Your weekly Literature Response and your reference book skeleton outlines will be the products of your participation. All students must contribute to the class by creating one literature record, taking responsibility for monthly book orders, creating a cover for our literacy memories, or taking added responsibility setting up our poster sessions for the Conference on Literature and Literacy for Children and Adolescents. The purpose of this project is to broaden and deepen your knowledge of children's literature, to respond personally to the books you read, and to create a record of your reading for future use. Reading children's literature is the heart of this course. Design a record-keeping system that will meet your needs as a teacher and perhaps as a resource for your students.
Possible formats are note cards, loose-leaf notebook pages, or a database.
Whatever you choose, you'll want to be sure it is organized and that you'll be able to make additions to it in the future. The goal of this project is to celebrate the diversity of the experiences we bring to our class and will bring to our reading. Sharing our personal experiences with books and reading will help us build our classroom community. Reflecting on our own and each other's literacy histories will help us understand the wide-range of experiences and world views our students will bring into our classrooms. The goal of this experience is for you to explore your personal responses to the literature you read for each class session.