Affirming Who We Are: Teaching With Diverse Children’s Literature

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 1:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Critically Examining Identities, Voices, and Literature Response With Students and Educators (Table 3)

Abstract

Drawing upon critical sociocultural theory, this paper explores three early childhood teachers’ perspectives and practices as they shared diverse children’s literature in interactive read-alouds. Although they taught in diverse school contexts (e.g., public/private, urban/suburban) and grade levels, each teacher was committed to teaching for diversity, equity, and social justice through diverse children’s literature. Utilizing qualitative multiple case study methodology and constant-comparative analysis, four themes emerged during data analysis. The teachers (1) negotiated their school contexts to enact read-alouds, (2) designed read-alouds as a space for children to (re)shape themselves, (3) developed children’s awareness of social and cultural identities, and (4) enacted an “open” read-aloud format to encourage collaborative meaning-making and critical conversations around identity.

Authors

• Sarah D Reid, Illinois State University

• Antonio J. Castro, University of Missouri