Teaching Guide

Overview: A teaching guide can help educators have a map to follow to teach students about a novel, specific concepts, thematic elements, etc. Put simply, the name of this genre effectively points to its purpose and use for educators. (Note: Non-education majors may choose to create a reading guide or discussion guide, which are slightly different in their purposes. Please make time to meet with me and we can work together to adapt the assignment to your needs.) The purpose of this assignment is to [1] expose everyone in the class to many childrens texts, in addition to the ones we will all read, [2] think critically about how a novel may be used in the classroom (for non- education majors: in a reading group or with a group of peers), and [3] to create a useful resource for you and your classmates.

Your work on this assignment should demonstrate that you can: 1. Read critically. 2. Think creatively. 3. Research purposefully. 4. Synthesize knowledge from multiple sources. 5. Write in order to share knowledge not just to prove that you have it.

Required Elements:
This assignment allows for a lot of flexibility and individual decision-making. However, there are certain elements you must include in the guide: 1. A succinct summary of the book. The summary should provide a quick look at the book without giving away any spoilers. 2. At least one researched element. This might include author biography, historical context, intertextual references, etc. You will want to verify that your information is accurate before giving it to others. 3. At least one element that guides readers to consider a particular critical perspective. 4. At least one element that combines your knowledge from another field (education, speech pathology, psychology, business, etc.) with childrens literature. There are also certain things that you should include in your writers memo: 1. You should include an explanation of which elements fulfill the requirements listed above. 2. You should explain the choices you made in terms of content and potentially in terms of layout/design. What did you include? What did you exclude? Why did you make those choices? What effects might your choices have on readers? 3. You may include some resources as a bibliography on the guide. Any sources that you used either as direct quotes or as sources of information should be included in a

Specifics: After choosing a book on the list (or getting my approval for a book that is not on the list), you will create a teaching guide (or the equivalent). There are multiple examples posted on Reggienet and many others available on the internet. Look at the examples and start to design your teaching guide. Once you have finished the guide you will compose a writers memo explaining the choices you made in terms of content, the elements of the guide that meet the assignment requirements, the resources you used, and the portions of the guide that you are most satisfied with.

bibliography with the writers memo. 4. Talk about the things in the finished guide that you are most proud of.

In your writers memo, include the title and author of the book that contains these illustrations for 2 bonus points.