Multicultural Literacy

Reaching All Students

As teachers of rich and diverse student populations, we must implement curricula that positively impact and affirm their  knowledge, beliefs and engagement.

Literature

Writing

Language

A Place to Start

THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY

Teachers are very aware of the importance of differentiation in instruction, but this ideal applies not only to abilities within your classroom but cultures. When looking at literacy and its many components, teachers must be aware of the way their students understand and take in this instruction not only academically but culturally, as well.

A tangible place to start is to widen your libraries and classroom reading to include diverse literature. This video provides a broad introduction to the importance of multiculturalism and diversity in children’s literature.

Analyze Your Library

Diverse Children’s Literature

Deciding to diversify your literature is a great first step to culturally relevant teaching! The hard part is choosing the literature. All books with diverse characters are not created equal. When selecting titles to include, a number of factors should be taken into account including, buy not limited to author background, character representation, illustrations (if applicable) and authenticity. Teaching for Change, a social justice organization that focuses on the classroom, offers this guide for selecting literature.

Now we know how to vet our readings and have an array of suggested books from which to choose. As teachers, we are fully aware that sometimes our salary can stand in the way of obtaining new classroom materials. Here are a few options to help get these important stories into your room.

Tell Their Stories

Culturally Responsive Writing

Dyson (1993) concluded that students development of written language is related to their individual social styles and their need to create meaning using symbols. She goes on to posit that students, particularly those outside of the dominant culture may encounter tension as they negotiate these meanings between their lives inside and outside of school. This is where teacher can help ease these tensions by allowing them to bring their outside worlds into our classrooms be it via culture, language or any other aspect of themselves.

Writing is  more than simply mechanics and grammar. It is the medium through which our students can express themselves and is the component of literacy that sharpens our students’ minds the most. Teachers must tap into their students’ abilities to create and to create based on their perspectives.

Linguistic Considerations

VAluing World and Culture Languages

According to Pérez (2004), those who teach culturally and linguistically diverse students must expand their understanding of what is considered literacy and knowledge outside the dominant culture’s view. Students bring with them outside knowledge based on cultural and community experiences, native language and home norms. This schema is used to construct their school knowledge and literacy. Teachers can facilitate this construction by allowing students’ existing knowledge and language to be used in the classroom.

With the ever-changing and evolving population of our nation, chances are you’ll have the opportunity to welcome English language learners (ELLs) into your classroom! Although you may not be the designated ELL instructor, there are numerous things you can do to enhance the experience of and support your ELL students.

In addition to what we often refer to as world languages, students also come with fluency in their own cultural languages. Although learning fluency in dominant academic English (Kinloch, 2017) can benefit students, discounting their natural voice deprives both student and teacher of valuable opportunities to learn.