Capstone Project Title
The research question for this capstone is: What tools will help teachers and students access culturally relevant classroom materials for middle school students? It reports on the process of one teacher creating a web-based data structure for categorizing books based on the following categories: race/ethnicity, gender/sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic status, and nationality. The literature review explores Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP), especially as it relates to literacy, and the need for diversity in young adult literature. The project is heavily influenced by Ladson-Billings’ ideas about culturally relevant teaching practices and literature. The methods used for the creation of the project are described, with emphasis on the motivations behind each feature of the website data structure. The successes of the project and its limitations are reviewed. The conclusions of the project are: 1) encouraging teachers and students to build relationships around literature is an essential aspect of CRP; 2) students must be introduced to literature that has unique perspectives and characters; and 3) utilizing the designed data structure will help build relationships between educators and students while ensuring that diverse perspectives are valued through literature.
Literacy, Multicultural Education, Reading, Social Justice
Ramirez, Courtney, "Creating A Data Structure Of Culturally Relevant Literature For Use In Middle School" (2018). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects. 144.
School of Education Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations