FALL 2022 Missouri Reader Published in October 2022

Double-click to add text

2.provide “images of themselves and those they love; they will be learning how to make sense of their lives and experiences, the lives and experiences of others, and the world in which they live” (Crisp et al., 2016, p. 30).

3.“Fiction can hold up a mirror to the lives of students of diverse backgrounds, validating their experiences” (Lafferty, 2014, p. 208)

4.ensure that students “can read and connect with on some level while affirming their own cultural identities and hopefully developing important positive insights about others” (McNair, 2016, p. 381).

5.enable students to change their inaccurate attitudes and gain an appreciation of different cultures

6.highlight differences and similarities between people while helping them vanquish stereotypical views.

Done diversifying? Great! Now start promoting! Find a prominent place within the classroom for your library. Make sure it is attractive and well organized. To make browsing for books easy, face as many covers out as you can. It will make the books feel more accessible and appealing. Hang rain gutters and use plate stands to showcase even more books.

It is not enough to just have the books in your library. Read and share these books with enthusiasm so students will seek these books out. Read them “in a way that promotes reflection on self, society, history, opportunity, and possibilities” (Moller, 2016, p. 65).

Don’t forget...“Cultural issues, relationships, languages, understandings shift and change across time and context, and we need to be evaluating the contents of our libraries on an ongoing basis” (Crisp et al., 2016, p. 39).

References

Crisp, T., Knezek, S. M., Quinn, M., Bingham, G. E., Girardeau, K., & Starks, F. (2016). What’s

on our bookshelves? The diversity of children’s literature in early childhood classroom

libraries. Journal of Children’s Literature, 42(2), 29–42.

Howlett, K. M., & Young, H. D. (2019). Building a classroom library based on multicultural

principles: A checklist for future K-6 teachers. Multicultural Education, 26(3–4), 40–46.

Kleekamp, M. C., & Zapata, A. (2018). Interrogating depictions of disability in children's

picturebooks. The Reading Teacher, 72(5), 589–597. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1766

Lafferty, K. E. (2014). “What are you reading?”: How school libraries can promote racial diversity

in multicultural literature. Multicultural Perspectives, 16(4), 203–209.

https://doi.org/10.1080/15210960.2014.951888

McNair, J. C. (2016). #WeNeedMirrorsAndWindows: Diverse classroom libraries for K-6

students. The Reading Teacher, 70(3), 375–381. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1516

Moller, K. J. (2016). Creating diverse classroom literature collections using Rudine Sims

Bishop’s conceptual metaphors and analytical frameworks as guides. Master Teacher.

Journal of Children’s Literature, 42(2), 64–74.

Routman, R. (2018). Literacy essentials: engagement, excellence, and equity for all learners.

Stenhouse Publishers.

Wepner, S. B., Strickland, D. S., & Quatroche, D. J. (2013). The administration and supervision

of reading programs (5th ed.). Teachers College Press.

Monica Thomas grew up in South Dakota and met her husband at the University in North Dakota. They settled down in the Kansas City area to raise their family and teach students to read. Thomas has worked as a first grade, fourth grade, and now a second-grade teacher. She has also been a Reading Recovery Teacher, Title I Teacher, and a Reading Specialist.

FALL 2022 Missouri Reader Published in October 2022 | Page 43