Access to Multicultural Children’s Literature During COVID‐19

Abstract

Amid a pandemic, access to multicultural literature encourages students from low-socioeconomic families to read and connect to their community.

Beyond Resilience

“…Examples of such innovations draw upon existing technology and already available resources such as expanded WiFi, laptops and hotspots for checkout, provision of ebooks through the school district's library system, and virtual tutoring services (Berra, 2021). Just as important is the provision of reading resources within the community, such as the Children's After-School Recreation Center program which not only provided quality multicultural books to children experiencing virtual instruction at home, but also followed up with book response cards and phone conversations (Bennett, Gunn, and Peterson 2021). Many changes made due to the COVID-19 crisis can continue after the pandemic ends Children ages 6-10 years were most affected by the pandemic for accessing school library materials.…”

Virtual literacy instruction: An investigation of how elementary educators exhibited TPACK during COVID-19 school closures

“…Much of the literature related to literacy instruction during the pandemic focused on instructional recommendations to help educators address the challenges associated with virtual literacy teaching (Holt & Kreamer, 2020) or practical application examples (Bennett & Peterson, 2021;Chen & Greenwood, 2020;Fisher & Fry, 2020;Stoetzel & Shedrow, 2021;Washburn et al, 2021) with fewer devoted to peer-reviewed research. The existing research focuses on teacher practices in literacy or perceptions (Crosson & Silverman, 2022) rather than student outcomes.…”

“…Due to an emerging body of existing research (Beach et al, 2021;Crosson & Silverman, 2022) and recommendations (Bennett et al, 2021;Chen & Greenwood, 2020;Fisher & Fry, 2020;Holt & Kreamer, 2020;Stoetzel & Shedrow, 2021;Washburn et al, 2021), only a little is known about how elementary educators implemented literacy instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they overcame these challenges. The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework can serve as a lens to understand their literacy practices during virtual learning, and the challenges faced.…”

Exploring Multicultural Picturebooks With Social–Emotional Themes

“…The first phase involved planning discussions in collaboration with CARC director and staff to better understand the SEL strengths and needs of K–3 CARC children. After a literature review on SEL through literacy (e.g., Daunic et al, 2013; Doyle & Bramwell, 2006; Garces‐Bacsal, 2022; Jones et al, 2011; Santiago‐Poventud et al, 2015), we established the following selection criteria to select multicultural picturebooks with SEL themes for read‐alouds with K–3 CARC children: High‐quality diverse/multicultural literature (Bennett et al, 2021; Bishop, 1992; Garces‐Bacsal, 2022); Picturebook format, text complexity, and content appropriate for a 20‐minute read‐aloud lesson with K–3 children; Subtle integration of SEL themes within the story, without an overly didactic tone or moral message; Characters demonstrate agency with respect to social–emotional awareness and problem solving; Characters, plot, and problems relevant to CARC children's lives and reflective of their diverse identities; Engaging content, language style, humor, and visual appeal; Main characters' gender and literary genre balanced across the book collection. …”

“…Although reading offers significant benefits, disparities exist and children living in poverty have less access to texts in their homes, community centers, and libraries (Allington et al, 1995; Neuman & Moland, 2019). With limited book access, they may read less and fall behind academically (Allington & McGill‐Franzen, 2013; Bennett et al, 2021; Lindsay, 2013).…”