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Teacher Tip Tuesday

Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors

Sara Jennings

There’s something special about walking into a library, whether it’s a large public library or your own classroom library consisting of a couple of bookshelves on the back wall. Libraries potentially create spaces for our students to develop an affinity for stories and books by stepping into another world, walking alongside characters who face challenges similar to their own, or even learning about topics they’ve always been curious about. In 1990, Rudine Bishop wrote about offering people texts that she called windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors, so we could look into someone else’s life, see ourselves reflected in the story, and even take on the role. We can create this type of space in our school and classroom libraries with a couple of easy steps.

First, survey your students to learn more about who they are. Learning their interests, backgrounds, and cultures helps with text selections to ensure students will see themselves and their classmates in the books available to them. Selecting books with student interests in mind opens windows and sliding glass doors for students to learn about things they never knew existed. You may already have a student interest inventory that you’re using, but if not, here’s a link to ours.

Second, analyze the books on your shelves. How many books do you have? Allington (2012) recommended having 500 books on the classroom shelves, while the International Literacy Association (2000) suggested each child should have at least seven options. When you analyze the content of the books, you may find gaps in the collection. What genres do you have, and how many in each? Do the cultures in your books represent the populations in your community even beyond the classroom? What book series are your students currently reading, and do you have the next few titles? Sometimes in reviewing your book collection, you may reveal a bias. For me, I remember wishing that my fifth graders would read longer, meatier stories instead of Dogman and Captain Underpants. But the kids loved those books, and there were actually some great vocabulary words and sentence structures not found in other texts. You might use a program like this free tool from Booksource to help analyze your books, as it provides reports for the different types of books, and it manages book circulation.

Finally, consider how you will continually monitor and update your collection. Classroom libraries are often made up of books you inherit or receive as other teachers retire, which results in older books that are heavily worn or that are no longer appropriate. Don’t feel bad about removing those books. Give yourself permission to toss books that lack quality or relevance. If you find that you don’t have windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors for your students, you’ll need to add to your collection. Consider a routine check-out from your public library consisting of 20-30 books. Also, using a student book sale monthly order from a company like Usborne or Scholastic, can provide you with points to get free books for your students. Remember, building a library collection is a career long venture and not something that should happen overnight.

Enjoy the process of creating a collection of books that will support your learners through the years. Students need access to books that they can relate to and help connect to the world around them. Let’s strive to provide our students with windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors through which they can discover the world!