Context and Background
As I was looking for ways to contribute to my community at High Tech Elementary North County, I came up with the idea of doing book talks periodically in classes. It’s a great way for me to connect with students, build a culture of readers, and model a practice that teachers and students can all use when recommending books. I was gathering books for my first round of talks in our book room and classroom libraries and noticed that there were some gaps in the books that were available for students.
The equity dilemma that I am most drawn to at my school involves access to books for all readers, particularly in the 4th and 5th grade. We have a diverse population in our school, and finding access to books about kids in our school and by authors who look like the kids in our school is tough. This issue is not particular to our school. Of the 3,400 children’s books written in 2011, 3% of those were written with or about Latino characters (“For Young Latino Readers, an Image Is Missing,” 2012). When students see and read books that mirror themselves, it builds their self-concept and can reinforce the possibilities they have in the world (Bird, 2014). In addition to a lack of cultural diversity in books at my site, I was also drawn toward increasing the number of books that might interest boy readers in particular who have yet to become “wild readers” (Miller, 2014).
My background as an English teacher will help inform this work in the classrooms and for my school. My literacy practices were heavily influenced by the work of Donalyn Miller who writes in The Book Whisperer about the importance of getting to know readers and getting the right books in their hands (Miller, 2009). She uses book talks to introduce students to a wide variety of texts and also as a way to cultivate a culture of reading. In my classes, we set up a culture of readers by taking away a lot of the structures that teachers tend to put in place that actually hinder student growth toward lifelong reading. I’ve always felt that this is important work; for students to become lifelong readers means that the world is open to them. In addition to the pleasure of reading, books can also open up conversations that push our understanding of the world. If students cannot relate to the books they are reading or get a sense that books are only representing certain groups of students, what message is that sending?
One of my favorite challenges in class is to help my readers find the right books that will spark a love for reading. In order to do this, I have become an avid reader of young adult books and constantly push myself to be aware of new titles and interesting books for students. I also really enjoy talking with students about books they have enjoyed. We did book talks in my class regularly and I have a running list of books that sparked reading interest in my students. In all this work, an equity lense for student interests was definitely used, but not toward different family structures or cultural backgrounds. My school was made up of 97% white students, but I see that providing a wide range of experiences for my students to interact with was very important, regardless of the makeup of the school. Delpit argues for “…identifying and giving voice to alternative worldviews” (Delpit, 1998).
Taking all of these components into the current dilemma at my school, I hope to connect with students, provide books at their interest level, and allow access to a wide range of texts that represent their lives. I’d like students to see themselves in the books they read and connect their life with the characters they find in books.
The Plan
The first step to my work was to inventory the books that we have. Amanda gave my access to the Booksource spreadsheet that catalogues all the books at the school. I also spent time in all four teachers’ rooms looking at the books that they have. My initial findings were that we needed books starring people of color, written by authors of color. We needed more than the “casual diversity” often found in books- where characters have skin color difference, but the dialogue, cultural references, and deeper elements of culture are lacking (Bird, 2012). After I inventoried what we had already at school, I did some research online, starting at weneeddiversebooks.com. I remembered a movement on Twitter from a couple years ago, #weneeddiversebooks, and knew that would provide me a jumping off point for books that represented my students. I also interviewed kids. I asked them what they like to read, what books they have enjoyed in the past, what kinds of stories they like, and what they’d like to see in their class.
From here, I ordered a first round of books to add to our school’s collection. I paid particular attention to books for boys who did not see themselves as readers yet, graphic novels, and books by and representing Latinos and African Americans. This work feels to be in alignment with what Delpit refers to as the issues of power within the classroom. If my perspective or the limited perspective of what my students have been exposed to for books informs the book selection in my class, that is a power issue that will continue to leave some students at a deficit (1995). I have to work very hard to find resources and support authors and books that are representative of the diversity we have in our classrooms. This is a big task, as there is a severe lack of diverse books at this time. As I’m finding with all equity issues, it’s not enough to just support what’s already happening, I need to push vocally for what is right- be vocal about the fact that we need diverse books, question the publishers who continue to focus on white authors and white books, and support the work that represents diversity of student populations.
