Final Meeting

Today during class you presented your final writing projects. Each of you chose a real-world writing style, examined several models of this style of writing, created your own piece, published your project, and reflected upon your work. Please see the final writing assignment sheet and grading rubric on the left hand side of the blog under course documents. Below you will find links and explanations of each students' project.

Vincent: Online Evaluative Writing: Book Review Blog - "Exploring Models of Childhood Expressed in 1980s and 1990s Era Children's Film"

Amanda: Educational Writing: Teaching Guide - "A Teacher's Guide to Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming"

Carla: Educational Writing: Teaching Guide - "Bud, Not Buddy: Unit Teaching Guide"

Gianna: Online Evaluative Writing: Book Review Blog - "Removing the Dis- in Disabled: The Portrayal of Disabilities in Children's Literature"

Michelle: Educational Writing: Teaching Guide - "Teacher's Guide to Weedflower" and "Weedflower Pinterest Art Crafts"

Jonathan: Online Evaluative Writing: Book Review Blog - "Religion in Children's Literature and Film"

Alison M.: Creative Writing: Verse Novel - "Southern State of Mind"

McKenna: Creative Writing: Epistolary Novel - "Dear Best Friend"

Summer: Critical Writing: Scholarly Conference Paper - "The Comics Medium: War, Heroism, and WWII in DC's Batman"

Aly F.: Educational Writing: Teaching Guide - "Historical Fiction in the Classroom"

Cassi: Participatory Writing: Fan Vid - "Overcoming Tragic Events: Ft. The Wizard of Oz and Bridge to Terabithia"

I will have your final projects graded and will turn in my final grades by next Tuesday (May 3). Your grades will be posted on GoWMU under "My Final Grades," and you should be able to access them May 3 after 5:00 pm. Please see the syllabus for the grading scale and final project grading rubric. If you would like your final project or grading rubric back, just send me an email during Summer I or next semester, and you can come pick it up during my office hours or at another a time that works for you. I will keep your grading rubrics for six months, then I will shred and recycle them.

I want to thank you all for an amazing semester! You all did a wonderful job with the material. I hope you enjoyed this class and can find some way to use the work you have done this semester outside of this class. Whether you plan to pursue teaching, be a leader, or just love books and thinking, I hope the work you have done this semester will assist you in meeting your future goals. Feel free to contact me anytime if you have questions about children's literature, graduate school, or writing. Have a great summer break!

Poster Presentations, Finals Week, & Course Evaluations

Excellent work this week on your poster presentations! You all did a great job. Today was our last class meeting before your final writing project is due. I suggest you take some time to review the final writing project assignment sheet and the final project grading rubric linked on the left hand side of the blog under "course documents." A few reminders: both your final writing project reflection (in hard copy form: typed and printed out, 12 point times new roman double spaced, approximately 8 pages) and your actual final writing project (in either hard copy or electronic copy depending upon your writing style) are due on Tuesday, April 26. Your final writing project is worth 100 points, and your final project reflection is worth 70 points. If you brought your final project planning outline to your conference and discussed it with me, you received full credit (30 points) for this part of your project.

During finals week, on Tuesday, April 26, we will meet in our classroom from 5:00-7:00 pm. Please be prepared to present your writing project (an informal 5 minute presentation/reading/tutorial). I will have my computer hooked up to the projector (for book review blogs and fan vids: feel free to email me links to these and I will sync your project up), or you are welcome to use the document camera (for teaching guides, verse novels/creative writing, and conference papers). I am happy to answer questions or meet with you for a conference anytime this week. If you would like to see me for an individual conference, please feel free to email me to set up a time that works for you. I will also hand back your graded poster presentation rubric when you turn in your final on Tuesday; I will include your poster grade and a course grade update. Please take a few minutes to complete your course evaluation today if you haven't already! I appreciate your feedback.

Excellent work this semester! It has been a pleasure working with you all.

