Welcome back to the Culturally Responsive Instruction series from Scholastic Education Solutions! In part two, Dr. Amanda Alexander and Scholastic Professional authors – Dr. Julia López -Robertson, Dr. Kamania Wynter-Hoyte, and Jigisha Vyas – explore effective strategies educators can use to develop book-selection criteria that reflect students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
In this Q&A, the authors discuss how educators can glean a deeper understanding of:
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Why diverse literature in classroom instruction is important
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Strategies for developing and offering diverse texts
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Insights into how to integrate diverse texts effectively within the classroom
The Culturally Responsive Instruction series includes three webinars and follows the launch of the new Scholastic Literacy Framework. At the core of this framework is evidence-based literacy instruction which is further scaffolded with responsiveness, equity and belonging, well-being, and joy as important components to driving learning outcomes.
Check out the webinar here and read more below* to learn how literacy experts select materials that allow children to connect with their cultural identities and to recognize the beauty and power of the diversity of others.
Q. Why is it important to use culturally and linguistically diverse texts in the classroom?
[Jigisha Vyas] If we think back to Rudine Simms Bishop's work on windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors, it’s not just for the students we have within our classrooms for them to see themselves, but also providing that opportunity in a diverse, global world for children to understand, see, have empathy and representation for others.
I think if we lack representation within our classrooms, then we are lacking empathy, we're lacking engagement. It's really important to prioritize those diverse texts within our classrooms.
Q. What specific criteria do you consider when selecting culturally and linguistically diverse texts for your classrooms?
[Julia] I first want to make sure that the cultures are accurately represented. So for instance, there's this misnomer that if you're Latino, you're Mexican, and if you're Mexican, you speak Spanish because you're Mexican or Latino. Right? Then, in the books we tend to see where anyone who's Latino is depicted with, let's say big Mexican hats, lots of people around and overcrowding in housing. These are immediate red flags. These books will not accurately represent anyone — they're not respectful or dignified representations of the people who they're supposed to be representing.
Follow your gut and follow your instinct. If you have someone who belongs to that culture or knows a little bit more about that culture, ask them what they think.
Q. We’d love to talk a little bit about each of your own experiences with culturally diverse texts. I would love if you could share an example of a text that had a significant impact on your students and how you integrated it into your curriculum.
[Kamania] I teach pre-service teachers and in-service teachers and we work together when they're working with young learners. I like to make sure that my students, especially my writer's workshop class, use mentor texts that represent the children they teach. Oftentimes we get a curriculum that is prescribed, and we have mentor texts. It's usually European and very White, so I try to make sure that we get mentor texts that reflect the children that we're teaching and expose them to other cultures.
One book that I really like is Saturday by Oge Mora. It's a beautiful picture book about a mom and a daughter and what they do on Saturdays. I use it for kindergarten students to teach them how to label their pictures because in the book it just has beautiful labeling throughout. Another book that I love is Come On Rain, and it has beautiful use of language, so I use that book to model how we write the script of writing, how we read this book as a writer and think about the adjectives and metaphors that the author is using.
Q. Let’s talk now about teaching strategies and activities that you’ve used to promote critical thinking and discussion around diverse texts in your classroom. Can you share a strategy or two?
[Jigisha] Students feel a sense of belonging when they can have their identity recognized and appreciated for what they're sharing. Conversation circles allow space for empathy and for connection. What I often practice, too, is after a question about the text, a follow up might be, "What's something you learned from someone else or something you heard someone else say that maybe changed your mind?" It helps build community and challenge students to think “I can hear another perspective and put myself in that position to understand what someone else is saying.” So that's one of the practices that I've been trying to build community and anchoring it within read-alouds.
[Julia] One of the things that we do a lot is read books to children and then engage with them in discussions. There are so many people out there who will say, "Well, they're four years old, what can they possibly have to say?" or, "They're not capable of critical thought because their brains are still forming." You hear all these negative things that people say about the children. But if we as adults stop and listen to what they have to say, they really say some really deep things. I always ask them “What does this make you think of?” or “ Does anything like this look familiar to you?”
We need to give them time to actually think about what the question is, because we're so quick to give a question and want a response that they don't have time to really listen to what we're saying. So ask the question, listen to their response, and help them work with each other to listen.
Q. How do you measure the impact of using diverse texts on students’ cultural awareness, empathy, and overall development? Can you share any success stories or outcomes from your experience?
[Kamania] I recently had lunch with a former student, and she's a classroom teacher now. She does not go by the scripted program; she centers her curriculum around her students. One day, they were talking about what was fair and what was not fair, so she built a whole unit on activism. She brought in picture books of multiple people who are activists, looked at the phonics goal that she was supposed to do, and then she pulled those words from the picture book, and that's how she taught her phonics lesson. She centers the curriculum around the students, and lets them guide the discussions, and then she connects it to everything that she's expected to do as far as the mandated curriculum.
This former student of mine was an African American student who didn't realize the historical roots of Gullah Geechee until we taught it. Even when I have students who don’t realize that their language is a legitimate language, and that it has West African roots, that shows the impact of my instruction. In my instruction, we make sure that we go to the beginnings of pre-colonization and that we show teachers how to incorporate this knowledge within their instruction to young children. I understand that we still have things that we have to do as far as state standards and sometimes scripted reading programs. So for me, the impact is when my teachers realize how to do this work in whatever setting that they're in and they find joy and they find the community to do this work in.
Q. How can you help teachers face their fears or challenges when implementing culturally and linguistically diverse teaching and text into the classroom? How can we help teachers overcome their apprehension about this work?
[Julia] I think it starts small. Select your book, read the book, know the book, be intentional about the places you want to stop in that book, become familiar with the culture that's represented in that book, so that you can give your students some background. Maybe even choose books that some of the children in your classroom represent and ask them to give you some feedback.
I think a lot of times when we go to workshops, we hear things like, "Oh, I want to do that in my class on Monday," and you do the same thing, but then it didn't have the impact that you wanted it to because you didn't give yourself time to prepare properly. So start small, be intentional, know what you're doing, and be prepared to fail. And if it doesn't work, try it again another time because more times than not, it's not going to work the first time you do it and we can't give up.
By incorporating diverse texts within the K-12 curriculum, educators can help create spaces within the classroom environment that allow children to explore their identities and connect with others. Introducing children to culturally responsive materials that reflect their heritage and linguistic background will encourage students to become more empathetic, more aware of their surroundings, and more curious about the world around them.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
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Julia López -Robertson, Ph.D., is a Professor at the University of South Carolina. She is committed to working with children, families, and teachers to advance the understanding and strengths possessed by emergent bilinguals and their families. She does a lot in the family and community engagement space. Dr. López -Robertson is the author of Celebrating Our Cuentos.
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Kamania Wynter-Hoyt, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor also at the University of South Carolina, and her teaching and scholarship focuses on brilliance, joy, and the stories of diverse young learners. She is a co-author of Revolutionary Love.
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Jigisha Vyas is an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University. She's an instructional coach for the Wyckoff School District. She's a certified mindful educator and yoga instructor with over a decade of experience and has worked in many communities with different age groups with leadership in special education and general education. She is a co-author of Read-Alouds with Heart.
*Contact us for more information about culturally responsive instruction resources.
*This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