Amanda and I also had some great conversations in this area. She identified this equity issue with the younger grades as school was beginning and used the site Lee and Low to purchase books for the primary grades. Her background in the younger grades and mine with the upper grades really complimented each other and allowed us to address this issue school-wide.
Next Steps
One of the aspects that drew me toward this dilemma is that my work can be ongoing this year. I have a book talk planned in fifth grade tomorrow, will be doing read aloud in another fifth grade class next week, and have future book talks planned in the other classes as well. I did one small order of books last week and will be presenting those titles tomorrow. As I get to know the students better and continue to talk with them, I will order additional titles that interest them. My hope is that they will see me as a reading resource and will grow to become what Donalyn Miller refers to as “wild readers” themselves (2014).
With the four classes that we have in fourth and fifth grade, I’d like to set up a regular schedule where I go in to talk about books and hear what they are gravitating toward. I’d like to continue with a book talk in 4th tomorrow, list books we need to get, generate lists from the kids, spend a lot of time with them during reading time, and build a connection with them through books. From their interests, I’ll also continue to learn about diverse books and push to get those in their hands.
Major Takeaways
Being very deliberate about books that are culturally diverse is a new focus for me. While I always try to match books with student interest, my past school did not have many students of color. I definitely had some books, mostly historical fiction, that represented different groups, but not enough as I look back. Rich, 2012, gives an insight to grapple with: “If all they read is Judy Blume or characters in the “Magic Treehouse” series who are white and go on adventures,” said Mariana Souto-Manning, an associate professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, “they start thinking of their language or practices or familiar places and values as not belonging in school.” I have been noticing an aversion to home language from some of the second and third grade students and I wonder what impact literature plays on this.
Access to books of interest for all students allows me to put into practice a very broad definition of equity. In this regard, it involves book types, genres, reading levels, past experiences, and interest areas. In addition, student interest gets wrapped up into equity in this dilemma in many different ways. My thoughts about “good books for kids” have to be really broad in order to reach all of my learners. I have to actively seek out books outside of my reading norm and continually ask kids what their interests are.
All kids need to have access to books so they can be readers- this may mean that the books they want may push some boundaries at times or are unexpected at a certain grade level, but they need to represent the kids who are reading them, and should have authors that represent a variety of backgrounds
Beginning Implementation
I’ve been able to get some books into kids’ hands, but I have not had a chance to follow up and see how the books are coming along. In one fifth grade class, the teacher just began a book called Counting by 7’s, which features a Vietnamese family raising a white girl with OCD whose parents recently died in a car crash. I am currently reading Newberry Honor book Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson, a black author who has been instrumental in the We Need Diverse Books movement. Once I finish this books and can provide a book talk for classes, I’ll be sharing this text with students and teachers.
This will be an ongoing project for me this year, and one that I will be more successful with if I enlist the help of teachers, students, and families in this work. I’d like to open this discussion up to families and create additional awareness in our community about the need for diversity in books and authors that represent our students.
References:
Delpit, L. (1995). The silenced dialogue: power and pedagogy in educating other people’s children. In
Other people’s children (pps. 21-26). New York: The New Press.
Miller, D., & Anderson, J. (2009). The book whisperer: Awakening the inner reader in every child.
San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass.
Miller, D., & Kelley, S. (n.d.). Reading in the wild: The book whisperer’s keys to cultivating lifelong
reading habits.
Rich, M. (2012, December 4). For Young Latino Readers, an Image is Missing. New York Times.
September 16, 2015, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/education/young-latino-students-dont-see-themselves-in-book
We Need Diverse Books . . . But Are We Willing to Discuss Them With Our Kids? (Bird, 2014).
Retrieved September 25, 2015.