1. ELE 616 Readings and Research in Children’s Literature Spring 2012
Teaching A TEAM
Children’s EFFORT
Literature

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Teaching Children’s Literature
A subversive activity?
. . . I think we should . . . take children’s literature
seriously because it is sometimes subversive
The great subversive works of children’s literature
suggest that there are other views of human life
besides those of the shopping mall and the
corporation. They mock current assumptions and
express the
imaginative, unconventional, noncommercial view of
the world in its simplest and purest form. They appeal
to the imaginative, questioning, rebellious child within
all of us, renew our instinctive energy and act as a
force for change.
Alison Lurie. A Child’s Garden of Subversion.
New York Times Books section. February 25, 1990.

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Why Teach Children’s
Literature?
“Our purposes for teaching literature to students . . .
are . . . tied to our notions of the role of schooling”
We have left behind models of literature teaching
that result in simply interpreting the texts themselves
to interpreting and re-interpreting ourselves and our
worlds through reading. To turn to literature teaching
as a means toward understanding difference, perhaps
even to change attitudes toward others and to work
toward social justice, is to reach toward
transformative models of reading and
schooling.
• Theresa Rogers, Literary theory and children’s
literature: interpreting ourselves and our worlds
Theory into Practice, v. 38 no3 (Summer 1999) p. 138-46

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The Challenge
Theresa Rogers:
A final challenge in negotiating children’s responses to
literature will be to capture the complexity of their lived
experiences, their private and social performances, and
their play with and resistance to the demands of
particular ways of reading and particular kinds of
stories. What kinds of classroom communities will we
create in order to provide dialogic spaces in the
institution of schooling, in which, drawing on
literature as an art, we help children to know in new
ways, read the world in new ways, and negotiate their
responses in a postmodern world?
Literary theory and children’s literature: interpreting ourselves
and our worlds
Theory into Practice, v. 38 no3 (Summer 1999) p. 138-46

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Importance of free reading
Stephen D Krashen:
There is now overwhelming research showing that
free voluntary reading is the primary source of our
reading ability, our writing style, much of our
vocabulary and spelling knowledge, and our ability
to handle complex grammatical constructions. It
has also been confirmed that those who read more
know more: They know more about
history, literature, and even have more “practical
knowledge” . . .
• Children’s Literature:
Very Good News and Very Bad News

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Pedagogical approaches 1
Teacher-centered approach
The function of this curriculum is to transmit
facts, skills, and values through mastering
knowledge. . . . The teacher determines all
teaching content and children are just the
receivers of the knowledge.
The underlying concept of the teacher-centered
approach is based on traditional pedagogy
wherein knowledge is passed from teacher to
children.

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Pedagogical approaches 2
Child-Centered Approach
In comparison to the teacher-centered
approach, [the child-centered approach] claim[s] that
the importance of the curriculum is to develop
children’s capacities and intelligence rather than
transmitting knowledge and facts.
The child-centered approach is based on Dewey’s
(1916, 1938, 1940) theories . . . this approach
emphasizes nurturing children’s original
thinking, connecting the learning to children’s
individual needs, and giving children diverse
experiences.
Each approach has strengths and weaknesses . . .
• Katsuko Hara

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Reader Response in Teaching
Literature
 Reader Response
In classroom practice, reader response builds upon the
transaction between reader and text to encourage
students to identify explanations, form their own
opinions, and create meanings based on their own
individual experiences. As such, in a true reader-
centered classroom, these explanations, opinions, and
meanings constructed by students are
invited, promoted, valued, and seen as beneficial. This
personal connection between the reader and
the text is the primary focus of reader response theory.
• “A Horizon of Possibilities”: A Critical Framework
for Transforming Multiethnic Literature Instruction
by Arlette Ingram Willis Julia L. Johnson

