Teaching Grades K6 through Multicultural Literature

1
Teaching Grades K-6 through Multicultural
Literature

• Tammy Self
• November 2, 2007

2
Introduction

• Literature is a powerful tool to teach children
  about the world, themselves, and others.
  Literature takes children beyond their own lives,
  broadening their backgrounds, developing their
  imaginations, and enabling them to grow in
  understanding and respect for others.

3
Overview

• What is multicultural literature ?
• The importance of having multicultural literal.
• Important characteristics of multicultural
  literature.
• Knowledge bases needed by teachers for presenting
  multicultural literature.
• Major authors and illustrators of multicultural
  literature.
• Examples of recommended books.

4
What is multicultural literature ?

• We will define multicultural literature as works
  that reflect the multitude of cultural groups
  within in the United States. To address these
  issues of multiculturalism that are prevalent to
  childrens literature, focusing on literature
  that reflects ethnic and regional groups whose
  cultures have not been largely represented.

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The Importance of Having Multicultural Literature

• The rapidly shifting demographics of school -aged
  children, as well as continuing projections for
  the future, suggest that the enrollment of
  children who are culturally and linguistically
  different from what is considered the mainstream
  U.S. culture will continue to increase.
  Multicultural literature provides cultural wealth
  to both young and old.

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Important characteristics of multicultural
literature

• Cultural Authenticity

The Mexican American reader
can have a shared experience and
understanding with the author of the book.
Another culture can gain
insights from these authentic depictions of the
culture.
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Characteristics Continued

• Perspective Insider or Outsider

Insider Perspective
Laurence Yep was born in San Francisco,
however, His parents were immigrants from China.
Mr. Yep is writing from an inside perspective
8
Characteristics Continued

• Willy Wong American
• (picture of book
  unavailable)
• The author, Vanya Oakes, was not from
  Chinese
• descendants her perspective was from the
  outside.

9
Characteristics Continued

• Stereotyping and Other Unacceptable
• Depictions Of Cultural Groups
• Stereotypes or Unacceptable
  depictions
• are negative attributes that
  are assumed
• to be true for many things,
  especially
• cultures.

10
Characteristics Continued

• Identification of Cultural Groups
• The following groups should be
  included
• under multicultural
  literature

Jewish Americans Applachian Americans European
Americans Muslim Americans and the Middle
East African Americans Asian Americans Latino
Americans Native Americans
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Knowledge Bases Needed By Teachers for Presenting
Multicultural Literature

• Self Knowledge
• Every teacher needs to become aware of
  the influence of their own cultural. Possibly a
  teachers culture, language, social interests,
  goals, cognitions, and values especially if
  different from the students could create a
  barrier to understanding the value of the
  presented literature.
• Cultural Knowledge
• Celebrating the cultural similarities
  among diverse cultural groups has been promoted
  by educators as a way of uniting all cultural
  groups in the United States. The knowledge of
  cultural differences that exist among your
  students will enable you as an educator to
  understand and appreciate diverse backgrounds and
  lifestyles.

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Knowledge Bases Continued ..

• Linguistic Knowledge
• To effectively reach all students,
  educators need to understand how students
  patterns of communication and various dialects
  affect their classroom learning. This lack of
  understanding, awareness, and communication on
  the part of the teachers will lead to
  disengagement, disinterest, and boredom for the
  students and frustration for the teachers.
• Culturally Informed Teaching Knowledge
• This knowledge enables educators to
  create collaborative and culturally sensitive
  classroom environments, cultural patterns in
  classroom verbal interactions, and other cultural
  dimensions of reciprocal interaction and dialogic
  instruction that encourages the participation and
  engagement of diverse students.

13
Knowledge Bases Continued

• Knowledge of Multicultural Materials and
• Literacy Methods
• Teachers realize that there is not one
  best way
• to teach all students instead,
  a variety of instructional
• strategies should be
  incorporated. Because of cultural
• differences, not all students are
  comfortable asking
• questions. Using multicultural
  literature helps students
• broaden cultural awareness or honor
  students culture.

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Knowledge Bases Continued

• Knowledge of Home School Relationships
• Another aspect of using multicultural
  literature is to knowledge
• of home and school relationships.
  Educators need to include
• parents and caregivers in their
  childrens literacy development.
• By collaborating with parents and
  families, schools can help increase
• literacy development of children.

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Major Authors and Illustrators

• Alma Flor Ada
• She was born in Cuba, educated in Spain and
  Peru, and now lives in San Francisco. Ada was
  surrounded by story tellers while growing up and
  she has included retellings of these stories.
  Below are many of her wonderful books.

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Authors Continued

• Arnold Adoff
• Mr. Adoff was born in the Bronx and began
  his teaching career in Harlem. He was disturbed
  to find that the textbooks his students were
  using included very little literature that
  reflected their lives.

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Authors Continued

• Joseph Bruchac
• Mr. Bruchacs rich cultural heritage includes
  Abenaki ancestry, and
• his writing is lauded for its
  authentic images of Native Americans.

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Authors Continued

• Ashley Bryan
• Mr. Bryan can never remember when he was not
  writing. He developed his own style based on the
  influences of the art of his African ancestors.

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Examples of Recommended Books

• Childrens literature is a powerful tool to
  teach children about their world, themselves and
  
• OTHERS.
• Use many sources from different cultures in your
  large group reading, small group reading, and
  reading centers.

