North Seattle Community College
ENGL 231: “Children’s Literature” Syllabus
Fall Quarter 2009

Quick Links: Course Goals, Required Books, Taking a Hybrid Course, Participation,
Late Paper Policy and Turning in Homework, Grades and Grading, Online Writing Center,
Plagiarism Policy

Instructor Information

Name:

J.C. Clapp

Email:

jclapp@sccd.ctc.edu

Office location:

2313A of the Instruction Building, NSCC campus

Office Phone:

206-528-4531

Office Fax:

206-527-3784

Instructor’s Website:

http://facweb.northseattle.edu/jclapp/

ANGEL online classroom

We will be using ANGEL as our online courseware for the online portion of this class.  To access our online course, go to: http://northseattle.angellearning.com/   Your username and your password are the same: they are both your complete 9-digit NSCC student ID number.  For example, if your student ID number is 955-55-4411, then both your username and your password would be 955554411.  If you have troubles logging on, please check the Distance Learning office's troubleshooting information. If you can't solve the problem that way, contact the Distance Learning office help desk: (206)527-3738 or email them at distance@sccd.ctc.edu

Course number:

ENGL 231: Children’s Literature

Course description:

Students will study children’s and adolescent literature from diverse cultures within the United States. The course will cover the power and elements of story and reflection of values.

Location:

North Seattle Community College main campus, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.   Directions to campus.  We'll be in room 3443 of the College Center building.

Meeting day/time:

On-campus meetings: Tuesday evenings 6:00-9:00 p.m. as well as two hours per week of online activities and communication

Prerequisite(s): 

At a minimum, you must be eligible to take English 101. However, I strongly recommend that you've taken and passed English 101, since you will be expected to begin the course knowing how to write academic essays.

Technical Problems:

If you every experience technical difficulties with the class website, including problems with your username/password, please contact the Distance Learning Office: http://www.virtualcollege.org

Course Goals

Course goals (or, what you're supposed to learn by the end of this course):

This course has been designed to meet the following Course Outcomes and Learning Objectives:

1. To gain new insights into the range, richness, elements, and techniques of children’s and adolescent literature; and to gain an appreciation of this rapidly expanding body of literature as part of our literary art, an essential human and cultural phenomenon.
2. To explore children’s literature and adolescent literature as a means of learning about diverse cultures within the United states; to distinguish between children’s literature which makes blatant appeals to the popular myths of a culture and that which achieves more subtle examinations of moral and social issues.

3. To learn to evaluate the literature for young people by the same literary and artistic considerations that can be brought to all serious literature.
4. To become aware of the psychological, social, and moral implications of children’s and adolescent literature.
5. To gain skills in working as a class group and within groups toward the shared understanding of ideas and issues; to appreciate diversity of perceptions as an opportunity for learning.
6. To understand the critical and creative aspects of writing as process; toward this goal, to learn to work effectively in writing groups.
7. Through our reading, to gain insight into the nature of the individual, most frequently in this class the child or adolescent, and the relationship between that child and the community.

Required Books

Required Textbook:

Charlotte Huck’s Children’s Literature, 10^th edition, by Barbara Kiefer, McGraw Hill, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-07-337856-5

Our textbook has a wonderful website with detailed outlines and summaries: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073378569/student_view0/

To find your textbook at a reduced rate, you may consider an online vendor, such as:  http://www.bestbookbuys.com It's imperative that you have your textbook the first day of class, if at all possible.  And no, the 9th edition of the book won't work, unfortunately.

Books for Class:

For each class period, you will need to seek out examples of the types of children's books we're working on that week.  So, for example, for Week 2, we'll be talking about multicultural literature, and you'll be asked to bring at least three multicultural children's book to class with you.  You'll need to have read the books you bring and be prepared to share/talk with a small group in class about them. (Check the "Course Calendar" online for details on how many and what kinds of books to bring to class each week.)

You are not required to purchase the children's books that you'll bring to class.  Of course, if you're trying to build your personal library, feel free to purchase them, but most of you will simply choose to check them out from the library.  You have several library options:

Seattle Public Library: http://www.spl.org/
King County Library: http://www.kcls.org/
Sno-Isle Libraries: http://www.sno-isle.org
North Seattle Community College Library: http://dept.sccd.ctc.edu/nslib/

In preparation for class on Week 6 (Modern Fantasy), you'll need to have read, in their entirety, two of the books from the below list:

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll (1865)
• Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White (1952)
• A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle (1962)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J.K. Rowling (1998)

Clearly, you'll have to plan ahead so that you're able to get to the library and find the children's books you need (and then read them) before class, so budget your time accordingly.

Taking a Hybrid Course

Time Needed for This Class:

Please realize that this course is a hybrid course, meaning that we will come together in person for three hours per week, on Tuesday evenings, and then you will do two hours per week of class in our online classroom. Outside of our physical and virtual classrooms, you’ll be spending about 10 hours per week reading, writing, and researching.

How We'll Communicate:

Class will be conducted both in a classroom and online. There is no specific day when you need to do the online work; however, you will need to check the online classroom regularly to stay on top of things.  You’ll be doing lots of group work both in class and online. The course calendar identifies the due dates of when you need to post what to our online classroom.

ANGEL Email

The email feature in ANGEL is an important way for me to communicate with you.  Please check your ANGEL email every time you log in to the class.

