draft of paper for peer review)
Thursday:TERM PAPER DUE and Captain Underpants
Week 14: November 29 and December 1Tuesday and Thursday: Flora and UlyssesWeek 15: December 6 and 8Tuesday:The CrossoverThursday: REVIEW
FINAL EXAM AS DICTATED BY UNIVERSITY’S SCHEDULE
* =Electronic reserves for students, available on the Milner homepage under “Find a Reserve”