Course Description
Performance surrounds us every day and has always been a vital part of conveying narrative. Oral Interpretation is “the art of communicating to an audience a work of literary art in its intellectual emotional and aesthetic entirety.” (Gura, 2010 Oral Interpretation) I look forward to working with you all as we explore storytelling through children’s literature to bring to life the words on a page.
This semester, we will work on communication and interpretation skills by exploring storytelling cultures through a study of children’s literature and related texts that have been told and retold for generations. We will do this by tapping into our creativity through a combination of oral presentations and written work. This course is a space for experimenting with techniques of presentation and our own interpretation of the stories and performances that surround us.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will:
- Better understand the importance of storytelling to the development of culture.
- Be able to consider and evaluate why some stories are told and retold.
- Identify and analyze intertextuality and adaptation.
- To better understand genres and historical styles and consider and evaluate a ‘canon’ of children’s literature.
- To be able to trace the evolution of imagery and tropes in children’s literature and media and apply it to issues in children’s literature today.
- Employ storytelling techniques in varying settings, focusing on character, language, emotion, and the overall body.
- Perform literature to evoke a) feelings behind the words, b) meanings of the literature, c) enjoyment of the total reading/listening/seeing experiences, and d) appreciation of the various means of communicating literature.
- Develop oral and written interpretations of a text supported with evidence gained through close reading, visual analysis, and performance analysis.
- Develop a toolbox of performance techniques and exercises with which to approach presentations.
- Increase comfort with technology that allows us to communicate and share stories in new mediums.
Announcements
-
Final Grade Sign Up Link
Hi Everyone,
The sign-up for final grade meetings is available here.
As a reminder, to recieve a final grade in this course you must attend this meeting and submit a self-reflection at least 24 hours before your scheduled slot. If there isn’t a slot available that you can make, please email me as soon as possible so we can set something up. If on the day of, you cannot make your slot for any reason, please make sure to let me know even if you are signing up for a different slot.
If you have any outstanding work that you plan to make-up, it must be submitted 24 hours before your grade meeting.
In your self-reflection you questions you may consider answering include: What have you learned about yourself as a speaker? As a listener? As a critical thinker and interpreter of sources? What worked for you or didn’t work for you in terms of this course overall? Were there exercises, readings, or discussions that were particularly helpful? Particularly awful? In terms of preparing for presentations what helped? What might you take away from this course for the future? What do you feel you still could improve on or work towards? Were there things you took away that could apply to other areas of school or life?
Look back at the initial course learning outcomes – do you feel you’ve made progress toward these?
Finally, what grade would you give yourself? What is your justification for this?
As with any writing, the more you can support your statements with examples, the stronger it will be.
This self-reflection process is meant to solidify for you what you have learned this semester in terms of both concrete and abstract ideas. Please think critically and be honest. Please be honest with yourself and with me as it is the best way for both of us to improve as learners. Remember, this and our individual grade meeting are considered your final exam and failure to submit it will affect your grade outcome.
Again, your reflection is due a minimum of 24 hours before your grade meeting. -
No Class 10/15 and Citations
Hi Everyone,
I hope you all got a bit of a break on the longer weekend. As a reminder, we do NOT have class tonight as it is a Monday according to CUNY. Our next class meeting is Tuesday, 10/22.
For Sunday 10/20, ahead of class, you should have completed module 6 and submitted your citations for the fairy tale research project. You do not need the annotations yet, though I encourage you to be working on them already. You can submit these via Blackboard or directly by email: [email protected].
You will need access to whatever sources you find in some form so that you can read/watch them to be able to write a strong analytical annotation. When you cite the source, please cite what you are actually looking at and where you found it. This may mean including a longer citation for example:
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Season 3, Episode 87, “Fractured Fairy Tales – Little Fred Riding Hood.” Aired 1961. Television. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Untn2thqA
If you are citing an older text, such as from the Grimm Brothers, make sure that you are including who the translator is of the text as well as where you found it.
Sometimes this may take a bit of digging to figure out. If you can’t somewhat easily find part of the citation information, make sure to include n.d (no date), translator unknown, etc.
If you haven’t yet found a source or a struggling to find one, check out the Resources page on the course site or email me. I would rather you send me what citations you do have than not send me any at all.
I encourage you to spend this ‘bonus’ week working on this project and potentially reading ahead in the modules.
Please be in touch with any questions,
SB
What you will do each week
Modules
Each week, there is a module comprising texts, videos, and activities
Modules are due on Sundays at Noon
Engage
Between Sunday and Tuesday night, respond to discussions and give feedback.
Class Session
Tuesdays /6:30 – 7:45 pm
