Culturally Relevant Literature for a Culturally Diverse Class
Help me give my students books with protagonists of many cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds: books that will provide "mirrors" of their own experiences as well as "windows" to the lives of those with different backgrounds and experiences.
“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My students are intelligent and creative 5th graders curious to explore their world.
They work hard every day, learning as much as they can so they can someday be world-changers. My students come from a variety of ethnic , cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, but we unite as one everyday in our class.
My Project
Research shows that students get more excited about reading and literature when they see themselves reflected in books they read. Furthermore, students often seek out books whose protagonists face the same types of issues as the students reading them.
The books I chose for this project tell the stories of recent immigrants -- like many of my students -- who face and overcome many challenges unique to the immigrant experience.
As much of classroom literature often reflects a white, middle-class experience, my goal in this project is to provide a greater breadth of protagonists that will reflect the students in my classroom. I strived to choose books that showed many experiences that avoid the danger of telling only one story about a group of students--recognizing that no culture is a monolith--and that every student and protagonist has their own unique story.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. P. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
