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Culture and Inclusion

Reflection

Adopting Multicultural Literature

As a future language arts teacher, something near and dear to my heart are the books taught in
high school. I want to know if there is any flexibility in choosing books and if I can become
involved in that process. I would like to bring more multicultural literature to our school district.
After taking this course, I better understand the need to reach out to various cultures. Especially
in an environment lacking diversity, I feel strongly that we need to teach it. We need to expose
our students to environments and people who are different from the people they see in their
own neighborhoods. We need to teach tolerance. One example of this occurred recently in one
of the schools where I substitute teach. At a basketball game against a team that is half Asian,
racial slurs were yelled throughout the game by students in the stands from our school (where
there is a 75% Caucasian population). I am disgusted and our community is outraged. But it
happened and I think that lack of education, for those involved, is partially to blame.
I know I can make a difference in our school district. I started my research online and then I
went to a colleague who is a full-time teacher in one of the schools where I substitute teach.
Heres what I found, starting with my online research. Although the article was written in 1991, I
did discover that for high school, districts have autonomy in choosing books (versus K-8 where
the State Board of Education chooses textbooks). I immediately accessed our district site and
discovered a list of textbooks recommended for adoption for the 2015-2016 school year. It did
not post any results, and this was the only information on that website pertaining to textbooks.
Where I found the most information was through my colleague. In our district, there are
committees that consist of teachers who volunteer to be part of the process; at least one
teacher from each high school, from each discipline. This team researches the various
textbooks based on curriculum, and narrows down the selection to present to the rest of the
departments. Their job is to basically sell their selection to gain approval from the department
at each individual school.
In order for a textbook to be adopted, the entire department (from all schools combined) for that
discipline must all agree on the selection. If all high schools for that department cannot
unanimously agree, no books are selected for that school year and the old textbook remains in
circulation. The science department, for example, has not unanimously agreed on new books in
two years.
If a new curriculum is to be adopted, all high schools must agree. For example, my friend is a
sign language expert and would like to include sign language as a new discipline at our school.
In order for this to happen, she needs agreement from all high schools in our district. Because
some schools do not see it as a priority, it will be a challenge for her to get this passed.

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Some encouraging news I learned was that in order to adopt a novel (one that is not already
approved and in the course catalogue), I need approval from the department at our school. I
would not need to take it to all high schools for approval. This is great news as I would like to
incorporate more multicultural literature and I think it will be easier to gain approval if I do not
have to go through all of the high school English departments in our district. On the same note, I
would like to see more diversity taught in all of our high schools, so I envision myself going to
the district to adopt new curriculum.
As this is a passion of mine, Ive already started teaching my children and the children of close
friends, what it means to live in a diverse country. We are involved in a childrens book club and
are currently deciding on summer reads. I instantly thought of this course and decided to
choose multicultural literature. What I cannot yet do for the high school, I will do what is in my
control. Teaching multicultural literature is a necessity, especially in a community where there is
little diversity. I cant wait to take my passion to the high school level and get involved in the
textbook decision-making process.
Works Cited
El Dorado Union High School District (textbooks up for adoption). Retrieved March 10, 2016
from http://www.eduhsd.k12.ca.us/documents/Departments/Educational%20Services/District
%20Publications/2015-16%20Textbook-InstrMatls-Adoption.pdf
KCRA.com. Oak Ridge High School on Racist Allegations: Were Deeply Saddened. Retrieved
on March 10, 2016 from http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-sierra/oak-ridge-hs-onracist-allegations-were-deeply-saddened/38445884
Yarber, Mary Laine (1991, November). Los Angeles Times. How Textbooks Are Chosen--and
Who Makes the Decisions. Retrieved March 10, 2016 from http://articles.latimes.com/1991-1107/news/we-1470_1_preferred-textbooks