Ashford 2: – Week 1 – Discussion 1

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Reference the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Multicultural   Literature

 As the diversity of our nation increases, so will the diversity in our classrooms.  One way that teachers can help to ensure their students understand the different cultures around them is through literature.  Section 2.4 of our textbook lists the following guidelines for evaluating diversity in children’s books: 

1. Accurate representation of      cultural specifics 
2. Avoidance of stereotypes  
3. Achievement  
4. Author/illustrator   
5. Copyright date  
6. Sensibility  
7. Language 

Using the guidelines listed above and your textbook, choose a multicultural piece of literature to evaluate.  Explain and justify whether each guideline is addressed in the book.  If the guideline is not addressed, share how you think the book could be modified to include all of the guidelines for evaluating diversity in children’s books.
 

Guided Response: Review and respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts.  Imagine that you are at a meeting with your colleagues who do not understand why this piece of literature should be used in the classroom.  Discuss how you would persuade your colleagues to include this piece of literature in their classroom.  Make sure to include the positive implications of using multicultural literature that are shared in the text when responding.