Edutopia’s Jaren Maynard has published an useful article titled ‘Going Beyond a Diverse Classroom Library.
ou’ve diversified your classroom library—now what?
We have been inundated with information telling us we need books that allow our students to see themselves in the text. We have created Amazon Wish Lists, DonorsChoose projects, and everything in between to make it happen. Now what?
Unfortunately, for a number of teachers, that’s that. All of these books will sit in the pretty bins that have been color-coded and labeled just for them. A student may glance at them every now and again, maybe even thumb through one during independent reading time. As far as these teachers are concerned, they have done their part.
But in reality, the real work has just begun.
Classroom libraries should include culturally inclusive texts. More important, though, teachers should be using these texts to affirm and challenge students in real and intentional ways.