Diversity in Text

    Reading is essential, but the context of reading is just as important. For students, reading constantly can help them with their vocabulary and critical thinking, while the context of the words they choose to read can help them understand the text that represents the world around them. Teachers, parents, and students can help by choosing new literacy to read. Try to pick something new they have never read. Pick a book that has a character who looks nothing like you. Read a short story that has a setting you have never experienced. Read an article by diverse authors that can shed light on new cultures or experiences. This is fundamentally important for students, as it allows them to construct meaning from various texts. As a future teacher, I find it frustrating and challenging to find valuable text to share with students. As well as nonprint text to use in the classroom. However, I have learned some tricks and tips throughout my journey, and with the help of "Get Free" by Tricia Ebarvia, I have gained new insight on how to instruct them in the classroom.

    One important lesson I have learned is providing a moment for every text to have a critical thinking moment. Ebarvia talked about this in her idea of critical changes she has made, which was shifting her language in the classroom. "One of the most critical changes I made in recent years was shifting from teaching a novel to teaching ideas, from teaching a text to teaching students to wrestle with the questions and tensions a text and other text raise" (Embarvia, 214). You can hunt for a book that has a great message with diverse meanings for students to pick apart, but if a teacher can not present it to students in a way that wrestles with new themes and tensions that can "push against and beyond the boundaries" (Hooks, 214). Students are going to need help grasping the valuable exchanges from the book. 

    I would reroute the questions we ask our students. Embarivia introduces a thinking strategy called "Step in, step out, step back" (Embarvia, 250). Each step is a moment to reflect, evaluate, and analyze by putting yourself in the characters' shoes and the story's setting. What do we want to know that's not in the book? Look at it like a mystery: if we can help students look at it through a lens. If students can relate to a situation, then what would it take for them to sympathize with them? It helps students understand the world of literacy by grabbing an exciting conflict and finding a resolution from their world by reading between the lines. Similar to how students write about themselves to understand themselves. We can help students find their identity in writing, then they will know more about themselves. This way, when they try to connect their problems and identity to what we learn in class, it helps them form a meaning to the story. 

    How do we provide nonprint text in class that provides a diverse background? In what ways can students learn the same message we would if we were to have a physical book in their hands? Technology has become a powerhouse in the classroom, with new devices and different sites and sources to visit. It has become a valuable tool, from reading a book to posting a poem online for others to read. Common Lit is a site for students and teachers with comprehensive reading lessons. In my placement class, we are using this for our unit on 'following the crowd' and different types of conformity. Videos and pictures are entertaining in the classroom. The old saying goes, "Pictures are worth a thousand words." there is more than one way to get a message across. For a fun break that keeps the students informed, my class watched a short video from School House Rock—an animated series from the 70s that teaches different subjects in song form. They had a small grammar assigned on Noredink before getting to business. We all watch a short school house rock video on pronouns. 

    I hope you all found some inspiration to find diverse and nonprint texts to use in the classroom. I hope all students find inspiration in any form of text used in school. Adolescence is hard: finding one's identity and learning to express oneself in everyday writing and work. Students deserve to have something or something they can relate to and have positive interactions in every class.

Ebarvia, T., Cherry-Paul, S., Johnson, A., Osborn, A., Parker, K. N., & Silvas, T. (2024). Get free: Anti-bias literacy instruction for stronger readers, writers, and thinkers: Corwin, a SAGE Company.