Abstract
Utilizing literature in classrooms that is representative of all provides opportunities for students to find within a book the truth of their own experiences. Literature provides the windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors that afford opportunities to consider multiple perspectives and lenses in life. This chapter discusses different representations of diverse literature in classrooms and explores what educators might consider for their teaching and learning. Specifically, the chapter describes books student teachers identify using in their classrooms and considers how the books aligned with the different categories of a rubric used to assess them. Of the 113 books sampled, only nine books distinctly represented diversity. Implications of these findings and how they can support and challenge the children's literature utilized in today's classrooms are discussed.
TopBackground
Historically, the importance of multicultural education and diversity in literature is well established (Bishop, 1992; Henderson et al., 2020; Johnson & Koss, 2016; Kelly et al., 2020; Willett, 1995). In 1992, for example, Nieto stated:
Key Terms in this Chapter
Elementary: Grade levels typically inclusive of kindergarten to sixth grade.
Diversity: A representation of the many different types of people, including characteristics such as race, class, socioeconomic background, ability, gender, identity, and so on.
Qualitative: Research focused on collecting and analyzing data through a pattern-seeking lens. Researchers use methods such as coding and memoing to identify themes and patterns in data.
Content Analysis: A method of qualitative research leading to the development of grounded theory about a topic. The process typically involves studying and evaluating data for potential themes.
Children’s Literature: Literature, including picture books, novels, nonfiction, graphic novels, and poetry written for children.
Rubric: A schema for evaluating a product.
Preservice Teachers: University students enrolled in an undergraduate or initial license teacher preparation program.