ENG 220 Introduction to Literature for Children and Young Adults

1. Read a literary work both at literal and figurative levels: accurately describe genre, subject, structure, style, theme, character, and setting. 
2. Summarize, paraphrase, and interpret figuratively and literally the assigned primary sources in terms of content and form. 
3. Read a literary work at a critical level: question, interpret, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate. 
4. Identify common themes and conventions of children’s and young adult’s literature. 
5. Identify the literary devices and stylistic and rhetorical choices used by writers and illustrators in order to enhance the understanding and appreciation of the selections. 
6. Articulate and defend plausible interpretations of literature orally and in writing, including writing a critical essay(s) about the selections that uses a controlling thesis, textual support, documentation, and standard grammar/mechanics. 
7. Identify, and put into conversation, voices that speak from different perspectives about the topic selected for study. 
8. Analyze the impact of the literature on children’s perspectives, values, sense of community, and identity with attention to the variety of impact on children of diverse communities and in different age and gender groups. 
9. Identify the social, political, gendered, ideological, and cultural contexts that influence and define children’s and young adult’s literature, including censorship of the literature. 
10. Use critical thinking skills to interpret the significance of the topic studied to U.S. society and to explore the implications of studying the topic selected, the agendas the topic selection and literature supporting it might serve, and how these agendas play out socially. 

Statewide General Education Outcomes:

1. Interpret and engage in Arts and Letters, making use of the creative process to enrich the quality of life. 
2. Critically analyze values and ethics within a range of human experience and expression to engage more fully in local and global issues 

Cultural Literacy (DPR) Outcome:

1. Identify and analyze complex practices, values, and beliefs and the culturally and historically defined meanings of difference. 

• Approaches to the Study of Children’s and Young Adult’s Literature as well as Reading Strategies, such as Active Reading (Highlighting, Notetaking, and Responding to Texts) 
• Introduction of Common Themes and Conventions in Children’s and Young Adult’s Literature 
• Discussion of the Literature’s Relevance to the Literary Canon 
• Exploration of Assumptions about the Value and Purpose of Literature Written for Children and Young Adults  
• Review of Literary Terminology and Devices 
• Discussion of the Interaction between the Illustrations and the Texts to Create Meaning  
• Introduction to Relevant Critical Approaches such as Psychological, Sociological, New Historical, Gender Studies, Multi-cultural Studies, Ethics Studies 
• Discussion of the Historical, Social, Ideological, Political, and Literary Context of the Course Content Focus 
• Interaction Between Literature and Social Structures (Law, Politics, Gender, Ethnicity, Culture, etc.) as Relevant to the Topic Selected 
• Discuss Impact of the Literature on its Audiences   
• Writing Literary Analysis 
  • Following conventions of the literary essay 
  • Establishing a thesis 
  • Incorporating details from the text, including quotes 
  • Incorporating and documenting information from sources in MLA format and style