Multicultural+Literacy

A classroom is a setting that should promote, support, and recognize all cultures through the use of various forms of appropriate multicultural children’s literature in the 21st century educational environment. In today's society, teachers are educating a more diverse group of students than ever before. These students should see themselves reflected in the classroom literature and feel valued in the classroom. As Galda proposed in 1998, books act as windows and mirrors into other cultures. Students need to read these books in order to see themselves reflected in our society, as well as to see inside other cultures. There are thousands of picture books and other children’s literature published that can be used to teach multiculturalism. This information will help individuals delve into multicultural education in a deeper manner, as well as books and activities that can be used to explore other cultures all while building respect for others who may be different.

In the later part of this information, you will find an outline for a staff development workshop. Our staff development workshop takes place over the course of a school year and includes teachers meeting once a month for a workshop. Workshops include group discussions, reflection and goal setting, presentation and activities to be used in the classroom. We followed the guidelines set forth by Barone and Morrow in their book, //Literacy and Young Children//, by allowing teachers to have voice and choice in the workshop all while encouraging them to actively participate in the creation of and activities during the workshop itself. Our workshops are resource-rich and, because they occur over a period of a year, we feel that this will allow for maximum learning for the teachers involved in the workshop.

We have included a PowerPoint in this portion of the Wiki for you to use as a resource. The PowerPoint includes information on Multicultural Literacy education in the early childhood education classroom. There is a link to a useful WebQuest in the PowerPoint to a Cinderella story that can be used for a classroom activity.



In addition to this PowerPoint, we have included an additional presentation that we found on the internet. It discusses various aspects of Multicultural Literature and how it relates to the early childhood classroom. We found it very helpful and hope you do, too.



Moreover, we have included a PowerPoint presentation that can be helpful for individuals who may not speak English and their family members. This PowerPoint provides a website resource that can help these students develop their English skills, gives their parents ideas for working on these things at home, and can provide activities and resources for classroom teachers who may have students who are unable to speak or read English.



In addition to the PowerPoint, please view our other useful resources below.

-Compton-Lilly, C. (2008). Teaching struggling readers: capitalizing on diversity for effective learning. //The Reading Teachers, 61//(8), 668-672. doi: 10.1598/RT.61.8.10.
 * Articles & Books**

-Gopalakrishnan, A. (2010). //Multicultural children’s literature: A critical issues approach.// Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

-Hade, D.D (n.d.) Reading multiculturally. In V. Harris (Ed.), //Using multiethnic literature in the K-8 classroom// (pp. 233-56). Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon

-Lewison, M., et. al., Dangerous Discourses: Using controversial books to support engagement, diversity, and democracy. //The New Advocate, 15.3,// 215-226

-Louie, B. Y. (2006). Guiding principles for teaching multicultural literature. //The Reading Teacher//, //59// (5). doi: 10.1598/RT.59.5.3

-Lu, M. (1998). Multicultural children’s literature in the elementary classroom. //ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading English and Communication//. Retrieved from http://www.ericdigests.org/1999-2/literature.htm.

-Morgan, H. (2009). Picture book biographies for young children: a way to teach multiple perspectives. //Early Childhood Education Journal//, 37(3), 219-227. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2b156877-c062-4687-94a4-e2bd0de6d9e3%40sessionmgr112&vid=11&hid=127.

-Norton, D. (2008). //Multicultural children's literature: through the eyes of many children.// NJ, Prentice Hall.

 -Stories Promoting Multiculturalism: This site houses a list of stories portraying cultural conflict as well as cultural diversity. ( [] multiculturalism.html)
 * Websites**

 -The Children’s Literature Web Guide: Internet resources related to books for children and young adults.  ( [|http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html] )

 -Teaching Cultural Sensitivity in the Classroom: A Scholastic resource that has several great articles relating to multicultural literature and cultural sensitive classrooms, including how to incorporate non-English speaking parents into the classroom.  ( [] .jsp?id=39)

-Celebrating Cultural Diversity Through Children’s Literature: Created by Dr. Robert F. Smith of Towson University, this site houses annotated bibliographies of children’s literature organized by culture as well as genre. (http://www.multiculturalchildrenslit.com/)

-Cinderella WebQuest: Students explore different versions of this classic tale from cultures around the world. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">(http://misskelly.org/cinderella/resources.htm)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> -How My Parents Learned To Eat WebQuest: After reading //How My Parents Learned to Eat//, students explore more facets of Japanese culture. ( http://stancock.iweb.bsu.edu/cyberlessons/Eat.html)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> -Preschool Picture Books: Early childhood education books that provide children with a glimpse of other cultures and traditions. ( [Multicultural%] 20Book)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> -CCBC: 50 Multicultural books every child should know organized by grade. Includes reviews. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> ( http://www. education  .wisc.edu/ccbc/books/detailListBooks.asp?idBookLists=42)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> -How to Choose the Best Multicultural Books: This is another Scholastic website that lists criteria for quality multicultural children’s literature organ ized according to culture. Under each culture there is a list of 10 books, followed by a list of authors and tips on finding high quality multicultural literature. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> ( [] . com/browse/article.jsp?id=3757)

<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">-Awards for Multicultural Youth Literature: This site lists and links to various awards given to multicultural children’s books including the Coretta Scott King Award and Pura Belpre Award. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> ( http://www.pages.drexel. edu/~dea22/  multaward.htm)

-ESL KidStuff has activities, lesson plans, and worksheets to incorporate non-English speaking students and their culture into the classroom. (http://www.eslkidstuff.com/)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">-346 Multicultural Literature: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI-fVz13pNw
 * Videos**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"> -The Levels of Multicultural Education: [] feature=fvwrel

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">-Multicultural Literature, Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7ghbGkMU0w

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">-Multicultural Literature, Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8nmiAmFnxE&NR=1

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">-Zinger Tales (videos of storytellers): [] zingertales.asp

-Webquests
 * Activities**

-Literature Circles

-Fishbowl

-Group Discussions

-Writing

As promised, we have given you access to the staff development plans we created. We have created this outline for the workshop through the use of Diane Barone and Lesley Morrow's book, //Literacy and Young Children//. They offer an outline and suggestions for implementing and creating an effective staff development workshop. Please take a look at the workshop!