I've recently been engaged in fascinating conversations about evaluating curricular resources for bias and inclusivity. These came out of a conversation on whether To Kill a Mockingbird was an appropriate text for 7th grade students. The books uses the 'n word' many times and portrays black characters are uneducated and poor (yes, I realize I'm being somewhat simplistic in my summary). The book is also a "classic" of "American" literature - I put both of those words in quotation marks because there are real questions as to whose classic and whose America.
I've been looking at a number of resources to try and get at this question of whether this book should be read, and if so, how it should be read. I wanted to share those resources publicly as well as ask you all for help.
- should schools read this book and books like it?
- if so, how do we prepare students for the words used in the book?
- how do we discuss the history surrounding the book?
- how do we balance the inherent bias displayed in the book?
- what other questions do we need to ask ourselves?
Here are some resources I've been using:
- Evaluating Children's Books for Bias
- 10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Sexism and Racism
- An article from Teaching Tolerance magainze titled, "I Don't Think I'm Biased"
- Reading Bias, Writing Tolerance - a history teaching resource for teaching about bias and confronting it
- Looking through an anti-racist lens
Here are some relevant book recommendations from Teaching Tolerance:
- Multicultural Voices in Contemporary Literature
- The Color of Words - 851-word "dictionary of ethnic bias"
- The New Press Guide to Multicultural Resources for Young Readers
- Confronting Our Discomfort: Clearing the Way for Anti-Bias in Early Childhood
Anything you can share to this conversation would be much appreciated.
