Multicultural Literature Survey for Grad Thesis

[Melissa Brooke]

Hi Teachers,
Please help me by answering the questions to the survey. You can write the number and your answer. This will be a great help. Thank you!!

1. Please check: ________ Male _______ Female
2. How many years have you been working in an educational setting?
3. What grade are you currently working with?
4. What is your definition of multicultural literature?
5. How or where do you use multicultural literature in your classroom (lesson plans, independent reading, small groups)?
6. List your best example of multicultural literature that you have seen or used.
7. In what ways is multicultural literature a benefit? In what ways may it be a problem or difficulty?
8. Have you seen benefits/ changes in student views of peers through the intentional teaching using multicultural literature? _______ Yes __________ No
9. Describe an incident/ event that illustrates how students benefited, or did not
benefit from multicultural literature?
10. Would you be interested in including a new multicultural curriculum in your classroom?
_____ Yes ______No
Please explain:
11. Have you had professional development on the topic of multicultural literature, or how to include diversity themes in your instruction? _______ Yes ______ No
If so, please describe:
12. Is teaching multicultural literacy important?
________ Yes _________ No
If so, explain one major reason why.

[lynn bambusch]

1. Female
2. 23 years
3. Grades 5-6
4. Multiculturalism is honoring all cultures, not just the majority
5. I use books clubs, reading journals and do cross-surriculum activities with social studies.
6. I have used Crossing the Wire (adventure), Number the Stars (historical fistion) and The Case of the Goblin Pearls (mystery, many by the same author, all the same characters)
7. It introduces students to different ways of life. However, if the teacher can't relate and teach about the culture, it can be a negative experience. You can't allow students to judge one as being inferior or superior to others.
8. Students become more open to people from different backgrounds, less judgemental.
9. Children bring prejudices from home, my students are at an age where they may never have had some one show a different view from that of their parents. It can be shocking to them.
10. Our school district has been involved in multiculturalism for many years. We are only five miles from a major university so we are often connected to them. This is a chance to use those resources to teach about people from all over the world.
11. The Language Arts department has 9 meetings a year, each for an hour and a half. This is just for professional development. At least one of those meetings is dedicated to looking at new literature we might want to put into our book room.
Of course it is important, but, personally, I think it needs to just be part of the curriculum through out the year. I don't like it being: February is African American Month, April is Asian-American month, May is Hispanic-American month, so we only deal with them during those months. It needs to be taught all together, not separated into little sections.
Hope this helps

[horwaths]

Melissa,
I am working on my graduate project as well, and your survey would work wonderfully with my research. Can I please have your permission to use your questions to survey the teachers in my school (with credit to you, of course)?

Sarah Horwath
Librarian
Rockwell Elementary School

[hweber]

Hi Teachers,
Please help me by answering the questions to the survey. You can write the number and your answer. This will be a great help. Thank you!!

1. Please check: ________ Male _______ Female
2. How many years have you been working in an educational setting?
3. What grade are you currently working with?
4. What is your definition of multicultural literature?
5. How or where do you use multicultural literature in your classroom (lesson plans, independent reading, small groups)?
6. List your best example of multicultural literature that you have seen or used.
7. In what ways is multicultural literature a benefit? In what ways may it be a problem or difficulty?
8. Have you seen benefits/ changes in student views of peers through the intentional teaching using multicultural literature? _______ Yes __________ No
9. Describe an incident/ event that illustrates how students benefited, or did not
benefit from multicultural literature?
10. Would you be interested in including a new multicultural curriculum in your classroom?
_____ Yes ______No
Please explain:
11. Have you had professional development on the topic of multicultural literature, or how to include diversity themes in your instruction? _______ Yes ______ No
If so, please describe:
12. Is teaching multicultural literacy important?
________ Yes _________ No
If so, explain one major reason why.

1. female
2. 3 years
3. fourth grade
4. multicultural literature is lit that students can read to become exposed to other cultures, societies, or ideas.
5. I read this to my students during read aloud time
6. Pink and Say by Patricia Pallaco
7. Benefit because it shows them a new way of living - helps them become less egocentric
8. Not much
9 NOt sure here
10 Yes
11 no
12. Yes, i think it is important that students are exposed to many different experiences as often as possible.