151. Take a Close Look: Inventorying Your Classroom Library for Diverse Books
- Author
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Henderson, Janelle W., Warren, Katherine, Whitmore, Kathryn F., Flint, Amy Seely, Laman, Tasha Tropp, and Jaggers, Wanda
- Abstract
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.
- Published
- 2020
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