Ashford Courses

Multicultural Literature. As the diversity of our nation increases, so will the diversity in our classrooms. One way that teachers can help to ensure their students understand the different cultures around them is through literature. Section 2.4 of our textbook lists the following guidelines for evaluating diversity in children’s books:

Accurate representation of cultural specifics

Avoidance of stereotypes

Achievement

Author/illustrator

Copyright date

Sensibility

Language

Using the guidelines listed above and your textbook, choose a multicultural piece of literature to evaluate. Explain and justify whether each guideline is addressed in the book. If the guideline is not addressed, share how you think the book could be modified to include all of the guidelines for evaluating diversity in children’s books.

Week 2 Complete

Picturebooks. The introduction for Chapter 3 of the text discusses picturebooks and the important role this type of literature can have in helping children develop in their visual, spatial, and gestural literacies (Coats, 2013). Our ability as teachers to understand the basics of picturebook design will assist us in our choosing of books. For this post, you will create a picturebook of your own, implementing and discussing those elements addressed in Chapter 3. Go to Storybird and design a picturebook to share with your classmates. In your post, include a description of the elements of an effective picturebook design, and explain how your picturebook aligns with these elements. Include one picture and description for each of the following:

a. Color

Shape, line, and texture

Characters and icons

Composition and point of view

In your post, be sure to include a discussion of these elements, why you feel your students would enjoy this book, and a working link to your picturebook.

Story Element Lesson Plan. Chapter 4 of your text provides an in-depth look at the elements that help make up a good children’s book. For this assignment, you will create a lesson plan devoted to one of those key elements. You will first decide on a grade level to teach this lesson to. Next, choose a story that you feel is developmentally appropriate for that grade level. Then, plan a lesson that utilizes that story. Your lesson needs to focus on introducing or teaching one of the story elements shared in Chapter 4 such as: character, plot, setting, theme, or even beginning, middle, or end. In Week 5, you will be building upon this lesson plan to create a week long unit, so please consider what you would like the theme of your unit to be when you are choosing a piece of literature for this lesson. For this assignment, you have two options:

Option One: You can produce a 10-minute video of yourself teaching this lesson. Within the video, explain which guidelines for evaluating children’s literature you took into account for this lesson. You will upload your video to YouTube (or similar site) and submit a Word document that includes the following:

An introduction at the beginning of the video that identifies the grade level you are working with, the title and author of the book you are using for the lesson, and the story element to be taught.

A description of your completed lesson plan by clearly stating what you will do for each section of the lesson plan template.

An explanation of how at least one story map from Story Maps, will be utilized during your lesson.

A closing summary that explains the guidelines for evaluating children’s literature that you took into

account for this lesson. Make sure your closing summary is supported by scholarly resources.

Option Two: You can create a three- to four-page Word document. If you choose to create a word document, it must include the following:

The grade level you are working with.

The title and author of the book you are utilizing.

All aspects of the lesson (use the lesson plan template for a reference).

At least one story map from Story Maps, along with an explanation of how you will utilize it within the

lesson development section of the lesson plan template.

A closing summary explaining which of the guidelines for evaluating characteristics of quality children’s

literature (from Section 4.4 of your text) you took into account when choosing the literature for this lesson.

Whichever option you choose, provide your instructor with access to your work by uploading all the necessary links and/or text in a document. Be sure that you are utilizing appropriate 6th edition APA formatting for all written material. You must reference one scholarly source in addition to the course text.

Week 3 Complete

Phonological Awareness. As discussed in Chapter 5 of our text and in the video Building Literacy Competencies in Early Childhood, exposure to stories, poetry, nursery rhymes, and songs encourages literacy development (Coats, 2013). Identify a piece of poetry, a nursery rhyme, or a song that can be used to encourage literacy development. Describe three different ways you would use this piece to help build phonological awareness. In addition, be sure to discuss how building these phonological awareness skills will promote literacy development

Television and Literacy. Section 6.6 of the text discusses how we can pick up tips and techniques from children’s media to aid our teaching with this new media-literate generation (Coats, 2013). Create a classroom newsletter that shares how you are using popular children’s shows to help you engage your students when it comes to literacy instruction. Also, include how you can use television and other media as a springboard for conversation and interaction with 3- and 4-year-olds.

Parent Literacy Presentation. As early childhood educators, it is our responsibility to assist parents in encouraging the development of literacy in their children. As mentioned in Section 5.1 of the text, one way to do this is by providing resources to our parents on how they can foster literacy at home (Coats, 2013). For this assignment, create a PowerPoint presentation that includes the following:

A title slide

At least three slides that discuss the importance of reading to young children

At least two slides that identify and discuss resources for story/music time

At least two slides that discuss how to decide what types of books are appropriate for young learners

At least three slides with suggested titles of books that will benefit each type of literacy and an

explanation of why these books will benefit each type of literacy

A reference slide

At least five graphics/images

Each slide should be designed to clearly and concisely address the material. The PowerPoint presentation must be at least 10 slides in length, not including title and reference slides, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. The notes section of the PowerPoint must be utilized to expand on your presented points. The notes section should also include any additional information necessary to explain or show the student’s point of view. You must use at least one scholarly source in addition to your textbook to support the ideas you are sharing in your presentation.

