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This semester has been off to a slow start-I am not complaining-slow and steady wins the race, as turtle and the remind us in the well-known fable. Winter is a time of hibernating and introspection. This is an appropriate time to read, read, and read some more, since story is the core of children's literature.
 
Our children's literature course is meant to be an overview of exposure to quality children's and young adult literature; familiarization of various genres and literary elements; and a chance to play. This is an opportunity to tap into our own childlike imagination and play with story: structure, poetry, chautauqua, censorship, illustrations.
Jeanne Whitehouse, will not be coming this semester due to an illness. However, I will be contacting the following quests to visit and talk with us: Connie Gotsch, Flo Trujillo, Susan Kanard, Anthony Chee Emerson, Kathy Schlapp. Fine artists Anthony Chee has a gallery on Main Stree which we can visit after Tibbetts one Monday.
 
I hope you are becoming more comfortable with my teaching style-that is playful, self-directed, and creative. I wanted to provide you with an authentic teaching and learning environment within Penny Smith and Beth Daniel's classrooms.
 
The learning activities including using webpages to manage your intellectual property is a way of you taking ownership for your own learning. I hope this is an attribute that you will transfer into your own teaching.
 
The course blog and weekly updates are way of communicating and pasing along information. Above all I hope you are:
  • connecting to stories, authors and books in a personal way;
  • practicing ways to engage students to conversing and connecting to literature and storeis also;
  • playful  in using your own imagination with childlike curiousity and wonder;
  • becoming more familiar with genres and literary definitions;
  • finding your own children's literature web resources of value to you
  • discovering your own favorite authors and illustrators and stories

This course was designed so you could explore the bountiful treasure trove of  childrens literature for your discovery and be able to draw from it when needed: to tell a story, to connect others to story; and to become a storyteller yourself.

We are privileged to have other students with us who are not education majors. The BUS students offer a diverse balance of perspectives in our conversations and discussions.

I thank you you all for your energy, commitment, and playfulness in our course. Thank you for trusting me with guiding you in our course. Please speak up when you have an idea! I look forward to the next half of our semester!

"Literature is the map of what it is to be human." ~ Lisa Renner, Piedra Vista High School English Educator