Embedded Files
The decolonizing and culturally relevant pedagogies that grounded my analysis of arguments for centering marginalized perspectives through diverse texts and themes, for critically reading books that have been canonized and questioning the causes and effects of that canonization, and for considering youth culture and texts as valuable containers and producers of knowledge have led me to a push for creating new and local canons. The following resources have shaped my thinking for how to talk about literary canons and how to choose texts that best fit my students' needs. Additionally, I have included book lists that I found helpful to expand my reading, including my favorite collection, Social Justice Books.
"As those charged with helping to guide all of our students’ literacy and literary lives, we can choose to perpetuate a narrow curriculum that limits the voices and experiences of others, or we can expand and deepen our students’ experiences to include a more representative curation of literary voices" (p. 3). --Tricia Ebarvia & Julia Torres
"If other groups can construct canons, there’s no reason students can’t apply their own knowledge and experiences to critique traditional canon constructions and to develop their classroom canons'" --Amanda Haertling Thein & Richard Beach (2013, p. 11).
"In order to offer stories with a wide range of linguistic, cultural and ethnic representation to students, educators must learn about what makes some texts true and authentic representations of cultures outside their own." --Jillian Heise & Julia Torres (2023)
"[...] the diversity needs to go both ways. It's not just children who have been underrepresented and marginalized who need these books" --Rudine Sims Bishop (Reading Rockets 2015)
Book Lists
Book Lists
In the past, I have felt overwhelmed by the endless lists of books to read and even more daunted by the task of evaluating and choosing which books to teach. Rather than focusing on finding replacement books to push into my curriculum as soon as possible, I have shifted toward filling gaps in my own reading. For example, I found that I had only one book in my curriculum with an LGBTQ+ character. When I tried to brainstorm ways to center LGBTQ+ perspectives, I realized that I myself had read very few books with LGBTQ+ main characters. One key directive I have taken from this drive to decolonize my curriculum is to identify gaps in my own knowledge, reading books that, even if they don't end up in my work, expand my understanding of the world.
Top Pick:
Top Pick:
Created by the nonprofit Teaching for Change, Social Justice Books has several curated lists by theme (dance, education, war, etc.), identity markers (race, culture, sexuality, etc.), text type (poetry, fiction, nonfiction), and audience (early childhood, elementary, YA, and adult)
https://socialjusticebooks.org/booklists/
A yearly list with hundreds of newly published LGBTQ+ texts for various ages, including top ten recommendations
https://glbtrt.ala.org/rainbowbooks/
A crowd-sourced list assembled by Edutopia and published in 2022
https://www.edutopia.org/article/25-essential-high-school-reads-last-decade
A list of YA novels from We Are Teachers, published in 2021
Another We Are Teachers list, this one from 2020 with books for all reading levels
https://www.weareteachers.com/indigenous-stories-for-the-classroom/
Started by Corinne Duyvis on Twitter, #OwnVoices [...] describe[s] and recommend[s] books with diverse characters written by authors from that same diverse group."
https://www.weareteachers.com/ownvoices-nonfiction-books/
Select authors reflect on a call to decolonize university literature classes and choose essential books by black and minority ethnic writers
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/11/black-and-minority-ethnic-books-authors-on-decolonising-the-canon-university-english-literature-syllabus
Ebarvia, T., Torres, J. (n.d.). What is a "Classic": An Educator Guide. Penguin Random House. https://penguinrandomhousesecondaryeducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/4879_Classics-Guide_Intro-brochure_04122-2.pdf
Heise, J. Torres, J. (2023). Going Beyond Diverse Collections. Follett Community. https://www.follettcommunity.com/s/article/Going-Beyond-Diverse-Collections
Reading Rockets (2015, Jan 30). Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AAu58SNSyc&t=88s
Thein, A. H. & Beach, R. (2013, September). Critiquing and constructing Canons in Middle Grade English Language Arts Classrooms. Voices from the Middle, 21 (1), 10-14. https://library.ncte.org/journals/vm/issues/v21-1/24173
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