Education Commons^™

The Evolution Of The Child Character With Learning Differences, Mary Viera

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In this paper, I will analyze the various representations of learning disabilities in selected children’s literature from the early twentieth century to recent literature published in the last decade. In the typical American classroom specific learning disabilities account for about 20% of students. It is the largest classified group to receive services in special education, and also the broadest: “Learning disabilities are disorders that affect the ability to understand or use spoken or written language, do mathematical calculations, coordinate movements or direct attention” (NIH, 2022). I will use the term “learning differences” as it encompasses all children who learn differently …

Gateways To Lived Experiences: Analyzing Florida's B.E.S.T. Elementary Ela Standards To Create A Standards-Based Inventory List Of Multicultural K-2 Children's Literature, Elizabeth D. Rios

Honors Undergraduate Theses

All educators are responsible for making their students feel safe, capable, and seen in the classroom. One way this can be accomplished is by implementing culturally responsive pedagogy. Our students will come from many different backgrounds. One of the most vital ways students will feel seen is by having characters in the books they read that they can identify with and learn from. Therefore, teachers should put effort into including children's literature in their classrooms by choosing culturally diverse books that are also high-quality and align with state standards. There are many high-quality pieces of children's literature that include culturally …

Frog And Toad At The Academy: Gareth B. Matthews On How Children’S Literature Goes Philosophical, Maughn Rollins Gregory, Megan Jane Laverty

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

Gareth B. Matthews (1929–2011) inaugurated the study of philosophy in children’s literature by simultaneously arguing (1) that philosophy is essentially an encounter with certain kinds of perplexities, (2) that genuine philosophical perplexities are readily found in many children’s stories, and (3) that many children are capable of appreciating and enjoying them. He wrote 58 reviews of philosophical children’s stories and co-authored a series of teacher guides for using such stories. Following Matthews’ example, others have produced resources recommending children’s stories as stimuli for intergenerational philosophical dialog. In our research, we study and systematize the different ways that Matthews understood children’s …

Examining The Prevalence And Representation Of Diverse Populations In Children's Literature Found In Elementary Classroom Libraries, Trishell M. Matthews

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to (1) examine the prevalence of diverse populations in the pieces of children’s literature found in three Title I third grade classrooms, and (2) to examine if the diverse populations are authentically and relevantly represented. Researchers have emphasized the impact and importance of children’s literature that represent student’s diverse backgrounds authentically and relevantly, as they have the potential to affect students’ motivations, aspirations, and how they view themselves and the world at large. Particularly, Bishop (1990) suggested that students need books that act as “mirrors” that allow them to see themselves, their experiences, and …

Books That Tell My Story: Transforming The Attitudes Of Australian Preservice Teachers Towards Children’S Diverse And Multicultural Literature., Kym M. Simoncini, Hilary Smith, Lara Cain-Gray, Darlene Sebalj

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Children’s literature is ubiquitous in Australian classrooms with picture books playing a particularly important role in early childhood classrooms. Teachers use children’s literature to teach early literacy concepts including vocabulary and to help children learn about the world and their identity. Historically, the majority of children’s literature has featured White characters and perspectives, excluding many children from seeing themselves and their lives reflected in books. The aim of this study was to explore how an assessment task that asked preservice teachers (PSTs) to select an underrepresented aspect of children’s literature, locate books on that topic, and reflect upon their own …

Collaborative Inquiry To Support Critically Reading Children’S Literature, Laurie Rabinowitz, Amy Tondreau

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

This article provides an overview of a qualitative study investigating how K-5 classroom teachers describe their beliefs, concerns, and planning process for enacting read alouds featuring characters with disabilities. The study explored educators' close reading of picture books to elicit the unpacking of beliefs about individuals with disabilities conveyed by children’s literature. Through dialogue about social issues in picture books with colleagues, teachers sharpened their own critical literacy skills to bring into the classroom. Based on our findings, we offer a collaborative inquiry cycle that teacher groups can replicate to critically read children’s literature for different social justice issues.

