ERIC Number: EJ1411813
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-1559-9035
Available Date: N/A
Teacher Candidates, Persona Dolls, and Class Libraries
Chloe Morris
Journal of Language and Literacy Education, v19 n2 2023
Diverse books are needed in the classroom so that all children feel valued, but to what extent will teacher candidates include children's literature with diverse representations in their class libraries? A teacher educator uses stories with persona dolls to provide teacher candidates with the opportunity to practice culturally responsive pedagogy in their class library literature selections. After 10 weeks of listening to diverse stories and creating bibliographies that provide the persona dolls with "mirrors," teacher candidates reflected on their level of comfort and plans to include diverse representations in their future class libraries. All teacher candidate participants claimed to plan to include diverse representations related to race and ethnicity and abilities. An overwhelming majority claimed to plan including diverse representations related to religion, language, and family structure. Yet, barely half claimed to plan to include diverse representations of gender in their future class libraries. Reasons teacher candidates provided for not including diverse representations of gender include (a) that children are too young, (b) fear related to parental and administrative response, (c) feeling uneducated about gender diversity, and (d) religious beliefs.
Descriptors: Childrens Literature, Instructional Materials, Equal Education, Disproportionate Representation, Books, Culturally Relevant Education, Diversity, Reading Material Selection, Preservice Teachers, Toys, Cultural Pluralism, Student Attitudes, Gender Discrimination, Gender Issues, Religious Factors, Fear
Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia. 315 Aderhold Hall, Athens, GA 30602. Tel: 706-542-7866; Fax: 706-542-3817; e-mail: jolle@uga.edu; Web site: http://jolle.coe.uga.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A