Analysis of a Children's Book or School Text

Choose Option A or Option B

Remember to:

Add List of References

Cite sources in text

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Option A

  1. Choose a book written for children or adolescents. It can be a book you have read, (Harry Potter is fine). You don't have to read the whole book in detail, but you should read enough so that you can respond to the following questions.
     

  2. Identify the age group at which the book is directed. Back up your assertion by comparing with the developmental characteristics of this age group in the Hughes text.
     

  3. Analyze the main situations/problems the main character deals with and the complexity of the language. Then compare the main character's thinking, feeling, and behavior to the norms for development defined in the text. Give examples from the book to illustrate your point. (If the main character is an animal, you must first decide what human age group it seems to represent.)
     

  4. Identify what theories of development might be reflected in the book: behavioral, cognitive, moral, emotional. Provide examples.
     

  5. Define the themes that are developed in the book and explain how they are relevant to the child who would read the book.
     

  6. Why would a child-reader enjoy or not enjoy this book?
     

  7. How are cultural, linguistic, economic and learning differences portrayed in the book?
     

  8. How accessible (i.e. relevant & comprehensible) is the book to children who are from diverse cultural, ethnic and racial groups?

 


Option B:

Read a current textbook for any grade level, kindergarten to grade 6. You may choose any subject area: language arts, social sciences, math or science, though a social studies or language art text may be easiest to analyze. You don't have to study the complete text book, look through some sections and find examples that illustrate your point.

For your analysis respond to the following questions:

  1. What must a child reader be able to accomplish physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally to be successful with the book? Illustrate your point with examples from the text book.
     
  2. How does the content of the book compare with what you know about children's development based on the readings in Hughes?
     
  3. How does the content address the diversity in learners' backgrounds?
  4. How does the content address diversity in learning styles?
  5. Describe what the theoretical perspectives of the authors of the children's text seem to be. What are the authors' underlying assumptions about how children learn, the relationships among children in a classroom, the role of the teacher, and how parents and the community influence a child's learning?

 

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