Heightening Awarness about the importance of Using Multicultural Literature

Multicultural Education, Spring 2004 by Colby, Susan A, Lyon, Anna F

Introduction

Using multicultural literature in the classroom has become a focus in recent years as classrooms have become more diverse. While offering teachers and students many opportunities to gain broader understandings about the world, the use of multicultural literature also presents challenges. The challenge is not only obtaining high quality multicultural texts, but the greater challenge may be creating an awareness among teachers of the important role multicultural literature plays in the lives of children.

Multicultural literature helps children identify with their own culture, exposes children to pther cultures, and opens the dialogue on issues regarding diversity. As instructors who teach language arts methods courses, these challenges became evident through an assignment given to our preservice teachers in which students were prompted to examine their beliefs and practices regarding the use of multicultural literature in the classroom. It is not uncommon for preservice teachers to have unexamined beliefs about cultural diversity and to have little understanding of the impact of their beliefs on classroom interaction, discussion and practices (Sleeter, 2001; Wiggans & Folio, 1999; Willis & Harris, 1997). This became apparent as our students shared their ideas after reading and reflecting upon "African American children's literature that helps students find themselves: Selection guidelines for grades K-3" (Hefflin & Barksdale-Ladd, 2001).

In this article, Hefflin and Barksdale-Ladd (2001) discuss the importance of children relating to characters and situations found in books reflective of their own culture. The absence of African American characters and culture in books found in many primary classrooms is discussed and its impact on children of color is highlighted. Students need to be able to make connections between literature and their everyday lives. Children need to receive affirmation of themselves and their culture through literature (Bieger, 1995/1996), and be able to connect text to self in order to promote greater meaning (Dietrich & Ralph, 1995; Keene & Zimmerman, 1997; Rosenblatt, 1978).

With this in mind, we set out to explore prospective teacher's understandings of the use of multicultural literature in the classroom. Specifically, we examined changes in their beliefs and proposed practices based on new understandings regarding the importance of using literature in the classroom that portrays a variety of cultures, themes and views.

Our students were asked to respond to the Hefflin and Barksdale-Ladd article using one or more of the following prompts (adapted from Reif, 1992): quote and discuss, ask questions, share experiences/memories, react, and/or connect. Upon reading these reflections, we were struck by the diversity of understandings these prospective teachers will bring to the classroom. Some of the reactions were not unexpected and inspired discussions about classroom diversity. Other reactions, which were not as evident in class discussion, surfaced in the written responses. After initially reading the student responses we realized that this issue needed to be further explored.

We began a more formal study examining our students' responses about using multicultural literature in the classroom. We collected student response papers from approximately 100 preservice teachers enrolled in elementary language arts methods courses. Data were analyzed based on a process outlined by Creswell (2002) for analyzing and interpreting qualitative data. After a preliminary exploratory analysis was conducted of the qualitative data, data were analyzed based on emerging themes using the following four-phase process: coding the data; developing themes from the data; defining themes based on the findings; and connecting and interrelating themes (Creswell, 2002, p. 265). During the coding process, responses were read and notes were made in an attempt to gain a perspective on the attitudes and beliefs of preservice teachers and their understandings about using multicultural literature in the classroom.

During the development and defining of themes, categories were identified as they related to the understandings of our students that emerged from the data. During the connecting and interrelating phase, key understandings were synthesized and quotes were identified that supported these understandings. Upon analyses of the data, the following categories emerged: it opened my eyes, finding yourself, opening their minds, not just African-American, and it's my responsibility.

It Opened My Eyes

Beverly Daniel Tatum (O'Neil, 1998) states, "...many white students are oblivious to the power of racism and the way that it's operating in society" (p. 13). This quote accurately expressed our findings regarding the unexamined nature of perpetuating, albeit unconsciously, white culture in the classroom. Many of the comments made by students in their reader response papers focused on new beliefs and understandings they had gained about the use of multicultural literature in the classroom.