LLED561:

LLED 561: Cultural Pluralism in Children's and Adolescent Literature (3 credits): Reading/discussing literature from multicultural/critical multicultural lenses and how this impacts literacy.

Overview

In her piece, “Critical Engagement with Middle Grades Reads: Who Lives? Who Thrives? Who Tells Your Story?,” Ebony Elizabeth Thomas (2018) reminds us that , “historically, stories that were sanctioned as appropriate for children assumed a White upper-class readership as the sole audience.” Yet, we live in a diverse society and the readers we engage with bring a wealth of experiences and identities to their reading. As opposed to a melting pot, culturally pluralistic spaces celebrate and affirm differences, supporting smaller groups within a larger society to sustain their unique cultural practices and identities. In this course, we will consider how these ideas play out in our own personal and professional lives as well as larger groups we are a part of (e.g., our families, school communities, the larger society). We will examine ways authors and illustrators, educators and scholars construct and maintain race, class, gender identities, ability, and other social groupings through creating and curating literature for children and adolescents.

In particular, we’ll begin by exploring the history of multicultural children’s and adolescent literature while also reflecting on our own identities and experiences and how those influence our ways of reading. We’ll continue growing our expertise across the remaining weeks of the semester reading, responding, and critiquing the representations of various social groups across literature and considering how and where this literature fits in the contemporary educational spaces in and beyond our lives.

Objectives

Throughout this course you will:

• Examine the identities, experiences, and assumptions you bring to your own reading (and teaching) of multicultural literature.
• Apply a critical multicultural framework and other critical lenses to your reading and analysis of multicultural literature.
• Identify and examine resources related to reading, critiquing, and teaching multicultural literature
• (Re)Construct understandings of race, class, gender/sexuality, ability, immigration, and other sociopolitical groups and issues related to children’s and adolescent literature.
• Explain the roles literature plays in making the world a better place for all children living within our pluralistic societies.
• Justify the use of multicultural texts within educational spaces.
• Enhance your appreciation of literature that portrays a rich and diverse array of experiences and identities and become a critical curator of multicultural literature.

Course Philosophy & Student Expectations

While asynchronous learning environments can sometimes feel isolating and impersonal, this course was designed to foster active, social, collaborative, and recursive learning. It is our hope that the format of the course will offer both flexibility as well as encourage meaningful interactions amongst peers.

Student Expectations:

1. Respectful Communication: Be mindful of differing opinions and perspectives and challenge each other to approach discussions with openness and professionalism.
2. Active Participation: Engage in discussions, respond to peers thoughtfully, and contribute regularly to collaborative work.
3. Timely Engagement: Because so much of our work is important not only for ourselves but for our work with peers, it is essential for your work to be done promptly. Please pay close attention to due dates and deadlines. That said, we are also all human, with busy lives beyond this course. If you aren’t able to meet a deadline, please let the instructor and any group mates know as soon as possible.
4. Support and Accessibility: Reach out to the instructor promptly if you encounter any difficulties or need some additional support.
5. Commitment to Growth: Approach the course activities with a commitment to personal and professional growth. Do your best to embrace challenges and opportunities to actively expand your understanding of the course material.

Instructor Expectations:

1. Respectful Communication: I will approach your work with respect, being mindful of where you are entering particular conversations and helping challenge you while maintaining openness and professionalism.
2. Active Participation: I will be present throughout the course, responding to students and offering additional support as needed through course announcements and individual communication.
3. Timely Engagement: I may not comment on or respond to all student work, especially in group discussions unless invited into a particular discussion or to address a concern. However, I will attempt to provide useful feedback and assessment in a timely manner. I will be understanding about your own commitments and disruptions to learning, while balancing the opportunities for others in our learning community.
4. Support and Accessibility: I will be available and respond promptly to concerns and help address any issues that arise throughout the course.
5. Commitment to Growth: I will also approach this course ready to learn with and from the community. I am open to feedback about course experiences.

By holding ourselves and each other to these expectations, we can create and maintain an enriching, engaging, and dynamic learning community together where knowledge is shared, perspectives are valued, and growth is nurtured.

Materials

Selections of Multicultural Children's and Adolescent Literature:

In Modules 4-12, you’ll be responsible for finding examples of multicultural children’s and/or adolescent literature. Each of these modules will include a list of possible titles you might want to read, but you are also welcome to choose from additional titles you know that meet the criteria for that week.

While you are welcome to purchase any of these texts, I would also encourage you to check libraries you have access too (i.e., home, school, local, Penn State).

If you have access to an audiobook or digital text, that should also work, but please note that you will want to be able to review images in illustrated texts.

Additional Paired Readings

Additional texts from research and practitioner resources will be provided via Canvas.

Library E-Reserves

This course requires that you access Penn State library materials specifically reserved for this course. You can access these materials by selecting Library Resources in your course navigation, or by accessing the Library E-Reserves Search and search for your instructor's last name.

