CHILDREN’S LITERATURE LESSON PLAN

COMPETENCIES
152.3.1 : Literary Elements and Theme in Children’s Literature

The graduate determines how literary and visual elements are used to convey common themes found in children’s literature.

152.3.2 : Genres of Children’s Literature

The graduate analyzes various genres of children’s literature to understand the characteristics of each genre.

152.3.3 : Children’s Literature as a Lens to the World

The graduate develops learning experiences that integrate diverse representations from children’s literature to help students gain a perspective for understanding the world.

INTRODUCTION
As a teacher, you will need to choose various children’s literature and determine ways to connect it to content in your lesson plans. A key part of this is learning how to integrate children’s literature into your instruction by choosing works that explore common literary themes and foster students’ understanding and comprehension of the lesson’s theme. In this task, you will choose an illustrated children’s book that incorporates diverse representation and apply that book to different aspects of instructional requirements.
REQUIREMENTS
Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. The originality report that is provided when you submit your task can be used as a guide.

You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.

Tasks may not be submitted as cloud links, such as links to Google Docs, Google Slides, OneDrive, etc., unless specified in the task requirements. All other submissions must be file types that are uploaded and submitted as attachments (e.g., .docx, .pdf, .ppt).

A. Identify one illustrated children’s book that must meet the following criteria:

• have a positive diverse representation

• be appropriate for an elementary or middle-grade level (grades K–8) classroom

• be fiction, unless it has narrative elements, such as biography, memoir, or narrative verse

• not contain religious instruction

B. Using the book chosen in part A, do the following:

Note: An example could include a quote, paraphrase, copy of an illustration or a description of an illustration from the book. Examples must be cited.

1. Describe the positive diverse representation in your children’s book.

a. Explain how the diverse representation in your children’s book helps students gain perspective for understanding the world. Support your explanation with a specific example from your chosen book.

2. Identify a literary theme of the selected book (e.g., kindness, courage, cooperation, etc.).

a. Explain how one specific example of a literary element used in the book (e.g., plot, setting, characterization, figurative language, etc.) supports or conveys the theme from part B2.

3. Explain why it is important to select children’s literature with quality artwork, illustrations, or images. Support your explanation with evidence-based research or resources from your course.

a. Include a copy of an illustration from your chosen book, and describe how the illustration in the chosen book conveys the theme.

4. Identify the specific genre of your chosen book.

Note: Specific genre refers to a subdivision of the general genre. Specific genres of fiction include realistic fiction, fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, etc. The folklore genre includes fable, fairy tale, folktale, etc. The non-fiction genres include biography, memoir, or narrative non-fiction.

a. Describe two characteristics that define the specific genre identified in part B4.

b. Provide an example of both characteristics from part B4a found in your chosen book.

C. Develop a lesson plan to teach analysis of literary theme. Your lesson plan must meet the following criteria:

• use your chosen children’s book identified in part A

• teach analysis of literary theme

• use the attached “Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template”

D. Acknowledge sources, using APA-formatted in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

E. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.