Choose One

Write Inquiry Paper

Objective: to become a more critically analytical reader; to develop competence in professional inquiry and writing.

Conduct an inquiry into the content of children's literature on a topic or issue you know a lot about or want to learn a lot about and write a paper explaining what you did and what you found.  You can earn up to 20 points for this project.  Due October 27.

Directions for Inquiry Project:

1. Select a topic of high interest to you or a topic about which you know a lot.

2. Develop inquiry questions that help you analyze some aspect of the content of children's books.

3. Look up your topic in the professional literature and write a rationale for doing your inquiry which will become the introduction to your paper.

4. Find as many recently published children's books on your topic (12 to 20), read them, and analyze the content (may be included in your database). Try to place the information you find into at least three categories.

5. Write about your findings in three separate sections of your paper, introducing the topic, and discussing all of the books you read. Try to avoid listing books.

6. Write implications for teachers as a conclusion section.

7. Have your inquiry paper read and critiqued by a colleague in class and attach a report to it that shares how this individual responded to your piece. 

8. Revise your paper.

9. Use APA style to edit your paper.

10. Post an illustrated abstract and bibliography on the Student Work section of my web page.

Teaching and Learning Unit

Objective:  To choose appropriate literature, activities, and assessment devices; to design a complete literature-based teaching and learning unit.

Conduct an inquiry into the content of children's literature on a subject or novel that you will use in your intended teaching practice and write a complete unit including objectives, state standards, rationale, lesson plans, and evaluation.  Explain your choices of materials and activities.  You can earn up to 20 points for this project.  Due October 27.

Directions for Unit

Choose a theme or novel on which to base your unit.  Plan a unit that will take two weeks to complete.

Gather resources and materials to use in creating the unit.  If using a novel, you must include other books by the author or authors of similar or related literature in your reading.

Select the literature you will be using.  This can include high quality picture books (or group of books) or a novel. 

Decide how the literature is to be read.

Identify the language arts strategies to be used in the unit.

Locate multimedia materials realted to the unit.

Inocrporate varied activities.

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