How might we use children’s literature to reflect mirrors and create windows for our children?
How might we use children’s literature to meet our goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion in our curriculum?
These were two of the guiding questions for our full faculty work yesterday as we continuously explore our themes of significance and belonging within our community. Our consideration began by viewing and digesting Grace Lin’s master TEDx Talk (1):
This talk, based on Emily Style’s original article on Windows and Mirrors (2*) within our curriculum, shares Ms. Lin’s personal story of racial bias in literature and childhood leading to a storied career in writing children’s and middle grades literature that highlights the Asian and Asian-American experience without stereotype. Her work provides windows and mirrors for hundreds of thousands of children and adults every year. (We are so excited to welcome Grace Lin to our school this spring!)
Our literacy and DEI teams, and friends of both offered an array of book suggestions to answer these essential questions. Additionally, we considered the framework of “selection-connection-reflection-action” found in Lester Laminack and Katie Kelly’s Reading to Make a Difference (3) Asking ourselves critical questions (p. xx, introduction) such as:
- “Does the book portray culture accurately without perpetuating stereotypes?”
- “Does the reader share cultural markers with the characters such as race, ethnicity, or religion?”
In choosing books for the book tasting with faculty, I also chose to make connections to the Teaching Tolerance Critical Practices and Standards for Anti-Bias Education. These standards, available for grades k-12, ground in four themes: identity, diversity, justice, and action. They are written in a way that students can understand and give specific examples of ways to use language appropriately to target standards for students. While I have a fairly deep library of children’s literature that emphasizes windows and mirrors, I chose two books not only for their provision for and connection to these questions and standards, but also because of their rich text, and beautiful illustrations. I also chose two books with windows and mirrors that might be easily overlooked in some classrooms.
The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julia Finley Mosca and Daniel Rieley (4.) This book is a verse-written story of Temple Grandin from her birth in Boston to her experiences on the ranch to her education and inventions to her success on the speakers’ circuit. It specifically names her disability as autism and speaks of it as “different not less.” It weaves the tale of her masterful brain in a way that allows children to connect to difference, experience empathy, and perhaps, see a mirror of their own divergent and beautiful thinking. (TT Standards: ID.3-5.1, 4. DI.3-5.6-9)
Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors by Hena Khan and Mehrdokht Amini (5.) Oh, how I wish I could share this gorgeous book with everyone I meet. It is rich with vocabulary to explain the customs and traditions of Muslim life while providing ample opportunities to make connections to other faith traditions, customs, and family life. The best word I could use for this book is resplendent. (TT Standards: ID.K-2.1, 2. DI.K-2.7, 8, 10. JU.K-2.11)
Photo Credit: Jill Gough
The book tasting selections crossed the spectrum of DEI categories, reading levels, and purposes. Our faculty engaged in thoughtful and purposeful discussions around the selections they explored and how they might broaden or deepen their classroom libraries or book choices to reflect our framework. As a sidebar, the opportunity to engage in the reading of children’s books with our peers on a beautiful, sunny Georgia afternoon was a delight.
In creating space for both windows and mirrors in our literature, we allow students to connect to themselves and the world around them. With appropriate preparation, the uses of texts such as these lead to deep conversations of identity, diversity, justice, and action that all of our children need to engage in to become compassionate, thoughtful, global citizens.
- Lin, Grace. “Windows and Mirrors on Your Child’s Bookshelf.” YouTube, TEDxNatick, 2016, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wQ8wiV3FVo.
- Style, Emily. “Curriculum As Window and Mirror.” National SEED Project, School Science Record, 1996, http://www.nationalseedproject.org/Key-SEED-Texts/curriculum-as-window-and-mirror. *This work originates from the work of Rudine Sims Bishop originally published in 1990, found here. While I was most familiar with the SEED article, I’m grateful to my colleague who pointed out the origination.*
- Laminack, Lester L., and Katie Stover. Reading to Make a Difference: Using Literature to Help Students Speak Freely, Think Deeply, and Take Action. Heinemann, 2019.
- Mosca, Julia Finley, and Daniel Rieley. The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: the Story of Dr. Temple Grandin. Scholastic Inc., 2018.
- Khan, Hena, and Mehrdokht Amini. Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: a Muslim Book of Colors. Chronicle Books, 2015.