Term
Summer 2024
Capstone
Capstone Project
Degree Name
MAT
Facilitator(s)
Rebecca Neal; Jana Lo Bello Miller
Content Expert
Kristin Lindstam
Abstract
The capstone project came from the educational space of equity in literature. Within the scope of using a new English Language Arts curriculum and a growing classroom diversity, the research question sought was: How can teachers establish a classroom library representative of a racially diverse student population? In order to locate research and educator journal articles within the literature review portion of the capstone, three main topic areas were explored: racial representation, multicultural education, and social justice. Diving deeper into racial representation, these themes emerged: misrepresentation, under-represented and selective inclusion. Considering the research question, the exploration continued with multiculturalism often surfacing. Continuing in the direction of culturally responsive teaching, several learning theories were further investigated, including: neuroscience, representation matters, students of color seeing themselves in books, and in general, the need for more multicultural characters and authors. In regards to the idea of needing more diversity in books, one of the findings was to establish a racially representative classroom library through practicing culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP). When teachers practice CSP and encompass a classroom culture that is safe, then true learning can begin. To that end, if teachers are practicing CSP, most likely the shelves will already contain diverse books. Further, to aid teachers in establishing this practice, it was determined a central location for these materials was needed. A classroom resource guide was created to provide additional resources to teachers. Since education is ever-evolving, so too will the guide.
Project Type
Resource Guide / Prof. Development
Keywords
Literacy, Multicultural Education, Social Justice, Equity
Recommended Citation
Sieben, Julie, "Guide to Establishing a Classroom Library - with Racially Representative Considerations" (2024). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects. 1043.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_cp/1043
dc_type
text
dc_publisher
DigitalCommons@Hamline
dc_format
application/pdf
dc_source
School of Education Student Capstone Projects