Library Resources

Many of the University Libraries resources can be utilized from a distance. Through the Libraries website, you can

• access magazine, journal, and newspaper articles online using library databases;
• borrow materials and have them delivered to your doorstep—or even your desktop;
• get research help via email, chat, or phone using the Ask a Librarian service; and
• much more. 

You must have an active Penn State Access Account to take full advantage of the Libraries' resources and service.  The Off-Campus Users page has additional information about these free services.

Technical Specifications

Student Education Experience Questionnaire (SEEQ)

During the semester you will receive information about completing the Student Education Experience Questionnaire (SEEQ). Your participation is an opportunity to provide anonymous feedback on your learning experience. Your feedback is important because it allows us to understand your experience in this course and make changes to improve the learning experiences of future students. Please monitor email and course communications for links and availability dates.

If you need technical assistance at any point during the course, please contact the Service Desk.

For registration, advising, disability services, help with materials, exams, general problem solving, visit World Campus Student Services!

Course Activities and Grading

Shared Student Resources Repository and Discussion

As you work through this course, you will discover and engage in a variety of resources outside of the required material. You are encouraged to share the resources you have uncovered with your classmates in this collaborative space. The Shared Student Resource Repository and Discussion is nestled in its own lesson. Note: As this is not a graded activity, you are not required, only encouraged to participate.

When posting your resources, please use the title of the resource and correlating lesson number for the title of your post. Furthermore, when posting a resource, please try to:

• submit a html link to the resource (if available),
• submit your post in standardized format like APA, MLA, Chicago, etc., and
• submit your thoughts on why you found this resource useful or of interest and ways your classmates might utilize it. 

Please copy these resources before the conclusion of the course (i.e., copy/paste them into a Word / Google Doc, Evernote, OneNote, etc.).

Autobiography of a Reader: Unpacking our Positionalities and Histories (10% of grade)

This activity is designed for you to unpack your own history as a reader as well as the various social and personal identities you bring to your reading today. We’ll begin this work in Module 1 with the Reflecting on Our Personal and Social Identities Activity and then continue this into Module 2 where you’ll complete a short autobiography of your experiences, positionalities, and identity as a reader. The format of your autobiography is up to you (e.g., a narrative written essay, a video, a timeline with commentary, a podcast-style recording, a presentation, a poem, or whatever else moves you)! Some guiding questions will be provided.

Class Discussions (15% of grade)

Across the course you’ll participate in several discussions with your colleagues in this course. In some modules, you’ll interact with the whole group and others will be with a small discussion group.
For whole group discussions, you’ll share an initial post on Sundays at 11:59pm, and then respond to at least two of your colleagues by the following Tuesdays at 11:59.

With your small group, you’ll decide what makes the most sense for you—or maybe try a few different tools across the semester depending on your schedules. Each week you’re assigned a group discussion, you’ll just share a link to wherever I can find evidence of that conversation.

Small Group Work (50% of grade)

The bulk of the work in this class will be the actual reading, analysis, and discussion of examples of children’s and young adult literature, supplemented by work from other scholars who have participated in these same activities. This work will primarily happen in small groups. Each week you’ll have a small group discussion that includes an aesthetic and critical response to the texts you’ve read.

For small group discussions, you’ll decide on a format that works best for your group. In previous courses, groups have tried the following:

• find a time when they could meet and record (via Zoom) a synchronous conversation;
• create a shared Google Doc (or other collaborative document) they could add to either synchronously or asynchronously;
• utilize the group discussion board space on Canvas to interact asynchronously;
• or use another tech tool (e.g., Bongo, Voicethread) to discuss.

In your small groups, you’ll also create a shared annotated bibliography. As you read new examples of children’s or adolescent literature and scholarly sources, you’ll share those titles along with helpful notes about who might want to read those and for what purposes. At the end of the semester, we’ll share those group bibliographies with the whole class so you’ll end with a rich compendium of resources.

Text Rationale (5% of grade)

Late in the semester, you’ll compose some sort of rationale advocating to include a particular text in an educational space you’re connected with right now. This rationale could take several forms, such as a written letter/email or script to share with parents, colleagues, administrators, boards or policy makers, specific communities, and so on. The letter or script should contain an accurate summary of the text along with a solid rationale, including researched citations, for why this text is important for this audience or context.

Final Project (20% of grade)

For your final project in this course, you’ll choose from one of the following options or suggest another type of project related to our work together and your particular interests and needs You’ll submit a proposal for the final project around the midpoint of the semester. All final projects may be done individually or you may choose to collaborate with a colleague or small group of colleagues.

For your final project in this course, you’ll choose from one of the following options or suggest another type of project related to our work together and your particular interests and needs You’ll submit a proposal for the final project around the midpoint of the semester. All final projects may be done individually or you may choose to collaborate with a colleague or small group of colleagues.

