Many readers underestimate the complexity, impact, and importance of children's literature. But the narratives one learns as a child have more effect than any others: they echo for a lifetime. In this course, we will explore books written for children and young adults, from wordless picture books to complex speculative fiction. To reflect the vibrancy of the field of children's literature-as well as the diversity of students that the Education majors will soon teach-we will focus on literature that is multicultural, multilingual, and diverse in myriad ways. The course has five units, each focused on a fundamental aspect of children's literature: adventure, coming of age (bildung), community/friendship, play/imagination, and fantasy/science-fiction. Within each unit, we will read one exemplary novel as a class, and the rest of the texts will be presented by students. Students will have considerable agency in their assignments: each student chooses a 'track' (education, literary critical, or creative writing), and each unit has multiple options for the assignment. Past sections of the course have studied Angie Thomas, Jacqueline Woodson, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Leigh Bardugo, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jessica Love, Vashti Harrison, Grace Lin, Kwame Alexander, Benjamin Sáenz, Matt de la Peña, Soman Chainani, Tomi Adeyemi, JK Rowling, Lewis Carroll, Mo Willems, Jon Klassen, etc.
This courses will be an in-depth exploration of one author. Such a study allows readers to appreciate the unique excellence of a particular author and to illuminate historical context through an exceptionally astute observer. At stake is not only knowledge of the writer, but also an understanding of how a narrow focus can facilitate a broad understanding of history and culture.
This course will focus on the literary presentations of the Nazi Holocaust, the genocide of European Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and others. The literature and films studied will help to understand how genocide altered the historical and cultural landscape of the Western world and how these traumatic events challenged then and now the expressive capabilities of language and images. In this course, the student will analyze and write about texts drawn from a range of genres, including survivor memoirs, fictional narratives, poetry, drama, essays, and film. The approach to the texts will be interdisciplinary. Besides examining their literary and cinematic qualities, we will take into consideration the specific social, political, and philosophical contexts that shaped them. Finally, the course will examine the question of how the Holocaust might challenge our faith, rationality, and received ideas about the characters and virtues of Western culture.
This course emphasizes the capacity of literature to intervene in matters of urgent concern-social, political, economic and cultural. The focus will be on either English or American literature of the recent past, though older texts may be read for context. Typically the course will be organized around a particular issue - gender equality, the American Border, environmental writing, etc. Students will learn not only to think more nimbly about the issue at hand, but also to appreciate the unique ways literature can attend to the complexities of oppression, intersectionality, historical memory, etc.
This course explores established and new genres across literature. Students may analyze short stories, novels, poems, essays and/or plays. Content will change depending on professor and semester, and may be as broad as "The Short Story" or as specific as "steampunk". The course will include exploration of the mechanisms, history, and particular excellences of the genre in question. Students may repeat this course for credit as long as it is a different sub-topic.
Many readers underestimate the complexity, impact, and importance of children's literature. But the narratives one learns as a child have more effect than any others: they echo for a lifetime. In this course, we will explore books written for children and young adults, from wordless picture books to complex speculative fiction. To reflect the vibrancy of the field of children's literature-as well as the diversity of students that the Education majors will soon teach-we will focus on literature that is multicultural, multilingual, and diverse in myriad ways. The course has five units, each focused on a fundamental aspect of children's literature: adventure, coming of age (bildung), community/friendship, play/imagination, and fantasy/science-fiction. Within each unit, we will read one exemplary novel as a class, and the rest of the texts will be presented by students. Students will have considerable agency in their assignments: each student chooses a 'track' (education, literary critical, or creative writing), and each unit has multiple options for the assignment. Past sections of the course have studied Angie Thomas, Jacqueline Woodson, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Leigh Bardugo, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jessica Love, Vashti Harrison, Grace Lin, Kwame Alexander, Benjamin Sáenz, Matt de la Peña, Soman Chainani, Tomi Adeyemi, JK Rowling, Lewis Carroll, Mo Willems, Jon Klassen, etc.
This course focuses on selected topics in English, and is designed to provide students with an opportunity for in-depth study of some topic having current professional or public interest that is not thoroughly addressed within the context of regular College offerings. Topics may differ each time a course is offered. Students should consult the course offering schedule and their academic advisor each semester.