Cirrus@Austlit

Teachers need to be aware of the importance of children's literature in supporting their literacy programmes and as a vehicle by which a wide range of learning, both cognitive and affective, are conveyed. As children's literature forms a vital part of children's formal and informal learning, teachers require a broad understanding of the genre's many facets to support students' engagement with these texts. Moreover, teachers must draw on a wide variety of critical theories and approaches in order to help students understand the social, cultural and political implications of the books they read.

Aims

This unit aims to assist you in your on-going development as:

1. An effective communicator with an enhanced knowledge of the diverse field of children's literature;

2. A learner who is aware of issues of inclusiveness, difference and intercultural understandings as they are articulated through literature written for children;

3. A reflective practitioner who is open to the challenges that literature offers in viewing the world from different perspectives, and who is committed to developing creative and challenging learning experiences using children's literature.

Objectives

On completion of this unit, you should be learner-focused and inclusive curriculum developers who:

1. Manage learning environments that are educationally productive for diverse sets of students and their learning needs [EPA 2.1];

2. Help learners to develop, monitor and evaluate their own thinking and learning skills within the social and cultural context of education [EPA 2.3];

3. Design learning experience programs that draw upon pedagogical, curriculum and assessment knowledge and skills, to respond to the diverse abilities and interests of all learners [EPA 3.1];

4. Model and promote inquiring, cooperative and independent approaches to learning [EPA3.2].

Content

Defining the Field

Identifying the characteristics of children?s literature.

Narrative Strategies in children's literature

Exploring textual features of children's literature, including narration, point of view, flashback and foreshadowing, space, place and voice.

Reading the Visual

How can we understand the visual elements of children's literature, in picture books, comics and film? How do words and pictures work together to create meaning?

The social context of children's literature

What roles do publishers, parents, teachers, community groups and the wider society play in the children's literature industry? How do we put values on and into children's literature?