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Literature in the content subjects
 Math and Literature: A Match Made in the
Classroom
Literature is the ideal vehicle to help your students see
the importance of numbers in their daily lives. Included:
Author Marilyn Burns is one educator who says, “Math
and literature together? Why not!”
In Books by Marilyn Burns, Burns uses traditional and
original literature to address mathematical concepts. Her
efforts show students that those subjects, like most
classroom topics, are interrelated.
• Cara Bafile
Education World®
Copyright © 2001 Education World

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Multicultural literature
Suggested teaching methods
Reader response groups
From Judith Y. Singer
and Sally A. Smith
(2003). “The Potential
of Multicultural
Literature: Changing
Response journals Understanding of Self
and Others.”
Multicultural
Perspectives 5 (2), 17-
23.

11. A Collaborative Model 11
(now no longer in operation)

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What were the benefits?
More effectiveness!
By working together, librarians and teachers can
more effectively enhance student skills, and offer
youngsters a world of reading and information
experiences far richer than any institution could
individually provide.
-- in just the second full year of Tall Tree
learning activities, New Rochelle educators and
librarians already credit Tall Tree with improving
students' information skills, increasing library use
and causing parental involvement.
• What is Tall Tree?

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Where are the media specialists?
They should not be left out!
In a similar partnership to Tall Tree in
Oregon, “perceiving the public library as a
threat to their own jobs, [the local media
specialists] are reluctant to advertise services
they consider to be duplicating or overriding
their roles. This creates a dilemma for the public
library-how can we provide students with
necessary services without appearing to
substitute, replicate or duplicate the teacher-
librarian’s role?”
• Public/School Library Planning Project,
Fourth Quarterly Report (no longer available)

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Are media specialists useful?
Libraries Called Key

(2004, February/March).
Reading Today, 21(4), 1, 4.

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English teachers think so, too!
Resolution on Supporting School and
Community Libraries 2005
Educational research demonstrates that the services
of professional school librarians, well-funded
collections, and rich digital resources enhance student
achievement. These research studies show that, when
classroom teachers collaborate with full-
time, credentialed school librarians to
design, implement, and assess instruction, student
achievement increases significantly (see the Library
Research Service Web site at
http://www.lrs.org/impact.php).

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They got power!
Information Power (1998)
Roles and Responsibilities of
the School Library Media
Specialist
• As teacher
• As instructional partner
• As information specialist
• As program administrator

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They empower learners
Empowering Learners:
Guidelines for School Library
Media Programs
Empowering Learners advances
school library media programs to
meet the needs of the changing
school library environment and is
guided by the Standards for the
21st-Century Learner and Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner in
Action.
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From:
Listen to the
Voices:
Student
Learning
through Ohio
School
Libraries
Dr Ross J Todd
Presentation at 18
KLA 2006

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Are there definite results from
school/library partnerships?
The answer . . . is a resounding yes!
Students in schools with well-planned
library media programs and well
documented collection development
policies, and whose relationships with
public libraries include book talks and
summer reading programs averaged
reading scores up to 15 points higher than
those without such LM programs.
• October 7, 1998

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You can prove it for yourself!
Evidence-based practice

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School Libraries Leading Learning:
from Ross Todd’s Kentucky Address Fall 2006
School Libraries Work!
Learning to Read
Transformational Role of School Libraries
Reading to Learn

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A current California campaign
What is a Strong School Library?
As school libraries close, children of poverty lose
access and the achievement gap grows larger. The
easy solution, and one backed up by over 20 state and
international studies confirms that access to books
allows children to read more. Reading more creates
better readers. The school library provides access to
books, plus access to the professional who can lead
our children into their digital future safely and
thinking critically about their world - both virtual
and real.
• See also Library Advocate
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The Challenge!
Being a team player
It Takes a Village
• We smother learning
when we sequester it from the
community. We strengthen it when we
bring students and adults together -- in
whatever ways fit the situation best -- to
keep company with each other, ask each
other questions, and witness each
other's hands and minds at work.

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A literary village?
Would the community idea be
something that could be applied to
teaching children’s literature?
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