Poster Presentations This Week

When you come to class this week, our classroom will be set up in two sections: computer one will be at the front of the room and computer 2 will be at the back of the room. Each area will have a computer, a projector, and a group of chairs. Please see the schedule below for the layout of our classroom, a schedule of presenters, and poster presentation topics. The only things you need to bring to class this week are your presentation materials for when you are presenting (note cards, your poster proposal, or anything you might use while you share your research) and something to write with for when you are listening. A note to presenters: you will have 5-7 minutes to present your research and 2-3 minutes to answer questions from your peers about your research; you will present your poster twice. Be sure to practice presenting your research. You should fill your 5-7 minutes, but not go over your time. Your ability to stick to/fill your time slot will impact your grade. Please review the grading rubric for the poster presentation which you can find HERE and on the left hand side of the blog. I will provide you each with a paper copy of the brief report handout at the beginning of class, but you should be prepared to ask and be asked the questions listed HERE. Your posters look great! Looking forward to hearing each of you present on your research this coming week. You will have some time at the end of class this week to complete your course evaluations as well. Feel free to bring your own laptop or device (or to use one of the computers in the computer lab that is connected to our classroom) to complete your evaluation.

Tuesday, April 19: Detailed Program Schedule

Session 1
4:00 - 4:20 pm
Computer 1 Summer: "Food's Relationship to Fear, Decision Making, and Temptation in Neil Gaiman's Coraline"
Computer 2 Amanda: "The Multiple Mother Motif in Neil Gaiman's Coraline"

Session 2
4:20 - 4:40 pm
Computer 1 McKenna: "Gender in Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret"
Computer 2 Michelle: "The Liminal Dichotomy of Harry Potter"

Session 3
4:40 - 5:00 pm
Computer 1 Aly F.: "The Role Religion Plays in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret"
Computer 2 Vincent: "The Magical Power of Suggestion: Discovering the Function of Sexual Maturation in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Session 4
5:00 - 5:20 pm
Computer 1 Cassi: "Gender and Education in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"
Computer 2 Jonathan: "Gender and Identity in Neil Garman's Coraline"


Session 5
5:20 - 5:40 pm
Computer 1 Gianna: "Sigmund Freud's 'The Uncanny' in Neil Gaiman's Coraline"
Computer 2 Carla: "Racism, Free Verse, & Haiku in Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming"

Session 6
5:40 - 6:00 pm Computer 1 Alison M.: "Food, Orality, and the Gothic in Neil Gaiman's Coraline"

Individual Conferences, Poster Presentations, and Course Evaluations

Individual Conferences
Today I met with each of you individually to discuss your poster proposals, your upcoming poster presentation, and your plans for your final writing project. At your conference I provided you with a grade update. Your grade is made up of the following points possible so far: attendance and book checks = 120 points, blog posts = 200 points, reading quizzes = 80 points (this includes your two dropped or extra credit quizzes), midterm exam = 200 points, and poster proposal = 50 points. The total points possible so far = 650 points. You have 20 attendance points (these will be factored in as extra credit), your 200 point final writing project, and your 150 point poster presentation left to get to our course total of 1000 points. Your grade update is in the lower left hand corner of your poster proposal grading rubric, and it includes your points total, percentage, and letter grade; I also noted any absences in orange. Feel free to calculate your possible final grade based upon the grading scale in the syllabus and the student grade worksheet posted on the left hand side of the blog. If you have questions about your grade, please feel free to contact me.

Research and Poster Presentations
During your individual conference I discussed your poster proposal with you in detail. Be sure to follow my recommendations for changes as you work on your final poster presentation. Try to make your research question(s) as specific as possible. Remember: this should not be a yes or no question or a question you can answer in one word. If I suggested you expand and clarify your thesis/argument/conclusion, go back and add details. Your conclusion/thesis/argument should be the answer to your research question and should show how you are adding to the conversation and using the scholarship you have read. It should be around three sentences of your own words. If I suggested you do more research, use the MLA International Bibliography and Project Muse; you can access that website on the left hand side of the blog under "Resources." You poster MUST include a title, your research question(s), and your thesis/conclusion/argument. I also suggest you consider including quotes from your secondary sources (critical articles), a quote or image from your primary source, and several images. Your poster should be visually appealing and not include too much text. Please spend some time reviewing the poster presentation assignment guidelines and grading rubric document; you can access that document on the left hand side of the blog under "Course Documents."  I will be grading your final poster on overall content (research question, research, analysis of your chosen primary text, and your argument/thesis/conclusion), structure (layout and design of your poster), and clarity. Also, be sure to review the questions your peers might ask you after you present; you can access that document on the left hand side of the blog in the document "Poster Prez: Brief Reports."

