Abstract:This article seeks to complicate the understanding of Bishop's () metaphor of mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors, with particular emphasis on sliding glass doors and the emotional connections needed for readers to move through them. The authors begin by examining the importance of the reader and the characters he or she meets. Next, the authors extend Bishop's metaphor by exploring the role of readers’ emotional connections to texts and characters. The authors then make recommendations for selecting app… Show more
“…The diverse stories reflected in texts can support young students in recognizing dominant discourses and how they shape their lives and their views on others. However, the context of reading such a story is significant, specifically in how we invite students to engage with the narratives put before them (Johnson et al., ; Louie, ). Students are not passive readers who readily adopt textual messages—even ones that reflect messages of acceptance and tolerance—but active readers and constructors of textual meanings.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Jesse, however, walked through the sliding glass door (Bishop, ), making connections and imagining being the Princess Boy in the presented scenario (Johnson, Koss, & Martinez, ). “That would not be nice,” she thought out loud, and Rick encouraged her to say more:…”
Section: Humanizing Differencesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Jesse, however, walked through the sliding glass door (Bishop, 1990), making connections and imagining being the Princess Boy in the presented scenario (Johnson, Koss, & Martinez, 2018). "That would Ethan: Yeah, when princesses-when womens or dads laugh at them, at the princess boys, princess boys get mad at them.…”
How might literature be shared with students for transformative purposes? Literature has the power to shape students’ worldviews through the exploration of diverse human experiences, but how students engage with diverse characters is important to reaching transformative goals. The author identified teachers’ pedagogical moves within a preschool conversation on gender around the picture book My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis. Noticing how gender normativity manifested in the classroom, teachers used the book to open the conversation on gender, honor students’ sensemaking, and complicate gender norms through responsive listening. Using examples of teacher–student interactions across the preschool book conversation, practical suggestions are provided for teachers to facilitate transformative dialogue when sharing diverse texts with young students.
“…The diverse stories reflected in texts can support young students in recognizing dominant discourses and how they shape their lives and their views on others. However, the context of reading such a story is significant, specifically in how we invite students to engage with the narratives put before them (Johnson et al., ; Louie, ). Students are not passive readers who readily adopt textual messages—even ones that reflect messages of acceptance and tolerance—but active readers and constructors of textual meanings.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Jesse, however, walked through the sliding glass door (Bishop, ), making connections and imagining being the Princess Boy in the presented scenario (Johnson, Koss, & Martinez, ). “That would not be nice,” she thought out loud, and Rick encouraged her to say more:…”
Section: Humanizing Differencesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Jesse, however, walked through the sliding glass door (Bishop, 1990), making connections and imagining being the Princess Boy in the presented scenario (Johnson, Koss, & Martinez, 2018). "That would Ethan: Yeah, when princesses-when womens or dads laugh at them, at the princess boys, princess boys get mad at them.…”
How might literature be shared with students for transformative purposes? Literature has the power to shape students’ worldviews through the exploration of diverse human experiences, but how students engage with diverse characters is important to reaching transformative goals. The author identified teachers’ pedagogical moves within a preschool conversation on gender around the picture book My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis. Noticing how gender normativity manifested in the classroom, teachers used the book to open the conversation on gender, honor students’ sensemaking, and complicate gender norms through responsive listening. Using examples of teacher–student interactions across the preschool book conversation, practical suggestions are provided for teachers to facilitate transformative dialogue when sharing diverse texts with young students.
“…Among literacy researchers and teachers, Bishop's (1990) description of books as windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors has become popular (Johnson, Koss, & Martinez, 2018;Tschida, Ryan, & Ticknor, 2014). Bishop advocated for creating diverse classroom libraries where all students can find books to help them feel affirmed in their identities and learn about experiences and identities different from their own, and likewise for reading these books with students.…”
Section: Reading Aloud As a Powerful Community Experiencementioning
1. Learn about your students' interests, life experiences, and challenges through observation and by engaging students in informal discussions, surveys, personal narrative and opinion writing assignments, and written and oral reader response activities.
2.Choose diverse realistic fiction read-aloud texts that are mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors for your students' interests, experiences, and challenges.
3.Model and teach students to create text-to-self and text-to-life connections (and disconnections) during and after read-alouds.
4.Teach students that as we can read and interpret books and written texts (words), we can read, or interpret, social situations.
5.Model and encourage book discussion and making connections to life during informal times of the school day as well as during the literacy block.
“…The description of books as windows, on the other hand, implies that children can learn about other cultures and cultural values. Windows can at the same time function as glass sliding doors, so that readers can pass through them and engage in the world created in the book (Bishop 1990), but whether this potential is reached seems dependent on factors such as readers' emotional connection, response, and reflection (Johnson et al 2018). Books can therefore serve different functions for different readers.…”
Children’s books can create opportunities for children to see themselves as well as others in different settings and stories, but cultural details and specificity within these stories can play an important role in the messages that children take away. Therefore, the present study aims to provide insight in the messages concerning ethnic diversity and various cultures in a subset of popular books that Dutch young children are likely to be exposed to. Books aimed at young children that were sold or borrowed most often or were awarded between 2009 and 2018 in the Netherlands are examined through the combined lens of critical race theory and critical multicultural analysis. Specifically, books including a protagonist or secondary character of color were selected. The study provides insight in the degree of cultural specificity and cultural authenticity, as well as prevailing power relations between characters and ideologies that are portrayed within the books. Results indicate that while cultural stereotypes and ideologies including White supremacy and eurocentrism are found only in a few books, cultural details are generally lacking and colorblindness is common in books aimed at young children. The study therefore underlines the particular need for books that are culturally specific and include authentic cultural details, to improve the reflection of various cultures and experiences of characters of color.
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