Diversity in Literacy

Section I: Growing up, I don't remember there being much diversity in the classrooms. For example, books did not talk about cultures or different ethnicities. I remember books being fun and more so like storybook types of books. The books that included people of different races where only about monumental people in history like Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks. People of color were not included in the storybooks we had. Now being back in an elementary school classroom, I have been able to observe how much classrooms have evolved. While observing a second grade classroom, the teacher had a reading corner in her room. The books were organized by genre but her books were inclusive. She had books that had characters with different ethnicities and books with characters that were of color. She also had books to represent each of her students so that they all felt represented, respected and included. One other thing she did was each week she displayed different books that focused on different cultures around the world.

Section II: Culturally responsive teaching is about creating instruction that is designed to fit students needs and focuses on positive interactions between peers and other relationships. Using students individuality is an asset to teaching responsively. To implement culturally responsive teaching there should be academically rich content, student centered learning and instructional technologies that will enhance learning. Teachers should learn their students backgrounds and use that as an advantage to create content that is engaging and motivating to their students. This is one thing that I plan to do in my classroom. I also want to have books that represent each one of my students so that they feel included. Another way I can be culturally responsive is to have differentiated learning. By having differentiated learning, students will be learning based on their needs. Students will have activities that are suited to their learning preference and knowledge. Personally, I think when you hear differentiated learning you automatically assume that it is going to take forever to plan but, if you know your students this will not be difficult and it won't take too much time out of your lesson planning time. I think that this is a common misconception that needs to be addressed. I also think that educators forget to use students background knowledge when it comes to teaching. Background knowledge is so important to help guide teachers to make lessons that students will understand and be engaged with. Another thing that needs to be addressed to be more culturally responsive environment for students is that educators need to learn about their students cultures and beliefs. Knowing this educators will be able to incorporate their beliefs into the classroom. Educators should also get to know their students caretakers/family to better know their students and be more culturally appropriate. 

Here is an article that I really enjoyed reading:

https://idahotc.com/Portals/0/Resources/466/Callins%202006%20Culturally%20Responsive%20Literacy%20Instruction.pdf