Re: [LM_NET] Children's Lit still taught in Elem Ed programs?

[Shelly Kraal <shelly.kraal@GMAIL.COM>]

I graduated from Texas Woman's University in December of 2006.  I had to
take a basic Children's Lit class in order to graduate.  However, I don't
remember discussing any of the awards other than the Caldecott and the
Newbery.  Also didn't spend a whole lot of time on multicultural lit.
Instead, we briefly covered the various genres of literature and read
examples of each.




On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 5:05 PM, Lee Ann Marona <lawmarona@aol.com> wrote:

> Dear LM_NET,
>
> Today I was assisting a university practicum student in finding some
> multicultural books for one of her class assignments.  As we collected
> books, I showed her, among other things, our multicultural Cinderella
> stories. Then, as I paused our conversation to help a student, I asked her
> to go take a look at the poster of the Coretta Scott King Award winners.
>  She had never heard of either the multicultural Cinderellas or the CSK
> award, so I asked her if the elem ed students were required to take a
> children's lit class.  She replied that they are not (only "Teaching
> Reading") then she proceeded to say that she has one professor who is always
> encouraging his students to use "real" literature in their teaching, and she
> really didn't know what he meant, but that perhaps a children's literature
> class would help clarify.  In the limited time I had with her, I tried my
> best to explain how real lit contrasts with what is in the traditional
> basal.  This student, otherwise, appears intelligent, articulate,
> well-dressed, etc., so is this a common gap in our current university
> training that I've just not heard verbalized before, or is this girl in
> particular just not connecting the dots?
>
> When I graduated with a degree in Elem Ed ('86), students in our program
> were required to take a Children's Literature class; but, in the last ten
> years, my alma mater has dropped that requirement due to other required
> classes in ESE and ESOL which have squeezed out the lit class.   I am
> wondering if this is the trend nationwide, and if so, what we can do to make
> a greater impact on our local university teacher training programs.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lee Ann Marona
> Brentwood Elementary School
> Pensacola, FL 32505
> lmarona@escambia.k12.fl.us
>
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