The Effects Of Bibliotherapy On Students With Behavioral Problems: Combating Negative Behavior With Books, Alaina J. Peters

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

At the time of the study, the researcher was a graduate student serving in a yearlong clinical teacher placement. The researcher sought to find an intervention to behavioral problems taking place in a third grade classroom setting. The aim of the study was to diminish the negative behavior occurring in the classroom setting through the use of bibliotherapy. For this study, the researcher collected data through the use of surveys, document collections, interventions, and observation with the addition of field notes. Using the constant comparative method with the addition of descriptive statistics, the author found common themes amongst the data …

If I Knew Then What I Do Now: Fostering Pre-Service Teachers’ Capacity To Promote Expansive And Critical Conversations With Children’S Literature, Stephen Adam Crawley

Occasional Paper Series

In this article, I reflect on my practices as a teacher educator and respond to the following questions: How do I foster the capacity of pre-service teachers to use children’s literature to promote expansive and critical conversations in the classroom? How do pre-service teachers report their stances and sense of preparedness when reflecting on the course? To address these questions, I share two strategies I employed in my undergraduate course for elementary education majors: 1) emphasizing children's literature as windows and mirrors and 2) considering stakeholder responses. For each strategy, I include preservice teachers’ (PTs’) statements that reflect how the …

What Do You Do When You Don't Know How To Respond? Supporting Pre-Service Teachers To Use Picture Books To Facilitate Difficult Conversations, Kathryn Struthers Ahmed, Nida Ali

Occasional Paper Series

In this paper, the authors – a preservice teacher (PST) and a teacher educator – consider how teacher education might better prepare PSTs to use picture books to facilitate difficult conversations in elementary classrooms. They share missed opportunities from their own experiences in a fourth-grade fieldwork classroom and in a graduate-level elementary literacy methods course where they felt unprepared to respond to students’ comments about “controversial” topics. They reimagine how these experiences might have been transformed to be more educative for PSTs, first by considering how they could have responded more thoughtfully in the moment and then by thinking about …

Focus On Friendship Or Fights For Civil Rights? Teaching The Difficult History Of Japanese American Incarceration Through The Bracelet, Noreen N. Rodríguez

Occasional Paper Series

Japanese American incarceration is one of few Asian American historical topics addressed in P-12 curriculum. A dearth of children’s literature is available about Japanese American incarceration, yet given young learners’ limited exposure to World War II historical narratives, simply reading a picturebook about the topic does not ensure that students and teachers will address the injustices involved in the event. This study contrasts the distinct pedagogical approaches taken up by two Texas elementary educators who read aloud Yoshiko Uchida’s The Bracelet, a picturebook that details a young Japanese American girl’s forced removal from her home.

Teaching Reading-Writing Connections Online To Pre-Service Teachers In A Children’S Literature Course, Treavor Bogard

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This account of transitioning a children’s literature course to remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic describes the use of digital service learning and instructional scenarios to develop pre-service teachers’ knowledge of teaching writing craft across literary genres.

Little Girl In The Country: A Children's Book, Holly Mcginnis

Honors Theses

A Work of Children’s Literature to Address Realities of Childhood in the Southern United States

This thesis investigated the intersection of life’s realities and children’s literature. Representation is an oft-talked-about area of children’s literature. It is coming to light that many groups are underrepresented in writings for children, and recent works are attempting to broaden the types and backgrounds of characters to represent the diversity of readers and authors. This thesis is the author’s attempt to accurately represent the types of students she encountered in student teaching experiences in the Oxford-area. Using inspiration from her own childhood and knowledge of …

Mirrors Of Our Own: Multiracial Representation In Children’S Picture Books, Kiana Foster-Mauro

Honors Scholar Theses

The United States multiracial population is a fast-growing portion of our population. As the multiracial population grows, so does the need for multiracial representation within books. This study analyzed the representation of multiracial individuals in children’s picture books for ages newborn-8. I identified 75 board and picture books published in the United States between the years 2009 and 2019 that feature mixed race characters. The identified texts were analyzed in a critical content analysis using a framework based upon Critical Race Theory. Through this framework, I examined how multiracial characters in the texts are portrayed, the power dynamics, and what …

Examining Diversity In The Monarch Award, Michele Mcdaniel

Masters Theses

This study explores the 2016 Monarch Award Master List as an educational resource for kindergarten through grade three teachers and librarians. It focuses this exploration by examining how diversity was represented in the text and illustrations of the books in the sample. The Monarch Award is Illinois’ K-3 Kids’ Choice award. Illinois’ children are increasingly diverse, and it is important that they have access to literature that reflects their diversity. The study revealed that diverse characters were portrayed with nuance and respect, but they were still underrepresented on the list. Additionally, diverse characters often had to display extraordinary characteristics to …

Using Children's Literature To Support Social And Emotional Learning In Third Through Sixth Grade Classrooms, Hayley L. Paljug

