I remember listening and singing along with
Michael Jackson “Man in the Mirror” with the line “I’m
starting with the man in the mirror” where mirror books will give African American preschoolers with books
which they see themselves. When one walks into an early childhood
learning environment how many books are reflective of African American
preschoolers to see, hear, read and discuss characters who look like them
reflecting African American culture to build self-identity? Yes,
these books give African American preschoolers another look of the world
instead of all White characters feeling they are not worthy to being depicted
in stories. These are books that will be displayed throughout the
classroom where related subject content will be displayed in the centers where
African American can picture read and discuss with classmates along with
teachers along with other stakeholders who enter the learning environment. In
addition, early childhood educators engage in preschoolers’ family members to
read mirror books to the child as well.
Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop talked about books being a “mirror” where
the reader and listener will see characters that represent themselves, their
families, and their communities in positive ways. Seeing characters like
themselves in these books can help African American preschoolers develop a
stronger sense of themselves including their abilities to pursue their goals, tell
their own stories and support early literacy (Klefstad & Martinez, 2013).
Currently, there are far more “window” books that give African American
preschoolers a glimpse into the lives of other people (mainly the White world)
than “mirror” books showing their own communities in preschool
classrooms. It should be noted that many African American children are
failing to acquire reading skills needed to succeed in society feeling reading
is not for them as well (Cole & Verwayne, 2018; Chatterji, 2006; Kena et al.,
2015); therefore, mirror books and active reading techniques so such Dialogic
Reading incorporating CROWD acronym that stands for C – completion, R – recall,
O – open-ended questions, W – who, what, when, where questions and D –
distancing (student relating their experiences). For more information on
Dialogic Reading check out https://www.connectmodules.dec-sped.org/connect-modules/learners/module-6/.
Wright-Edelman (2015) stated, “It’s hard to be what you can’t
see. Children of color need to be able to see themselves in the books
they read. Just as important, all children need to be exposed to a wide
range of books that reflect the true diversity of our nation and world as they
really are,” (para 5). In addition, “A story from the story grammar
perspective involves a set of goal-directed behaviors carried out by characters
including the following elements: setting, initiating event, internal
response and plan, attempt, consequences, resolution and reaction, and ending”,
(Gardner-Neblett & Sideris, 2018, p. 1329) as part of the oral narrative
that is a big part of the African/African American culture through oral
storytelling and there is support this is an effective way of assessing oral
narrative of African American students (Brown, et al., 2014; Gillam, et al.,
2012; Price et al., 2006) which is dominant way of communication. The
term “narrative” may refer to different types of stories shared by students
that include (a) personal narratives of actual events that happened to them,
(b) scripted narratives of familiar routines or situations happened in their
lives, and (c) fictional narratives or stories about events that they had
imagined (Currenton & Lucas, 2007; Hughes et al, 1997). As African
American preschool age students are taught story grammar elements their
microstructure skills improve (Brown et al., 2014) that expose them to seeing
themselves in books for whole world adventures through mirror books.
African American boys show strong oral narrative skills in expressive language
documents with above-average reading skills during the early childhood years
(Iruka, Gardner-Neblett, Matthews, & Winn, 2014). In addition,
educators must have a greater understanding of oral storytelling which is a
part of the African American history, too. Iruka, Currenton, Durden and
Escayg (2020) shared that “Black children in particular is context driven,
meaning that a story about their night may pull in order contexts, such as a
time at the part or going to visit Grandma, and it is not sequential” (pp.
16-17) where educators can read the story and have them accompany with pictures
to give their words/pictorial more impact of their lives for mirror books contribution
to the learning environment.
The below chart is some books that can be displayed in related
centers along with the reading center.
|
Dad, who will I be? By G. Todd Taylor |
Lola at the library by Anna McQuinn |
|
Riley knows he can by Davina Hamilton |
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o |
|
Hey Black child by Useni Eugene Perkins |
I’m a pretty princess by Crystal Swain-Bates |
|
Crown an ode to the fresh cut by Derrick
Barnes |
I’m a pretty little Black girl by Betty K.
Bynum |
|
Richard Wright and the library card by William
Miller |
Emi’s curly coily, cotton candy hair by Tina
Olajide |
|
Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles |
I am . . . positive affirmations for brown
girls by Ayesha Rodriguez |
|
I am … positive affirmations for brown boys by
Ayesha Rodirguez |
Parker looks up by Parker Curry and Jessica
Curry |
|
Superheroes are everywhere by Kamala Harris |
Black is a rainbow color by Angela Joy |
|
Marvelous me by Lisa Bullard |
Black hair love for preschoolers by San
Griffin |
|
More to me:
The story of a 7th tall 3rd grader by Nnamdi
McDowell |
Lucile and the big race by Mariya J. |
With access to technology of African/African American stories to
expand knowledge and conversations depict self-pride, self-awareness,
self-worth and so forth for students. Due to the variations of
African/African American hair textures the YouTube clip “Hair Love” by
Matthew A. Cherry reinforces the beauty of hair types.