Participation (Posting) Policy

Introduction:

In order to receive the full attendance/participation points you must participate both in the physical classroom as well as online. The online portion of the class is significant, and you’re required to participate. Additionally, since we only meet in-person 12 times, if you miss a class period you will have missed a significant portion of the class. You’ll be given online discussions and activities to complete each week, with specific guidelines as to what you need to do. If you do miss class, it is your responsibility to ask a classmate for the notes and to get caught up with what you might have missed.

Late Paper Policy and Turning in Homework

Introduction:

I do not accept late assignments. For each assignment you need to turn in there is a specific due date listed on the course calendar.

Assignment Descriptions

The course is broken down by week, with all of the necessary information found under each week’s folder in the "Get Assignments" area of our online classroom.  Don’t rely on the “Calendar of Due Dates” to give you all the information you need. Here’s an overview, however, of the components of the class:

In-Class Preparation and Participation (including Bringing Books to Class): This includes showing up and staying for class the entire class period, doing the reading from the textbook and being prepared to discuss it, and seeking out, reading, and bringing the children's books you've been told to bring (see the "Course Calendar" for details). Each week you'll be told what kind and how many books you need to find, read, and bring to class with you. The books will only be accepted in-person in-class on Tuesday evenings.

Online Participation (Completing Weekly Online Activities/Discussions): Each week there will be detailed instructions about what you’ll be doing for your online activity/discussion that week. Your Weekly Online Activity is worth 50 points per week and can’t be made-up once the week is over. Details about what you need to do each week are in the ANGEL online classroom. Our online "week" starts at 8:00 p.m. after class on Tuesdays and ends at 11:00 p.m. on Monday evening.

Author/Illustrator Presentation: In small groups of three or four students (you choose your own group), you will be researching an author/illustrator of your choice. Then, on the last day of class, you’ll be presenting your findings in an oral presentation lasting approximately 20 minutes. Prepare a list of helpful resources about your chosen author (websites, magazine articles, biographies, annotated bibliography of works) to be handed out to the entire class as part of your presentation. A more detailed assignment description will be handed out in class.

Grades and Grading

Point Breakdown:

Classroom Participation and Preparation is worth 240 points (24% of your course grade) – this works out to be 20 points per week for 12 weeks.

Online Participation (Completing Weekly Online Activities/Discussions) is worth 550 points (55% of your course grade) – this works out to be 50 points for completing each of the eleven weekly online assignments (there is no online assignment for Week 12).

Author/Illustrator Presentation is worth 210 points (21% of your course grade).

That all adds up to 1000 (100%) points total.

What Grades Mean:

Grades in this class are not given based on effort. While it’s true that lots of effort usually results in higher quality assignments, there is no way for me to accurately and fairly assess how much effort a particular student puts into his or her assignment.  So, assignments are graded solely based on what’s on the page – not how much the student tried.  Please note what the grades on your papers indicate (according to the Seattle Community College’s grading standards):

Percentage	Letter Grade	Decimal Grade	Indication of Performance
96% or more	A	4.0	Excellent/Exceptional
94%-95%	A	3.9
93%	A-	3.8
92%	A-	3.7
91%	A-	3.6
90%	A-	3.5
89%	B+	3.4	High/Above Average
88%	B+	3.3
87%	B+	3.2
86%	B	3.1
85%	B	3.0
84%	B	2.9
83%	B-	2.8
82%	B-	2.7
81%	B-	2.6
80%	B-	2.5
79%	C+	2.4	Average/Meets Expectations
78%	C+	2.3
77%	C+	2.2
76%	C	2.1
75%	C	2.0
74%	C	1.9
73%	C-	1.8
72%	C-	1.7
71%	C-	1.6
70%	C-	1.5
69%	D+	1.4	Minimum
68%	D+	1.3
67%	D+	1.2
66%	D	1.1
65%	D	1.0
64%	D	0.9
63%	D-	0.8
62%	D-	0.7
61% and below	F	0.0	Unsatisfactory/Below Minimum Requirements

Withdrawing

from the

Course:

The grade given at the end of the quarter will be based on a 4.0 scale.  No grades of I (“incomplete”) or NC (“no credit”) will be granted except in the most extreme circumstances. If you do not feel you will be able to complete the course to your satisfaction, it is your responsibility to drop/withdraw from the course. For more information regarding withdrawing and other registration related questions: http://www.northseattle.edu/enroll/admit/policy/chsched.htm

Online Writing Center

Help with Writing:

The Loft is the campus language lab/writing center, located on the top floor of the library. One of the primary attributes of The Loft is the free tutoring! The tutoring sessions last 30 minutes, are held on a first-come first served basis, and can help you with reading, writing, grammar, listening and speaking. They also do ONLINE TUTORING. For more information: http://www.northseattle.edu/services/loft/

Academic Honesty (Plagiarism Policy)

Don't Plagiarize!

Using ideas/words from sources other than your own mind without citing where you acquired the idea is plagiarism.  If you choose to plagiarize, you will receive 0 points on that assignment and a formal report will be filed with the college requesting disciplinary action. You will not be given a warning. This policy aligns with the policies found in the NSCC Student Handbook: http://www.northseattle.edu/info/pub/handbook.htm

Plagiarism

Resources:

If you’re unsure about what constitutes plagiarism, or how to avoid it, check out these resources:

Piedmont Community College: http://www1.cpcc.edu/library/research-tools/DrCiteRight

Rutgers (on YouTube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P05vgxDoPU&feature=related

Acadia University (Canada): http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/