A Wide Range: Approaches to Integrating Diverse Literature in Secondary ELA Classrooms

• In Event: Selecting and Teaching with Diverse Books in Challenging Times: Learning from Research with Pre-Service Teachers, Teachers, and Teacher Educators

Abstract

This study shares findings from a large national survey of 4,096 secondary English teachers that adds nuance to the conversation around how diverse texts are still being taught in secondary ELA classrooms despite the whiteness of ELA curricula and rise in censorship. Within this study, we report both quantitative and qualitative results from a survey where teachers were asked to provide open-ended examples of how they use diverse literature in the classroom and rank how their usage of diverse literature in alignment with four categories of approaches to curricular instruction by James Banks’ (1993). Themes range from teaching diverse literature in ways that diminish diversity to teaching for social action and activism.

Authors

• Arianna Banack, University of South Florida

• Rosa Nam, Colorado State University