ERIC Identifier: ED436009
Publication Date: 1999-12-00
Author: Lu, Mei-Yu
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading
English and Communication Bloomington IN.
Online Resources for K-12 Teachers: Children's and Adolescent
Literature. ERIC Digest D149.
With the increasing popularity of the Internet, teachers now are actively
seeking online resources that will support the preparation of their lessons.
This Digest aims to provide useful Internet resources for K-12 teachers who
would like to integrate children's and adolescent literature into their
curriculum. Preparation of this Digest began with a retrospective review of
literature-related questions received over the last two years by the Reference
staff of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication. Four
categories of frequently posed requests were then identified: (1)
literature-based lesson plans, (2) aids to materials selection, (3) online
publications for and by K-12 students, and (4) professional development
resources. Finally, using Abdullah's (1998) guides for website evaluation, we
selected the following websites for each of these
LITERATURE-BASED LESSON PLANS
In a survey entitled "Hot
Spots: Picks of Language Arts Websites" (Lu & Abdullah, 1999), respondents
commented that the best websites were characterized by a high level of immediate
applicability. Teachers who responded to the survey indicated that the most
useful sites were those providing a wide array of practical teaching ideas.
These are some children's and adolescent literature websites recommended for
Teachers Guides and Student Activities
Developed as part of the SCORE (Schools of California Online Resources for
Education) Language Arts Project, Cyberguides are web-delivered units of
instruction centered on core works of literature. These guides are arranged by
broad grade levels (K-3, 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12), and each Cyberguide contains
background information of a particular title, learning activities, related
resources, and a rubric based on California Language Arts Content Standards.
Doucette Index: K-12 Literature-based Teaching Ideas
The Doucette Index is a major section in the Children's Literature Web Guide,
one of the major children's and adolescent literature websites. This site hosts
a searchable database of children's and young adult books. Upon typing in the
title of a book or an author's name, the database displays a list of references,
containing both online and book resources, for teaching a particular work by the
to Internet Sites: Children's and Young Adult's Authors and Illustrators
A project of the Internet School Library Media Center at James Madison
University, this webpage is a meta-site designed to foster easy access to
curriculum related sites. It collects links to biographical information, lesson
plans, and other information that focus on specific children's and young adult
authors/illustrators. In addition, this site also features the following
resources: (1) bibliographies of children's authors/illustrators, (2) print
biographies and autobiographies, (3) author birthdays, and (4) author/
illustrator public appearance schedules.
Maine Samplers provide a list of detailed guides to literature- based
activities. These activities are a cooperative project written by teachers and
librarians based on the Maine Student Book Awards. These guides provide an
assortment of activities related to children's and young adult literature. They
often include activities to be conducted on the Internet.
AIDS TO MATERIALS SELECTION
Thousands of trade books and
reading materials targeted at children and young adults are published each year.
Teachers are thus challenged by how and what to choose for their classroom use.
In this section, we identify some sites containing criteria for materials
selection and booklists suitable for students of various ages and interests.
Review of Materials
This site is produced by the Manitoba Library Association. Although Canadian
based, many titles reviewed in this site are also available profiles of
children's authors/illustrators, (2) reviews of currently published children's
and young adult books, and (3) information on recently released multi-media,
including audiobooks, videotapes, and CD-ROMs.
Literature/Young Adult Literature Book Review Source for K-12
From James Madison University, this site covers a variety of book review
sources focusing on children's and adolescent literature. Four types of book
review resources are represented: (1) professional periodicals that review
children's and young adult books, (2) online book review sources by one or a
group of reviewers, (3) book reviews by children and young adults, and (4) books
reviewed by commercial sources.
This site, a section from Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site, provides
reviews of booklists for children Pre-K to grade 9. Readers can find reviewed
books grouped by title, author, type of book, and grade level. Some of the
titles also include teaching ideas, related books, and resources in addition to
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS FOR AND BY K-12 STUDENTS
Research has shown that publishing students' work helps them develop positive
attitudes toward writing (Balcer, 1990), promotes self-esteem (Novek, 1992), and
encourages better quality work (Nodsle, 1990; Novek, 1992; Simic, 1993). Here,
we suggest three websites that both publish and offer literacy projects to K-12
Kids' Space is a personal page at Interport Communications, with participants
from the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and Japan. This site exists
to foster literacy, artistic expression, and cross-cultural understanding among
the world's children. It includes activities for art, literacy, music, and
Magazine: The Digital Magazine for Kids By Kids from 8 to 18
Intended for children aged 8 to 18, this online magazine is sponsored by SAS
inSchool, North Carolina State University, and the University of Central
Florida. Four issues are published each year, and each issue includes
literature-based projects for students of different grades and interests,
information on innovative schools from around the world, and a teacher resource
room with various lesson plans.
Zone at the Internet Youth Library Youth Division
The Internet Library is an educational initiative by the School of
Information at the University of Michigan. This site includes literature of
various genres for children of different ages and interests. It also provides a
wide array of online literacy activities, information regarding
authors/illustrators, and resources for educators and parents.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES
In this section, we
highlight websites that inform educators of issues and news in the field of
children's and adolescent literature, and that also provide a variety of
resources for teachers to advance their skills.
Children's Literature Web Guide
The Children's Literature Web Guide is the most current and comprehensive
resource on children's and adolescent literature in education. This site
assembles and categorizes the rapidly growing Internet resources related to
books for children and young adults. Its special features include a searchable
lesson plan database, lists of book awards and quality literature for youth,
issues and news regarding children's and young adult literature, and a
This website supports serious scholarship and research in children's
literature among professionals. To encourage high standards of criticism in
children's literature, the Children's Literature Association offers several
awards, fellowships, and scholarships to assist members in research. It also
promotes several Children's and Young Adult Literature Study Programs. This
association has several publications, including the ChLA Quarterly and
Children's Literature Journal, which feature articles on authors, illustrators,
and periods of children's literature, as well as interpretive essays and book
Abdullah, M. H. (1998). Guidelines for
evaluating websites. ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication.
[ED 436 440]
Balcer, B. T. (1990). Give your students a reason to write: Help them get
published. Learning, 19 (4), 52-55. [EJ 425 086]
Lu, M.-Y. & Abdullah, M. H. (1999). Hot spots: Picks of language arts
websites. San Diego, CA: Paper presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the
International Reading Association.
Nodsle, C. (1990). Every student an author. Perspectives in Education and
Deafness, 9 (2), 21. [EJ 424 447]
Novek, E. M. (1992). Newsmaking, a tool for self-determination: Urban high
school students publish a community newspaper. Paper presented at the 75th
Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass
Communication. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. [ED 349 578]
Simic, M. (1993). Publishing children's writing. Bloomington, IN: ERIC
Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication. [ED 363 884]
Digest #149 is EDO-CS-99-10 and was published in December 1999 by the ERIC
Clearinghouse on Reading, English and Communication, 2805 E 10th Street,
Bloomington, IN 47408-2698, Telephone (812) 855-5847 or (800) 759-4723.