Dominican University

Graduate School Of Library and Information Science (GSLIS)

LIS 723 10

Summer 2008

Monday/Wednesday: 1-4

July 2 – August 18

Children who are not spoken to by live and responsive adults will not

learn to speak properly. Children who are not answered will stop asking

questions. They will become incurious. And Children who are not told

stories and who are not read to will have few reasons for wanting to learn.

Gail Haley (Caldecott Award Acceptance Speech 1975)

Course Schedule

At the conclusion of this course, students will have:

Ø Identified the types of literature-centered programs and services for children and young adults in school and public libraries.

Ø Identified user characteristics and needs and incorporate this knowledge into library programs.

Ø Selected materials of high quality for use in library programs.

Ø Selected, prepared, and presented group poetry programs.

Ø Selected, prepared, and presented picture book programs to a live audience of preschool children.

Ø Selected, prepared, and presented stories in the oral tradition.

Ø Selected, prepared, and presented booktalks.

Ø Prepared and presented a book discussion

Ø Demonstrated competence in administrative aspects of library programming, such as planning, public relations, facilities, expenses, personnel and public libraries.

Course Outline

The course will examine the types of literature-centered programs and services for children and young adults in both school and public libraries.

The focus of this course will be developing technique; that is, the actual presentation of planned materials to a target audience. Students will be presenting poetry and picture book programs, telling stories and presenting booktalks. Therefore, it is necessary that students have a solid background in children’s and/or young adult materials otherwise pre-approved, make certain you have taken the prerequisites for this course. (LIS 721 or LIS 722).

Programs

The requisite materials for, methods and techniques applicable to, and steps for planning and presenting the following will be covered:

Ø poetry program presented in a group format for a decided upon age group, (preschool up through high school)

Ø picture book programs (including, the use of creative dramatics, poetry, songs, tell and draw stories and flannel board stories. The picture book program is a term which includes lapsit, toddler, preschool, and school-age storytimes. The emphasis of the programs is on the picture book.

Ø storytelling in the oral tradition

Ø booktalks

Ø book discussion

Program Proposal/Summer Reading Program

General administrative concerns of programs will be covered, such as:

Ø planning

Ø audience

Ø public relations

Ø facilities

Ø expenses

Ø personnel

Ø evaluation

Assignments

Come to class prepared and ready to participate in discussions. It is imperative that you be on time, especially when students are scheduled to present their assigned programs. If you arrive late, please do not enter the room while a presentation is in progress.

Select as a group (2), a poetry program theme, (as demonstrated in class) and

present 20 minutes of a planned 30 minute scripted program (per examples), for an

age group determined by the group for kindergarten through 12^th grade. Please

post on blackboard your completed programs and provide a color print copy for

me.

Select, prepare, and present to the class, 20 minutes of a 25 to 30 minute picture book program for an age of your choice from toddler to 3^rd grade. Your hypothetical and real audience includes both boys and girls from various ethnic groups, and your program can be recreational or curricular. You should select a theme or subject appropriate for the age group and select materials that reflect diversity which include 2- 4 carefully chosen books along with the following literature-centered activities: a draw and tell story, a flannel board story, fingerplays, and an action activity.

When you present your program, make and distribute a name tag based on your

theme (per examples) for me and each member of the class with their first name

printed on it. In addition prepare a handout that includes a listing of the activities

presented in the order you plan to present them. In parenthesis after the title of

each, indicate what the activity is, (picture book, fingerplay, flannel board, draw

and tell, song etc.). This would be the handout given to the parent or caregiver

bringing the child to your program. On a separate or attached sheet(s) include the

words to the fingerplays, songs, tell and draw, flannel board or action activity.

Include a bibliography of all the sources in the program. Post a copy of your presentation on blackboard and turn in a paper copy to me upon presentation.

Select, prepare and present to the class an 8 – 10 minute story for six year olds and up through young adults. No note cards, text or props may used for this presentation. On the day you tell your story, please turn in a copy of your

story and story map. The Livo handout describes story mapping. Your map should

follow one of the methods illustrated.

Consult resource books such as Greene and Baker or Greene’s Storytelling: Art

and Technique, about how to select a story and suggested stories for telling or

the handouts from class. Concentrate on reading stories from folktale collections and not picture book stories. You must read a minimum of 20 stories from a minimum of 10 folktale collections. A good starting place is the “Stories for Storytelling” bibliography further on in this syllabus. To avoid duplication of stories being told, please check with me before preparing the story you have selected for telling.

Create an efficient system for organizing the stories you have read by using a

database such as Microsoft Access. You will receive an example of the format

preferred. Record only stories that you consider worthy of possible choices for

telling and that will take 5 or more minutes to tell. Please as per the database

example, include the story’s title, the author/editor and source from which you

found the story. Briefly summarize the story and record your reactions to it in

two sentences. Indicate the age of the intended listener and list the probable

telling time (your best guess). Read from an array of collections. You will turn in

a hardcopy of your database on the day you tell your story. Please post your database on blackboard.

Select, prepare, and present 20 minutes of a planned 30 minute

Booktalking program developed around a theme for an age group from 10-year olds through high school. You should consider a broad theme appropriate for the age group and include at least ten books, both fiction and nonfiction, that would be of interest to your selected group. When you conduct your booktalks, have copies for your classmates of (1) an annotated listing of titles in the order presented and (2) a worksheet of characteristics of the titles as per the example handed out in class. (See handout)

7. Prepare a proposal for a literature-centered library program of your choice

designed for either children, young adults, or parents or other adults who work

with children, such as day care workers etc. OR A Summer Reading Program Plan for Children/Young Adults. It should be submitted in a two to three page outline suitable for an administrator; i.e. library director or principal. You should aim at brevity and clarity. Arrange the outline, using the provided headings as follows:

(a) Topic (including type of library)

(b) Intended audience

(d) Purpose or goal(s) of the program (in general what do your want the program to accomplish).

(e) Objectives of the program (specifically, what new capabilities should the audience learn? These should be specific enough to be measurable in your evaluation).

(f) Frequency of the program (how often and what time of day ?)

(g) Types of public relations and promotional materials to be used.

(h) General contents of the program.

(i) Facilities, equipment, and additional materials needed.

(j) Personnel (staff or volunteers) required.

(k) A brief itemized list of expenses for the program.

(l) Type of evaluation to be used.

The above assignment is due on Monday June August 11.

8. Book Discussion

Titles will be assigned for everyone to read. Designated leaders will be chosen by lottery to lead a discussion of one of the three titles. Book Discussions will be held on Wednesday August 6.

Program observation paper:

Observe a children’s and/or young adult program and write a two page evaluation of the event.

Presentations

I have very definite ways I would like things to be presented. Doing them “your way” or the way “you have been doing them” may affect your grade. I respect the fact that there is more than one way of doing certain things, but for this class I want them done as they are instructed. Once you leave the class you may resort to your “old” ways or develop your own procedure. This does not mean however that I want you to alter your personality or not show “creativity”. You may be as creative as you want as long as you follow the guidelines demonstrated.

When you are scheduled to present, be completely prepared to present at that time.

Grading

Grading is based on the individual student’s progress in their presentations. In other words, each of us brings to the class a varied amount of experience and knowledge of subjects covered in this class. Some have experience and knowledge of doing programs and oral presentations and others do not. This is all taken into consideration.

For those of you desiring an idea of a percentage system, the following is a rough estimate of the value of each presentation or project.

20 points group poetry presentation

20 points picture book program

20 points storytelling

05 points story database

20 points booktalk

10 points book discussion

05 points library program/summer reading program proposal.