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Close Reading and Critical Literacy Project

Due: Week 12-13

CONFERENCES: WEEK 13

SIGN UP DURING ONE OF THE TIMES BELOW (or email me to work out other times MW between 9 and 12, or M 1-2):

DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE: 

For this project, students will analyze the works award-winning YA novelists (OR a collection of works by a single author). Analyze the text AND the way students will engage critically with one of the following topics (other topics can be discussed with Dr. H):

• Ecologies 
• Minority Experience and Identity
• Regional Identity and History
• Censorship 

1) Write a brief analysis of the text (ecocriticism, post-colonial studies, cultural studies...). 2) THEN create a series of assignments/lessons/activities that teach critical literacy practices by engaging with cultural /regional diversity or ecology. This paper should be modeled on a article from an education studies journal!

TASKS

• Write a 3-5 page analysis modeled on a TE article. This analysis should include:
• A thesis supported by a close reading of texts and research.
• Research and analysis should be focused and concise.   
• The analysis should compare and contrast the way the texts work to address a single issue or closely-related cluster of issues related to the chosen topics.
• 3-5 scholarly sources. 
• It should be accessible and BRIEF (and it should have a more conversational tone than scholarly articles). SEE EXAMPLE: Gartland-HISTORIESMYSTERIESGRAMMAR-2016.pdf 
• It should have material that can be actively applied with young readers (in a setting of your choice).
• EXPAND these with specific assignments and examples:  Student Example (see CRITERIA below)
• This isn't an MLA-style research paper with a lot of theory (though sources should be cited).  
• Include Works Cited (or Bibliography).  
• EXAMPLES:  Gartland-HISTORIESMYSTERIESGRAMMAR-2016.pdf OR Miller-TeachingLiteracyContext-2010.pdf  OR MultiracialExperiencesinLiteratureforChildren.pdf
• Include a BRIEF (1-2 minute) video introducing your main point and an illustration and activity that you can share with the class for a discussion board.  

CRITERIA

• 3-5pp Close Reading TE-style paper. 
• Create lessons/assignments/activities that could be used in a future class or as a library program: Close Reading and Critical Literacy Project Example. Choose 2-3 of the following: 
• One lesson on close reading, including an example from the book.
• One assignment on close reading (related to the lesson).
• One lesson on teaching critical literacy related to issues of diversity in the text.
• One assignment that helps students engage in critical literacy practices (including an example for students from the text).
• One live in-class activity.
• One interactive online/media element. 
• CREATE A PAGE AND RECORDING WHERE YOU PRESENT THE MAIN POINTS OF YOUR PAPER.   
• (200 points total)

This assignment fulfills learning objectives 1, 2, 3, & 4 

Student Example.

Resources for HISTORICAL Children's Lit: 

• Bluebeard Toy Book ca. 1890     
• This book was produced as paraphernalia for the Bluebeard Pantomimes that would play at Christmas in the UK.
• These were the FINANCIAL BACKBONE of British theater in the nineteenth-century (think Disney of the 1800s).