My new normal and preparing for Cultural DIversity in the classroom?

        The year 2020 has been full of surprises. My first surprise was believing I was 51. I look back and can´t believe the things that I have overcome and accomplished.  I graduated  college with my masters,  I served in Operation Desert Shield/Storm,  I bought  my first car by myself,  I got my first teaching job in the middle of the year,  I had my first child,  Brittany Beans at 28.  She was a blessing that sent me down another path.  My goals and dreams became driven by wanting her to have a better life, and to have a role model that exemplifies strength.  I remember my family saying you have changed since Britt was born, I would smile and say, "It is all about her now, not me.¨  I started thinking before I reacted,  I planned out things,  my decisions were based on her needs.  I  got married and moved to Texas from Arkansas.  That was a big change.  I am from the South where doors were not locked, everyone knew everyone, anyone could displine you and entire family spent time every weekend  together  playing cards, bbq, playing bowling and just listending to music and dancing and have fun, and  obviously holidays was a big thing.  Moving to Texas was a big change,  I had to get used to the hustle and bustle, and rush of things here. Everyone moves fast, no one has time to congregate and enjoy each other, the many highways that led to everywhere if anywhere.  I missed the feeling of home.  I tried to bring it here, but that didn´t work.  They were not used to hanging with one another and enjoying it.  I was shocked.  My new normal.   I had to adjust and change to the environment.  I found my rhythm and grew as an educator and a mom.   I had my second daughter and found myself again needing to change my environment and surroundings to become her role model that exemplied not just strength , but courage and determination no matter what.  Getting used to being a single parent was rough because I wanted to break that cycle in my family.  Unable to do so, left me questioning things, It was looking into my daughters eyes and realizing all that matter is that she was raised as a strong, independent woman that had pride in her self and culture.

         At the Age of 51 looking back I realize, everything I have experience was meant to help me grow into the person I am today.  God has a plan.  I say all that to say,  with Covid and BLM movement  I find myself again changing up things to adapt and persevere through the circumstances that I am presented with at this time.  While on  Spring Break  not just me but teachers across the world found themselves thrust into a new normal over night of teaching online.  It was the most trying and  exhausting thing.   We were literally given no time to plan we were just trying to keep a float.  However, we adjusted and came through.  Can you agree?  So now it is time to adjust and plan again for the unknown.  So  what are you doing to prepare for the new school year?  I  invested in training with Simply 12k,  I have watched youtube videos, and listened in on webinars just in case.  Meanwhile, the next point of concern is making sure that all kids are valued and one way to do that is through classroom libraries.

          Are you preparing to address cultural diversity?  As a reading teacher,  I purposely this year made sure that  I created baskets that represent the various cultures of our world.  Especially those in my classroom. I had books that represented Asians, African Americans, Hispanics, Autism, Learning disabilities, Health issues:  Mental and physical.  I included books from all genres and all levels,  I wanted eveyone to feel like they belong.  With what is going on in society to day,  it is more than important to make that happen now.

You need an idea where to start?  Here is my process and it takes time, I think I took a week over a 3 hour period each day literally putting my library together.  I do it before we are on contract so it will be done. it depends on how large your library is as to how long it will take.  

1.  I pour them on the tables and  sort them first by Fiction and Nonfiction.  

2.  My first sort is to sort the main genre into subgenres that may take a day

3.  My second sort is to pick  either Fiction Or Nonfiction to start with it is usually Fiction

4.  I sort by author first, because that is the easiest,  So those baskets are done.

5.  I then sit and read the backs of each book sorting them into more categories,  if they fit into multiple categories i make a decision.

6.  I than think of category names for the stacks I have created.  I try to do a mixture of genre labels and come up with some creative labels. Examples:  Boys Rule,  Girl Power,  Girl protagonist Boy protagonist,  mystery,  Who done It? I´m not that different than you,  graphic novels, animals,  humorous, dear diary, 

that´s not funny, etc.  

7.  This allows me to pull out books that represent different cultures as well as books that tell stories of people with disabilites of all type:  learning, physical and mental.

8. I repeat this process for my nonfiction books:  I sort them by informational,  biography, autobiography first.

9.  I than go deeper:  sort by topics--war, space, weather, animals, Male character, Girl Character, government etc.  

     When I sort my Fiction books, I am paying attention to books that represent different cultures, and disabilities.  I put them in baskets title: I am not that different than you,  I know you do you know me.  I make it a point to discuss the sorting and categories with the kids and they know what the basket titles mean.

     I put baskets on the center of tables during the first 3 weeks of school and kids read and explore those.  However,  with our new normal,  we have to think aobut how to create stacks for kids without them interacting with one another,  that is crazy  to even thnik about.  Our district created a Padlet of online resources that kids can access to choose books from and that allow them to read online or listen to them.  I have created book trailer power points to share with my students. I choose a book from each basket to introduce the categories, I  pick some of my top favorites as well as books that were popular go to books form previous years.   Here is my library from last year.  I have 6 shelves here with a table where I set up my own reading life, and then I have a Reading nook with a chair, floor lamp and book case.

So as you see the library is one of the most important thing when ou are setting up your classroom, especially if you are a Reading teacher..  Know that it is possible to create powerpoiints or google slides shows n the same manner.  I will share my thoughts and one of my slide shows soon.  Making sure we represent all cultures is something that should have been in place,  but it takes time and you have to do the work.  My kids loved seeing themselves represented in the books they read. It really hooked my disengaged readers.   Happy sorting!