Diversity is
not a one word definition. Diversity is an understanding of a person’s point of
view, culture, phenotype, and genotype. The media center is one of the charges
to inform not misinform students. The students are bombarded with
misinformation and information out of context delivered by the media, friends,
family, and others concerning people different from them. Some popular books
and classic literature has writing that does not support diversity, but
stigmatizes it by using stereotypes. Even award winning books can be deemed
stereotypical as in Five Chinese Brothers
a Caldecott award winner. The media
specialist should look at the value of the material in their collection. Rujput
provides a checklist to help in this endeavor.
1. Check the illustrations.
2. Check the story lines.
3. Look at the lifestyles.
4. Weight the relationships between
people.
5. Note the heroes.
6. Consider the effect on a child’s
self-image.
7. Consider the author’s or
illustrator’s background.
8. Check out the author’s
perspective.
9. Watch for loaded words.
10. Look at the copyright date. (Rajput,
63)
This checklist
can also be helpful in addressing websites as well. Books in the media center
are not the only ways to support diversity. Programs like Skype can transport
students to different parts of the world to learn about other cultures. This
provides a more meaningful and interactive experience that cannot be derived
from a book. Through the use of special readers and tablets that special needs
students use and other technology. These devices are not available at some of
the elementary schools these students came from. The special needs teacher
explained that these devises helped these students to express their thoughts,
when before they were labeled difficult to work with.
In a broad sense, the media
specialist is the keeper and disseminator of all knowledge of the school. They
must have knowledge on all subjects. An emphasis in the classroom is to teach
the subject/standards and little room is left to teach diversity. Though some
diversity education should come from the home, but we know that sometimes does
not happen and that lays the burden on us.
Rajput, T.
(2009). Questioning Your Collection. Knowledge
Quest, 38 (1), 62 –
69.
Great suggestions, Jeremy. My struggle at the high school level is reading everything in the collection! We get a Junior Library Guild delivery, and I know I should read through them...but I have no time. I sometimes worry about what we put on the shelves with our books and magazines. We have had to pull magazines because of certain topics or pictures. It is hard to put your eyes on everything.
ReplyDeleteDiversity training is really important and I like the idea of using Skype to incorporate the concept into classes. I chose a global website for my tech tip because we are challenged to make our students more aware of other cultures due to our IB program. I think these technologies can really help improve our level of sensitivity to diversity.
I have seen my school's media centers support diverse cultures by creating library programs surrounding hispanic heritage month, black history month, and exceptional children's week. The library is a place to showcase relevant resources, display projects and related books, or hold special lessons.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think it's important that the media center is a comfortable place for students to feel confidant. All students should feel like the library has offerings for them. I think this comfort level is achieved by the types of resources offered, the energy of the media specialist, as well as the library programs offered.
Jeremy, I agree with you that, “Diversity is not a one word definition.” It is a word that can be used in both a positive and negative way – both can produce deep and emotional reactions. The checklist you provided to help media specialists analyze books for racism and sexism is very useful. Although the list is comprehensive, I do not have the time to look at every new item for these qualities. Should I take the time? If a book is challenged, then a deep analysis would be necessary. When I was a classroom teacher, I took the time to analyze material I used as examples for sexism and racism and a few other stereotypes, but as a media specialist the task is never ending.
ReplyDeletePrejudice can also come from the person interacting with the media; if one looks closely enough, it is easy to distort the meaning of any resource if the person is coming from a place of hate or disagreement. Teaching awareness and acceptance as we interact with teachers and students seems a more realistic goal.
You have included a great list of step to filter books for racism and sexism. This is only a start. We must learn to look and to read between the lines to fine some of these issues. It is a main duty of the media specialist to handle this role primarily but teachers should be ready assist in the duty, too. Protecting our students is a collaborative effort!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that tip list for checking books and also checking out websites for diversity. This is a subject that can really be tricky for teachers and media specialists. There are so many areas of the curriculum that call for teaching diversity, especially in History and Social Studies, and like you pointed out many of these thoughts and ideas begin at the home. When students bring in their own thoughts and ideas about diversity things can get overwhelming for a teacher/media specialist. Thanks for your great ideas and perspective about diversity. I agree with you on many of things you wrote about.
ReplyDeleteI love your quick tips and I plan on using them. In working in the media center this year, I'm noticing that more parents are getting involved and keep a watchful eye on what their children are reading. I ‘m sure this is because of so many things that children can be exposed to through the social media during this age and time. We had a couple of incidents this year with books. One book was a Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl book called "Ashes" by Kathyrn Lasky. It's about a thirteen-year-old girl who witnesses Hitler's rise to power. Some parents would not allow their children to participate this year because this title was on the list. They felt the book had information about the Nazi party, Jewish book burning, and historical horrors that elementary students should not be subjected to. We lost a good group of kids in our bowl this year because of that however, I do feel the book is beneficial to middle and high school students. It is part of our history and if it follows the CCGPS, it can be used. Of course, parents will always have a say in their child’s education. It’s a good thing that there are so many other ways to approach a lesson without being upset that a book has to be pulled.
ReplyDeleteYour checklist is a great idea. I think diversity has to go much farther than most people realize. We tend to think of racism, gender stereotypes, physical abilities/disabilities, and even alternative lifestyles when we think of diversity. But the reality is that the library needs to be a place where kids can feel safe to read what interests them and learn more about people how are similar and dissimilar to them. Even something like making sure your library (at all levels) includes materials about different types of families is important - adoption, divorced, blended, multiple generations living together, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is extremely important to consider the stereotypes that may be found in the books within our collections as well as those we put into our collections. Your list of 10 quick ways to analyze books for racism and sexism is a great start. When analyzing and weeding our collections, it is important to consider how views have changed throughout the years and that even books that have received distinguished awards may be full of stereotypes! As other people noted in their posts, it is impossible to read everything that goes into our collections. Reading book review magazines and websites can be a great help when considering new materials for our media centers.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job at presenting your information. I definitely agree that diversity goes a lot further than what most people or educators think. When it comes to our students and allowing then to engage in what brings them into the library to begin with, we need to be able to implement them with diversity so they can view the the differences the world has to offer.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that a checklist should be used to make sure that the content is appropriate. I know that a 5th grade teacher was using a text about Rosa Parks and had to modify the reading because of use of inappropriate slang words and talk of rape. While texts do need to be diverse and exemplify diversity, we also need to make sure that the content is appropriate for the student age.
ReplyDeleteI feel that one of the most important roles of th eMedia specialist in a school is to provide a pathway for exposure to other cultures than the ones the kids experience themselves. Many children never leave their own city and never have any understanding of how other people live who are different from themselves. I think that is tragic. Limited by what they are exposed to at home (through TV), they may not have the opportunity to learn about other countries, races, religions, etc EXCEPT at school. It is important for the experiences of children to be well rounded and not limited to only one perspective.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I want to say that I like the checklist in the blog. It is a good way to evaluate materials quickly to attempt to catch biases.
I like the checklist!! This is an area that scared me most when I became a media specialist-and seeing as I have only been doing it 4-5 months I am still scared. I fear the day that an angry parent comes running in the media center to tell me that I have picked an inappropriate book!! That's why it takes me so long to complete a book order. It is impossible to read and look at every book that you buy-but that's what I feel like I should do-especially for fiction. A funny thing that happened this year as I was reading the books for Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl-I was shocked to see the material in some of the award winning books!!! Now-keep in mind-it is very hard to shock me, I was a police officer for 10+ years, but this got me. It's not that I thought what was in the book was that bad, it's just that it really suprised me that these were the award winners that students HAVE to read to be able to compete in reading bowl!
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