1. A Critical Content Analysis: Complete an in-depth content analysis of one, or a small related group of, children’s or adolescent literature text. This analysis might be modeled after, but likely smaller in scale than, scholarly texts we read in class and could include texts we read in class.
2. A Library/Collection Audit: Follow the steps, or create something similar, outlined by Koss and Piciga (2022) for completing a diversity audit of your classroom library, a home library, or some other collection. Create a report of what you learned.
3. An Inquiry or Action-Research Project (or In-Depth Proposal): Either write a formal proposal for an action-research project or report on practitioner inquiry related to using multicultural literature in an educational space. This might include some sort of self-study of your own practice; an inquiry focused on interviews or surveys of young readers, practitioners, authors/illustrators, or other relevant parties; or some other type of first-hand research connected to your interests.
4. A Literature Review of Scholarly Sources: A literature review is a comprehensive summary and critical analysis of existing research on a specific topic, identifying key findings, methodologies, gaps, and/or theoretical frameworks. If you choose this option, you’ll identify a key issue or topic related to multicultural literature, locate appropriate scholarly sources, and synthesize your analysis of those sources.
5. Create “Influencer” Content: If you haven’t already, check out other influencers who read, review, and recommend children’s and adolescent literature (such as these on Instagram @maistorybooklibrary @thekidlitmama @elliott.roi.reads @kidlitismagic @ihaveabook4that @readingwithredandthemagpie) on blogs or social media. Create an “about me” type profile that details your interest in this work and the experiences or qualifications that make you a credible person to follow. You’ll also create a series of posts to start your own influencer presence.
6. Something Else? Got another idea for a final project related to multicultural children’s and adolescent literature? Pitch it and we’ll figure it out together!

Semester Grading

Graduate Grading Policy

Please refer to the University Registrar's information about University grading policies.

Deferred Grades

If, for reasons beyond the student's control, a student is prevented from completing a course within the prescribed time, the grade in that course may be deferred with the concurrence of the instructor. The symbol DF appears on the student's transcript until the course has been completed. Non-emergency permission for filing a deferred grade must be requested by the student before the beginning of the final examination period. In an emergency situation, an instructor can approve a deferred grade after the final exam period has started. Under emergency conditions during which the instructor is unavailable, authorization is required from one of the following: the dean of the college in which the candidate is enrolled; the executive director of the Division of Undergraduate Studies if the student is enrolled in that division or is a provisional student; or the campus chancellor of the student's associated Penn State campus.

For additional information please refer to the Deferring a Grade page.

Acknowledgements

As most courses, this syllabus and the overall content of the course represents an accumulation of ideas across time in space. In particular, this syllabus draws on assignments, organization, language, and other ideas from the following scholars:

• Dr. Vivian Yenika-Agbaw, Penn State University
• Dr. Charlotte L. Land, Penn State University

Course Schedule

Note: All due dates reflect North American eastern time (ET).

• Course length: 15 weeks

Lesson 1: Course Introduction

Lesson 2: Windows, Mirrors, and Other Metaphors

Lesson 3: Critical Multicultural Analysis

Note: Lessons 4-12 are completed collaboratively in small groups and can be done in any order.

Lesson 4: Reading Race and Ethnicity: Black and Indigenous Representations

Lesson 5: Reading Race and Ethnicity: Asian, Middle Eastern, & Latinx Representations

Lesson 6: Reading Race and Ethnicity: Representations of Whiteness

Lesson 7: Reading Gender and Sexuality in Children's and Adolescent Lit

Lesson 8: Reading Class Differences in Children's and Adolescent Lit

Spring Break

Lesson 9: Reading (Dis)Ability in Children's and Adolescent Lit

Lesson 10: Reading Religion in Children's and Adolescent Lit

Lesson 11: Reading Linguistic Diversity in Children's and Adolescent Lit

Lesson 12: Reading Immigration & Transnationalism in Children's and Adolescent Lit

Lesson 13: Cultural Pluralism in Today's Educational Spaces, Part 1

Lesson 14: Cultural Pluralism in Today's Educational Spaces, Part 2

Lesson 15: Cultural Pluralism in Today's Educational Spaces, Part 3

Graduating Students

Note: If you are planning to graduate this semester, please communicate your intent to graduate to your instructor. This will alert your instructor to the need to submit your final grade in time to meet the published graduation deadlines. For more information about graduation policies and deadlines, please refer to Graduation at the Chaiken Center for Student Success.

One Year Course Access

Formal instruction will end on the last day of class. Provided that you have an active Penn State Access Account user ID and password, you will continue to be able to access the course materials for one year, starting from the end date of the academic semester in which the course was offered (with the exception of library reserves and other external resources that may have a shorter archival period). After one year, you might be able to access the course based on the policies of the program or department offering the course material, up to a maximum of three years from the end date of the academic semester in which the course was offered. For more information, please review the University Course Archival Policy.