Also, include books that reinforce specific character education
traits that are being discussed in lesson plans. Below are character
education traits aligned to month where books can be used during small/large
groups, one-on-one and/or discussed throughout the classroom. In
addition, the books can be the following;
|
Months |
Character Traits |
Books |
|
September |
Responsibility |
Have You Thanked an Inventor Today? By Patrice McLaurin |
|
October |
Respect/courtesy |
Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment by Parker Curry |
|
November |
Self-esteem/pride |
I am Perfectly Designed by Karmamo Brown |
|
December |
Caring/compassion |
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena and Christian |
|
January |
Diligence/perseverance |
Baby Flo: Florence Mills Light Up the Stage by Alan |
|
February |
Tolerance/patience |
Voice of Freedom
Fannie Lou Hamer by Carole Weatherford |
|
March |
Honesty/fairness |
Roll Thunder Hear My
Cry by Taylor Mildren |
|
April |
Cooperation/good
sportsmanship |
One Love by
Cedella Marley |
|
May |
Loyalty/citizenship |
“I too, am American”
by Langston Hughes and Bryan Collier |
|
June |
Courage |
Ron’s Big Mission by
Rose Blue and Corine Naden The Day You Begin by
Jacqueline Woodson |
Whether you were familiar
or not with the Dr. Sims coined term “mirror” books you
have gained a better meaning to the use of them for African American
preschoolers to see self and have a true sense of pride to belonging in the
classroom. Mirror books for African American preschoolers is
truly where they find themselves, families and the communities they live in and
personal value showing a sense of belonging. African American
preschoolers must see and know their early childhood educator cares, respect
their culture and display mirror books
followed up in conversations of those book content which will lessen and/or
reduce the need to recommend they be suspended and/or expel African American
preschoolers as educators facilitate their learning.
References
Brown, J. A., Garzaek, J. E., & Donegan, K. L. (2014).
Effects of a narrative
intervention
on story retelling in at-risk young children. Topics in Early
Childhood
Special Education, 34, 154-164.
Chatterji, M. (2006). Reading achievement gaps, correlate,
and moderators of
early
reading achievement: Evidence from the early childhood longitudinal
study
(R-CLS) kindergarten to first grade sample. Journal of educational
Psychology, 98, 489-507.
Cherry, M. A. (2019). Hair love. Retrieved at https://youtu.be/kNw8V_Fkw28
Cole, K., & Verwayne, D. (2018). Becoming
upended teaching and learning about
race and
racism with young children and their families. Young Children, (73) 2,
34-43.
Currenton, S. M., & Lucas, T. D. (2007). Assessing
young children’s oral narrative
skills.
The story pyramid framework. In K. Pence (Ed.). Assessment in
emergent and
early literacy (pp. 377-427). San Diego, CA: Plural.
Dialogic Reading https://www.connectmodules.dec-sped.org/connect-modules/learners/module-6/
Gardner-Neblett, N., & Sideris, J. (July/August
2018). Different tales: The role of
gender in
the oral narratives-reading link among African American children.
Child
Development, 89 (4) 1328-1342.
Gillam, S. L., Fargo, J., Peterson, D. B., & Clark, M.
(2012). Assessment of
structure
dependent narrative features in modeled contexts: African American
and European
American children. English Linguistic Research, 1, 1-17.
Hughes, D. L., McGillivray, L., & Schmidek, M. (1997).
Guide to narrative
language.
Procedures for assessment. Eau Claire, WI: Thinking Publication.
Iruka, I. U., Cureton, S. M., Durden, T.R., & Escayg, K.
A. (2020). Don’t look away embracing
anti-bias
classrooms. Lewisville,
NC: Gryphon House, Inc.
Iruka, I. U., Gardner-Neblett, N., Matthews, J., & Winn, D.
C. (2014). Preschool to
kindergarten
transition patterns for African American boys. Early Childhood
Research
Quarterly, 29, 106-117.
Kena, G., Musa-Gillette, L., Robinson, J., Wang, X., Rathbun, A., Zhang,
J., …
Dunlap
Velez, E. (2015). The condition of education 2015. (No. NCES
2015-
144_.
Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, US
Department
of Education.
Klefstad, J. M., & Martinez, K. C. (2013). “Promoting
young children’s cultural
awareness
and appreciation through multicultural books”. Young Children,
68(5),
74-81.
Price, J.R., Roberts, J. E., & Jackson, S. C. (2006).
Structural development of the
fictional
narratives of African American preschoolers. Language, Speech, and
Hearing
Services in Schools, 37, 179-190.
Wright-Edelman, M. (2015). It’s hard to be what you can’t
see. Retrieved from http://www.learning-next.com/2018/09/its-hard-to-be-what-you-cant-see-so.html
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