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research examined the use of award-winning children’s literature for social and emotional learning, focusing on its use for children in third through sixth grades. The world is ever-changing, and, as a result, the need for children to learn necessary social and emotional skills continues to increase. These skills include, but are not limited to, perseverance, friendship, grit, caring, and the like. It has been found that teaching social and emotional skills through bibliotherapy is an engaging and successful method that can be used by schools and teachers. Teachers or other educational stakeholders can use this document to begin to …

Beware The Cat In The Hat: How Children's Literature Is The Modern Form Of Segregation, Lucy Kebler

Celebration of Learning

Every person grows up exposed to children’s literature. Unfortunately, much of the children’s literature that is published is racially discriminatory, historically inaccurate, blatantly offensive, or pure propaganda. The research for this presentation began in Augustana College’s library and has transitioned to a much broader space: The Saint Louis Country Library. Through this research, it has become obvious that diverse literature is hard to find and is often marketed as only readable for those in the minority race depicted. Many libraries mark literature that contains African Americans, as to help “guide” readers in their selections. Books labeled in this way make …

Choosing Advocacy

Occasional Paper Series

Two articles comprise this publication. In "Beyond the Story-Book Ending: Literature for Young Children About Parental Estrangement and Loss," Megan Matt analyzes over 30 books for young children on the topics of abandonment, estrangement, divorce, and foster care. She observes that this loss might appear as an event within the story or as a fear articulated by a young child. She states that, as an educator, she hopes that she can make the children realize that their own stories are "real" and legitimate, no matter what messages they might encounter or fail to encounter in the media. In "Walking the …

Toward A More Loving Framework For Literacy Education

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Paper: Beware The Cat In The Hat: How Children’S Literature Is A Reflection Of A Bleak Society, Lucy Kebler

Womanist Ethics

Children’s literature is full of messages that are relayed to children. Unfortunately, many of these messages are involve cultural appropriation. Others involve harmful interpretations of sexuality, consent, and identity. This essay explores why classics such as Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat, and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie. All these books present different problematic material, which must not only be revaluated based on content, but also on the way it is taught and relayed to children. Along with the books listed above, this essay also looks …

Teaching Global Literature To “Disturb The Waters”: A Case Study, Kelly K. Wissman

Literacy Teaching & Learning Faculty Scholarship

Within this qualitative case study, I describe how a fifth-grade teacher in an affluent and culturally homogenous school attempted to “disturb the waters” through teaching global literature. Framed by transactional theories of response and critical language awareness, I identify three central pedagogical moves that supported disruptions of students’ assumptions and beliefs: (1) inviting students to share their aesthetic transactions, (2) privileging multiple perspectives and genres, and (3) calling attention to language choices as a central line of inquiry. I argue that both transactional and critical approaches to literacy and language are necessary in order to move students beyond disinterested and …

Changing The Shape Of The Landscape: Sexual Diversity Frameworks And The Promise Of Queer Literacy Pedagogy In The Elementary Classroom, Cammie Kim Lin

Occasional Paper Series

Analyzing LGBTQ-inclusive children’s literature and teaching practices in the elementary classroom, the author outlines a vision for a queer literacy pedagogy. The article begins with a description of four different sexual diversity frameworks: homophobia/heterosexism, tolerance/visibility, social justice, and queer. It includes an exploration of children’s literature and teaching practices that exemplify each framework, making explicit the connections between theory and practice. It then expands on the theories, principles, and practices composing queer literacy pedagogy. The article will be of particular interest to teacher educators and elementary classroom teachers, though the frameworks are equally applicable to all levels and settings.

Review Of The William Hoy Story: How A Deaf Baseball Player Changed The Game By Nancy Churnin, Jessica A. Elder

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Inventor's Secret: What Thomas Edison Told Henry Ford By Suzanne Slade, Jessica A. Elder

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review Of Finding Winnie: The True Story Of The World's Most Famous Bear By Lindsay Mattick, Jessica A. Elder

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review Of Mr. Squirrel And The Moon By Sebastian Meschenmoser, Jessica A. Elder

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review Of Fetch By Jorey Hurley, Jessica A. Elder

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review Of Beatrix Potter And Her Paint Box By David Mcphail, Jessica A. Elder

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Day The Crayons Came Home By Drew Daywalt, Jessica A. Elder

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review Of An Ambush Of Tigers: A Wild Gathering Of Collective Nouns By Betsy R. Rosenthal, Jessica A. Elder

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Collection Of Swedish-American Children’S Literature, Katie Hanson

Swenson Center Faculty Research Stipend Reports

For five days I examined resources related to children’s literature held in the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center collection. Initially, I proposed that I would examine anything having to do with children's literature. I ended up looking at lots of immigration stories as well as the holdings in the children's collection.