EDUC 20500 - Reading, Teaching, and Learning: Literature and Media For Children and Young Adolescents

Course Credit: 1
(COMD)
Engaging children in the process of literacy is fundamental to their academic success and engagement with the world around them. The ways in which we create these engagements is highly context depended - even more so in educational settings. What is intriguing about this engagement is why a child or young adolescent picks up, reads, and loves a particular book. What is it about that book that is so meaningful and memorable? In what ways can books, stories, and characters change a reader’s life? In what ways do teachers use literature and media to actively engage learners in the reading process? Reading books written for younger readers is not necessarily easier than reading literature written for an older audience, especially when asked to critique these books and to consider the implications of the stories and characters on the development of their audience. The course is designed with readings, discussions, and assignments that cause students to think about text, especially those for youth, differently and more critically than they have in the past and focuses on readings, discussions, films, and speakers, and applying what you are learning to your own life experiences and those of others.