Before it was eliminated this summer, all education students took either a
children's or YA lit class from the department of library science at Sam
Houston. They knew the awards, the genres, and how a librarian can be a
teaching partner. We included booktalks, lit circles, and lots of reading
(100 books for children's lit and almost 50 for YA for my sections). Now,
because the state legislature has demanded a reduction in the total number
of degree hours, they have decided that the lit classes can go. I hate to
see what will happen in classrooms if preservice teachers do not get some
information about books and how to use them.
teri
_________________________________
Teri S. Lesesne , 2007 ALAN Award recipient
Professor of Library Science
Sam Houston State University
doctorl@shsu.edu
Author,
Making the Match
Naked Reading
both from Stenhouse
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Lee Ann Marona
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 5:06 PM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Children's Lit still taught in Elem Ed programs?
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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