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by Kierstin Giunco, Christine Leighton, and Kayla Balthazar
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Kierstin Giunco, literacy teacher at a Boston independent school, is interested in fostering critical thinking through representative curriculum. Christine Leighton, Associate Professor of Education at Emmanuel College, is interested in collaborating with teachers to foster literacy development in multilingual and multiracial classrooms. Kayla Balthazar, preservice teacher at Emmanuel College, is interested in cultivating diverse learning environments. This work was funded by the 2019 MRA Sylvia D. Brown Scholarship.
N
ineteen fifth-grade students sat in a circle
White main characters, as do many books in U.S.
participating in a guided read aloud led by their
classroom libraries (Gangi, 2008). As she started
teacher, Kierstin. Kierstin selected Fish in a Tree
searching for more representative options, she
(Hunt, 2015) as a way to help students make
came across wonderful titles, but found they were
personal connections to the protagonist, a fifth
only in stock in the outskirts of the city’s libraries.
grader who found reading challenging. Students
Thus, Kierstin was left knowing the right next step
seemed engaged with the text, and then, Keon (all
but thwarted by lack of accessibility to culturally
student names are pseudonyms), a student of color,
representative texts so essential to reading
raised his hand and asked, “Is the main character
comprehension, development, and engagement.
Black?”
This study explains her efforts to resolve this
During
the
subsequent
discussion,
Kierstin realized that despite her efforts to use
problem of practice.
texts students would find relevant, she needed more selections that incorporated students’ racial and cultural backgrounds. She decided to make this a top priority.
Perspective This work is grounded in the belief that “the matter of what students read is a make-or-break
Kierstin knew literature should provide
dimension of literacy-based learning” (Ivey, 2010,
opportunities to learn about others and reflect
p. 20). Teachers’ decisions around text selection
students’ backgrounds and cultures. In reviewing
matter for students’ literacy outcomes because
her texts, she realized they still mostly featured
students are more likely to be engaged when
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