INFS 431 LITERATURE AND SERVICS FOR CHILDREN Session 11 – Guidelines For Selecting Materials For Children Lecturer: S. Nii Bekoe Tackie, School of Information and Communication Studies, Department of Information Studies Contact Information: snbtackie@ug.edu.gh College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Overview In providing materials for children, it is important to be mindful of who they are. At their level they are highly impressionistic such that if care is not taken in providing materials for them they may end up being corrupted by the materials they read. Hence, it is important that there should be guidelines for selecting reading materials for children. Slide 2 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Session Objectives At the end of the session, you should be able to: • Understand why guidelines are necessary for the selection of materials for children. • Identify factors that need to be considered when selecting materials for children. • Describe the criteria for selecting materials for children. Slide 3 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Session Outline The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows: Topic One: Factors to Consider Topic Two: Selectors of Materials for Children Topic Three: Criteria for Selecting Materials for Children Slide 4 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Topic One: FACTORS TO CONSIDER Slide 5 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Factors Many factors need to be considered in selecting materials for children to read. These include • The physical appearance of the material in terms of – its binding, – quality of paper, – font or typeface, etc.; Slide 6 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Factors(Cont.) • The basic purpose for selecting materials for children which is to increase their knowledge and to help them understand their fellow human beings and the world at large; • The fact that children will read with enjoyment only books which will fascinate and stimulate them; • The recognition that as children continue with the problems of growth, they need to learn about how to solve problems they encounter; • The need to encourage them to read progressively beyond their capacity. Slide 7 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
The Factors(Cont.) • Guidelines for the selection of reading materials for children covers – the quality of the material selected; – appropriateness of the contents of the material to be selected; – physical qualities of the material selected; and – the style of writing of the material. Slide 8 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
TOPIC TWO SELECTORS OF MATERIALS FOR CHILDREN Slide 9 S. NII BEKOE TACKIE
The Selectors Selectors of materials for children are found in the three key areas of children’s life. • These are – The home – The school – The public or community library • In the home parents are responsible for selection • In the school teachers are responsible. • Sometimes in the school there may be a book selection committee made up of – teachers (usually heads of the various subject departments), – representatives of parents, – the professional librarian of the school. S. Nii Bekoe Tackie Slide 10
The Selectors(Cont.) • In the context of the public library, – children will make suggestions on what they want to read; – teachers will make suggestions just as – parents also would make suggestions. • Final selection, however, is the responsibility of the professionally trained personnel. Slide 11 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
The Selectors(Cont.) • The selector needs to have a lot of knowledge about children’s literature. • He needs to read a lot of children’s books and • He needs to rely on publishers’ catalogues and book reviews. • In the case of parents, they may rely on the recommendations of other parents. Slide 12 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
TOPIC THREE CRITERIA FOR SELECTING Slide 13 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Quality of the material Quality of the material refers to the content of the material. The content must be evaluated on the basis of the presentation. This can be done on three levels namely: • Substance. • This means, the books should possess – ideas, – experiences, – a real life story or – definite information. • Virtually, any subject can be written on for children • Whether it will be accepted for children or not will depend on honesty and sensitivity of treatment that the author has given. Slide 14 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Quality of the material(Cont.) • Sincerity . This means that – the author must take his readers and what he says seriously such – that way he would be honest with the target audience. • Truth. This refers to reality. – There should be reality behind stories that are written for children. – This means the world must be shown as it appears to all manner of people who live in it. – Falsehood should not be offered as truth. – If the writer does that, it would be difficult for children to differentiate between fact and fiction. Slide 15 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Quality of the material(Cont.) • Characters in children’s books must be shown to be law abiding, – children’s books must portray right ways of behaviour and right way of thinking about issues. • The moment children begin to read from picture books upwards • They begin to directly or indirectly acquire a background or attitude of what they read about people in terms of – what they think and do; and – what they accept or reject. • There are certain attitudes that children should not acquire. • When they start showing such attitudes and the right books are not selected for them, obviously they would grow into bad habits. Slide 16 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Quality of the material(Cont.) • Attitudes such as – prejudice, – violence, – cruelty, – intolerance • should not be exposed to children. • Children should rather be exposed to right attitudes like – kindness, – peacefulness, the – desire to help other people, and the – ability to accept responsibilities. • Books must not bring to ridicule wholesome human relations. • Books ought to strengthen the relationship between children and parents and the entire family. Slide 17 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Appropriateness of the contents of the book This is about the topics that have been treated in relation to the target audience. • For example, will it be appropriate to introduce children to stories about – divorce, – death, – horrors of war, – rape, etc. • Due cognisance must be given to the background and interest that the book seeks to portray. Slide 18 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Appropriateness of the contents of the book • It must also be decided whether children would be educationally advantaged or disadvantaged by the book to be selected. – If Children are disadvantaged educationally, then we need to have easy readers and picture books. – If the children come from enlightened backgrounds, then they may depend on more young adult materials. • Children need books that will help them to know the world in all its dimensions, – Rural children need to read stories or books about urban areas and – Urban children need to read stories about the life of rural areas. Slide 19 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Physical Qualities of the Book Physical qualities of the book should be based on three main factors • attractiveness; • readability; • durability. Slide 20 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Attractiveness An ideal book should be pleasant to look at. • An attractive book stands out because of its quality which has to do with its – brightness and – its size. • The size of the book should not be too big because if it is too big, it will be clumsy to handle. • It should not be too small and thin. • Illustrations should be attractive because, children love to look at pictures. Slide 21 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Attractiveness(Cont.) Illustrations are not made in a vacuum, they should be understood. • They should help the children to visualise the message. • Some illustrations tell us things that cannot be said in words to the children. • Sometimes it is argued that illustrations in imaginary stories turn to confuse children. • However, if illustrations are appropriate, they help to stimulate children’s imagination. Slide 22 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Readability This refers to paper quality. • Paper quality is essential to help children to read the material. • If the paper is not of good quality, it will not help children to read. • For example, • pure white paper is not recommended because it strains the eye. • The colour of a good paper is off-white. Slide 23 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Readability(Cont.) • The thickness of the paper must be medium such that it can withstand rough handling; – if it is too thick turning the pages will be a proble – if too thin pages will easily tear off. • The font size should be clear and large to be easily read. – It must be simple and normal i.e. – it should not have stylistic designs. • If the typeface is not simple it will affect children’s writing. Slide 24 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Durability • Books for children should have adequate margins for binding purposes. • Children’s books must be sewed rather than stapled because of the heavy use that they are subjected to. • Sometimes children’s books are glued before sewing to reinforce the binding Slide 25 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
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