Dr. Barbara Kiefer, Professor of Education, Ohio State University
3 Credits - Out-of-Program (OOP) for Group 17
Pass/Fail (LG option)

Course Description

The course will focus on the study of the children's books published in English that speak to issues in global education. We will look at picturebooks, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction books that can be incorporated into a global studies curriculum. We will emphasize criteria for selecting and interpreting quality material for children and young adults and consider theories of development and response to literature in preparing curriculum for studies in global education.

Course Objectives

1. To develop criteria for evaluating the various genres of children's literature.
2. To become aware of theories of response to literature
3. To develop an appreciation of the range of books that focus on global issues.
4. To learn a variety techniques for broadening and deepening response to literature.
5. To consider issues relating to authentic depiction of world cultures in children's books.
6. To learn to develop curriculum plans that incorporate good literature into global studies.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Reading of assigned texts. Be prepared to discuss these in class.
2. Weekly Critique (2 pages). Each week write a 2 page review of one of the books you have read that week. Pay attention to the criteria discussed class.
3. Group Presentations. Each group will choose an issue that would be central to a study in global education. Read as widely as possible and present an overview of the topic and books that would be useful in such a study. The issues might include: human rights, peace, peer pressure, the environment, death and dying, coming of age
4. Final project: Develop a literature based unit aimed at a topic that relates to global education. Due Sunday June 27. Include a 1-2 page rationale for the importance of the topic, and provide a schematic web listing books, media and activities. (See samples given out in class). Include a bibliography of resources.

PRE-COURSE ASSIGNMENT

Preview the Stans book and read as many works of children's literature as possible.

TEXTBOOKS

• Stan, S. (2002). The World Through Children's Books, Rowman & Littlefield.
• Also Suggested:
  Pratt, L. & J. Beaty. (1999). Transcultural Children's Literature. Merrill.
• Course packet available from the TC Office:
  Readings in Children's Literature from bibliography.
  Readings from The International Children's digital Library

TC LIBRARY RESERVE TEXTBOOKS

Huck, C. and Kiefer, B. Children's Literature in the Elementary School 8th Edition. (If you already have the 7th Edition that will be ok.) McGraw Hill, 2004. ISBN 0072562811

BIO

Professor Barbara Kiefer is the Charlotte S. Huck Professor of Children's Literature at The Ohio State University. She was formerly Robinson Professor of Children's Literature at Teachers College, Columbia University. Originally trained in art education, she taught grades one, two, four, and five in several regions of the U.S. and in overseas schools. She served as the elected chair of the year 2000 Caldecott Award Committee of the American Library Association and was a member of the 1988 Caldecott Award Committee. She has also served as chair of the Elementary Section Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English and as a member of the NCTE Executive Board. She chaired the NCTE/CLA Notable Trade Books in the Language Arts Committee and the Children's Book Council/ International Reading Association Joint Committee which oversees the IRA Children's Choices project.

Professor Kiefer has published numerous articles and book chapters about reading and children's literature and is author of The Potential of Picturebooks: From Visual Literacy to Aesthetic Understanding, and the co-author of the books An Integrated Language Perspective in the Elementary School: Theory Into Action, with Christine Pappas and Linda Levstik, and the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Editions of Children'�s Literature in the Elementary School, with Charlotte Huck, Susan Hepler, and Janet Hickman.