Additional Assistance
I would also be happy to give you some feedback over email or in an additional conference if you have a quick question about your research question, a source, your thesis, or your poster layout. Do not wait until the last minute on Friday to ask questions!

Course Evaluations
Please take a few minutes to complete your course evaluation sometime in the next week or so. I highly value your feedback and use evaluations to improve my teaching. These evaluations are anonymous, and I will not see these until after grades are posted. You will have the opportunity to complete your evaluation at the end of class next week; you may bring your own laptop or use one of the computers in our lab.

Homework
Your completed poster is due to me via email (krystal.j.howard@wmich.edu) by Friday, April 15 at midnight. Please send a single slide, PowerPoint document as an attachment. Title your document with your first and last name, the course number, and the word "poster": JaneSmith3830Poster. If you do not turn your poster in by this time and labeled in this way, you will not be able to present next week. Remember: this project is worth 20% of your final grade.

Individual Conferences This Week

Just a reminder: we will not have class this week (Tuesday, April 12). Instead you will meet with me individually in our classroom (Brown 3045) for a 30 minute individual conference during which time we will discuss your poster proposal and your upcoming presentation, as well as your plans for your final writing project. Please bring your poster slide draft, your completed final project planning outline, and any questions or concerns you want to discuss. Do not miss your conference this week (it will count as one absence if you miss your time and you will not be able to present your poster next week)! You can find the individual conference sign up sheet HERE and on the left hand side of the blog under "course documents."

Course Recap for April 5

Cece Bell's El Deafo
Today at the beginning of class you took a short quiz over Wheeler's essay. I then asked you to do a bit of writing about a panel or series of panels in Bell's comic OR about the ways in which disability is portrayed in El Deafo. I then asked the four discussion leaders to start off our discussion of the comic. We spent some time as a large group discussing the images and ideas you were interested in
within Bell's work.

Critical Approaches to El Deafo: Wheeler
Next I asked you to work with a small group to answer a series of questions about Wheeler's essay: "No Monsters in This Fairy Tale: Wonder and the New Children's Literature." You can access that exercise HERE. This final source is significant because it allows you to see the ways in which you might locate a topic or an idea that a scholar has identified within a text and apply it to another similar text. Each group then presented on their series of questions, pointing the class to the places within Wheeler and Bell's texts that can be used to explore questions of disability within children's literature.

Important Upcoming Due Dates...
Next week, on April 12, we will NOT have class. Instead, you will meet with me individually for 30 minutes in our classroom to discuss your poster proposal and your final writing project. Please see the individual conference sign up sheet linked on the left hand side of the blog and make note of your conference time. DO NOT MISS YOUR INDIVIDUAL CONFERENCE (it will count as an absence, and you will not be able to present your poster the following week). Please bring BOTH of the following items to your conference: a draft of your poster slide (you can just bring your laptop or device), your completed final writing project planning outline (page 4 of the Final Writing Project Assignment Sheet), AND any questions you might have about either project. At the end of class today we went over the grading rubric for the poster presentation and the final writing project. You can access those documents HERE and HERE and on the left hand side of the course blog under course documents. We spent some time going over how the poster presentation day will go and what we will do during the final exam week. Your final poster slide is due to me via email by Friday, April 15 at midnight. Please save your slide as YourFirstNameLastName3830Poster. If you do not save your slide with the correct name or email it to me by the deadline, you will take a zero and not be able to present your work. On Tuesday, April 19 everyone will present their poster. Students will take notes and ask questions of the presenters. You can access those questions HERE. Once everyone has sent me their work, I will post a schedule that includes your title and presentation time. At the end of class today I handed around a poster presentation sign up sheet. You can access that filled in document HERE and on the left hand side of the blog. During finals week, our class will meet Tuesday, April 26 from 5-7pm and you will turn in and present your final writing project to the group. You will talk for approximately 5-10 minutes and read or show a selection from your project to the group.

Key Questions From Class
How is disability portrayed in 21st century children's literature? What are the three models of disability, and how are these models addressed in Bell's El Deafo? What is Rosemarie Garland-Thomas’s theory of staring, and how might this theory play out in Bell's comic? How is the carnivalesque featured in Bell's El Deafo?

Homework

• Work on poster slide AND final writing project
• Individual Conferences Next Week (no class, bring your poster slide draft and completed final project planning outline to your conference)