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Recommended Books

• African and African American
• Whos in Rabbits House ?
• by
• Venna Aardena
• Through My Eyes
• by
• Ruby Bridges

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Books Continued

• Do Like Kayla
• by
• Angela Johnson
• Flossie and the Fox
• by
• Patricia
  McKissaak

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Books Continued

• Asian and Asian American
• Baseball Saved Us
• by
• Ken Mochizuki
• Ghost Train
• by
• Paul Lee

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Books Continued

• The Journey
• by
• Sheila Hamanaka
• Sam and the Lucky Money
• by
• 
  Karen Chinn

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Books Continued

• Latino
• Before We Were Free
• by
• 
  Julia Alvarez
• The Pot that Juan
  Built
• 
  by
• Nancy Andrews -
  Goebel

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Books Continued

• Gracias, the Thanksgiving Turkey
• by
• Joy Cowley
• Harvesting Hope
• by
  
• 
  Kathleen Krull

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Books Continued

• Native American
• Cheyenne Again
• by
• Eve Bunting
• The Mud Pony
• by
• Caron Lee Cohen

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Books Continued

• Morning Girl
• by
• Michael Dorris
• Pacific Crossing
• by
• 
  Gary Soto

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Golden Nugget

• There is no one right way to think and feel,
  and no society can claim to have all of the right
  answers we each gain perspective and insight
  into our world by examining the perspective of
  other societies and cultures. (Lapp, 2004, p.82)

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Summary

• The use of multicultural childrens literature
  is one of the most powerful ways for schools to
  honor students culture and foster cross-cultural
  understanding. Teachers also can use
  multicultural literature depicting childrens
  worlds as a means to bridge home and school
  cultures.

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Print Resources

• Coelho, Elizabeth, (1998). Teaching and Learning
  in Multicultural Schools.
• Oregon Multilingual Matters Limited. ( Useful
  for teachers).
• Elliott, Joan B., Dupuis, Mary M. (2002). Young
  Adult literature in the
• Classroom Reading It, Teaching It, Loving It.
  LongBeach International
• Reading Association. (Useful for teachers).
• Harris, Violet J.,(2003). Teaching Multicultural
  Literature in Grades K-8.
• Norwood Christopher-Gordon Publisher. (Useful
  for teachers).
• Lapp, Diane, (2004). Teaching All the Children.
  New York City Guilford Publications.
• (Useful for teachers).
• Opitz, Michael F., (1998). Literacy Instruction
  for Culturally and Linguistically
• Diverse Students. LongBeach International
  Reading Association. (Useful for teachers).
• Popp, Marcia S., (2005). Teaching Language and
  Literature in Elementary Classrooms.
• Hillsdale Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (Useful
  for teachers.)

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Websites

• Higgins, Jennifer Johnson (2002, January).
  Multicultural Childrens Literature
• Creating and Applying an Evaluation Tool in
  Response to the Needs of
• Urban Educators. Retrieved October 15, 2007,
  from
• http//www.newhorizons.org/strategies/multicultur
  al/higgins.htm
• Lynch, Heather, Tennille, Stephanie (n.d.).
  Dispelling the Myth A Study of
• Cultures A Webquest on Cultural Diversity for
  Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth
• Grade Students. Retrieved October 17, 2007,
  from
• http//www.coe.west.asu.edu/students/stennille/st
  3/webquest.html
• McBroom, Donna (n.d.). Teaching the Concept of
  Equality Through Literature.
• Retrieved October 20, 2007, from
• http//www.unm.edu/abqteach/usa/00-05-06.htm
• Phillips, Deborah, Crowell, Nancy A. (1994).
  Cultural Diversity and Early
• Education. Retrieved October 17, 2007, from
• http//www.nap.edu/html/earlyed/contents.html

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Website Annotations

• http//www.newhorizons.org/strategies/multicultur
  al/higgins.htm
• This website can be used by teachers or
  parents. The article focuses on defining
• authentic multicultural childrens literature
  and appropriate evaluation strategies for
• choosing authentic literature.
  Example consult local ethnic communities and
  multicultural
• resources for suggestions on
  what to include in a multicultural literature
  curriculum.
• http//www.coe.west.asu.edu/students/stennille/st
  3/webquest.html
• This website can be used by teachers. This
  article focuses on goals, tasks, activities, and
• self evaluation for lesson plans that teach
  cultural diversity through the use of
  multicultural
• literature. Example children do
  online research on the various cultures that are
  read about.
• http//www.unm.edu/abqteach/usa/00-05-06.htm
• This website is for teachers. This article is
  written from a middle school teacher's
• perspective on how to implement
  a multicultural literature in the classroom.
  Example Students write essays as to why they
  are proud of their ethnicity.

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Website Annotations Continued

• http//www.nap.edu/html/earlyed/contents.html
• This website would be mainly for teachers. This
  website is an outline
• and details of a workshop
  concerning cultural diversity and early
• education. The information
  discusses the challenge of cultural diversity.
  
• Children bring cultural values from
  home to the classroom and what the
• implications for multicultural
  literature in early education. Example
• Explore with students how to
  bridge the gap between home and
• school.
• http//www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cn
  tareas/reading/li400.htm
• This website would be for teachers. This
  article explains in detail what
• an educator needs to do on a
  personal bases to prepare for teaching
• multicultural literal. Example
  Place more multicultural literature within
• educators room.