Week 4 Complete

Storytelling. Stories are everywhere. They are the basis of our nightly news, our conversations at the dinner table or on the phone, and the articles we read in our local newspaper. Children are immersed in stories just as we are, and this immersion is what helps even the very young become motivated to learn to read. Section 7.2 of the course text discusses the importance of storytelling in this process. Through storytelling children can learn how to make sense of their world and begin to understand that we care about them (Coats, 2013). For this post, you will be showing the necessary steps involved in effective storytelling. After choosing a story to read to a preschool class, discuss the following elements:

The title and author of your chosen story

Why you selected that particular story

The steps you will take to prepare your story for telling

Things to consider while performing the story

How you will model good storytelling to your students

The specific culminating questions you might ask once you have finished the story

Which of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts for grade level K-5 (pg. 11)

might be a focus for this lesson, and why?

The Alphabetic Principle. As Section 8.1 of your text states, the most important visual literacy component of learning to read is the alphabetic principle (Coats, 2013). This understanding that words consist of letters that correspond to sounds must be taught explicitly. After viewing the video The Alphabetic Principle and reading Chapter 8 of your text, you will discuss ways in which you can use the alphabetic principle in your teaching, and then you will conduct a book review.

According to the first letter of your last name, select a book that meets your assigned criteria below as the basis for this discussion.

A – I: Select a book that teaches sight words.

J – R: Select a book that is a rhyming alphabet book.

S – Z: Select a book that builds vocabulary.

Discuss ways in which we use the alphabetic principle in our classrooms or daily lives. Use the video for examples. Then, provide the title and author of the book, and give a brief overview of what the book is about. For your book review, discuss how the book meets your assigned criteria and how it specifically addresses that skill. Identify ways you can use the book in your classroom to reinforce your assigned criteria.

Week 5 Complete

Reading Fluency. Chapter 9 of our text goes into depth about the importance of fluency instruction. In Section 9.2, the author lists five different methods for helping children to become more fluent readers (Coats, 2013). For this discussion, find your assigned method for improving fluency instruction below, according to the first letter of your last name:

A - G: Modeling fluent reading

H - L: Read, Re-read, Repeat

M - Q: Echo/Choral Reading

R - V: Phrased Reading

W - Z: Reader’s Theater

For the method you are assigned, discuss the following three questions:

How can you incorporate this idea into your classroom?

What signs will you look for to indicate that this approach is improving fluency?

How can you encourage and support parents to use these fluency strategies at home?

Nonfiction Text. In Section 10.3 of the course text, the following authors are listed as the superstars in the world of children’s nonfiction (Coats, 2013):

Nic Bishop

Joanna Cole

c. Penny Colman

Russell Freedman

Gail Gibbons

Sy Montgomery

Jim Murphy

Seymour Simon

Melissa Sweet

Go to your local library or bookstore and read a nonfiction book by one of these authors. Using the guidelines listed in Section 10.3 of our text, critique the book to determine the characteristics that make the author a superstar. In addition, share at least one idea you have for how you could use this piece of literature in your classroom.

Focus of the Final Project

As we have learned over the last five weeks, using literature in the classroom is a powerful tool for helping to meet your

students’ developmental needs. For your Final Project, you will build upon the lesson that you created in Week Two of this course and develop it into a week-long unit. Your unit will need to include the following components:

A paragraph introducing your theme or concept for the entire week.

A rationale for your unit that clearly describes the stage of development the students you will be teaching are in.

A paragraph describing the work of a theorist whose beliefs help to support the use of this unit within this stage of

development.

Create five different lesson plans that relate to the chosen theme/concept of your unit. One of these lessons

should come from the Story Element Lesson Plan you created in Week Two. Remember to use the lesson plan

template for creating your lessons.

Explain how the objectives for your lessons measure concepts discussed in class (phonemic awareness, alphabetic

principle, character, setting, plot, theme, etc.).

Identify and discuss a different genre of literature for each lesson plan (poetry, nursery rhymes, tactile books

multicultural books, picture books, non-fiction books, series books, etc.). Feel free to use some of the literature

you included in your weekly discussions if they are appropriate to your theme and stage of development.

Create a plan for how you will share the literature that you are using with your students’ families so they can help

to support literacy acquisition. You could create a newsletter, plan a family literacy night, or even choose some

ideas from the Parent Literacy Presentation you created in Week Three.

At least one scholarly source in addition to your textbook.