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Diverse books suggestions for the music classroom

We are currently living very stressful times. I find that during these times humanity tends to pay attention to some aspects of society needing intervention. Societal change is necessary before communities can continue to grow. There needs to be a place for all types of conversations to happen. I tend to use social media for venting and spaces like this to contribute productively to the conversation.

The main idea behind this space is to document my journey as an elementary music teacher, as I explore and better myself in culturally responsive practices, in hopes to create an environment for my students where they can all feel represented, acknowledged, and valued.

As a reaction to the current narrative, many colleagues are talking about sharing literature with our students that represent black and brown people in a positive light. Some started documents to add their title suggestions and that reminded me of one that I started a couple of years ago. I LOVE LISTS!

It is important for our students to see themselves positively in books, science, movies, art, and all aspects of our daily lives. By doing this, it can spark an interest in exploring what their lives could be in the future and seeing all the possibilities. It's also very important to draw attention to the writer and the illustrator, as they too are proud representatives of marginalized communities.

I don't own all of the titles on this list but I do give myself an allowance to buy a certain amount of books for my classroom regularly, so I have quite a few by now and because of this, I read a story to all of my students K-3 on every lesson.

Usually at the beginning of the school year is a little more purposeful and I double my allowance. I am sure you all can relate to how much of our paychecks go back to our classrooms.

This is an ever-growing list, I need to work on including more quality titles were women, Native Americans, Asians, Muslims, and the LBTQ+ community are represented.

I hope you find this list helpful.






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  1. UnknownMay 30, 2020 at 11:17 PM

    You might want to add “Oscar lives next door” by Bonnie Farmer. (About Oscar Peterson...great picture book!!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. StephanieAugust 16, 2020 at 12:23 PM

    Thank you, this is a great idea! When I clicked on the link in your post, it didn't take me to your list though, so I am not sure what's wrong.

    ReplyDelete

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