ERIC Number: EJ1251943
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0034-0561
EISSN: N/A
Take a Close Look: Inventorying Your Classroom Library for Diverse Books
Henderson, Janelle W.; Warren, Katherine; Whitmore, Kathryn F.; Flint, Amy Seely; Laman, Tasha Tropp; Jaggers, Wanda
Reading Teacher, v73 n6 p747-755 May-Jun 2020
Classroom libraries are an important component of elementary classrooms. These collections support readers' literate identities, their motivation to read, and their access to texts that reflect a world outside of the classroom. Yet, many classrooms lack texts that mirror the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of students and their lived experiences. The authors--three elementary teachers (grades 1-3) and three teacher educators--inventoried the hundreds of books in the teachers' classrooms. The team discovered that the libraries lacked diversity across intersectional representations. Teacher-purchased books created the diversity that was present in each library, a lack of Black boy representation in transitional chapter books was evident, and the physical space of the libraries was problematic for young readers. The authors provide a strategy for classroom teachers to assess the contents of their own classroom libraries.
Descriptors: Libraries, Instructional Materials, Diversity, Elementary School Teachers, Books, Minority Group Students, Reading Interests
Wiley-Blackwell. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8598; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2429/WileyCDA
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A