Reading Diversity

Publication Cover Credit

Southern Poverty Law Center **NOTE: This Publication has 2 PDF downloads, in the body of the text to the right.**

Topic

Race & Ethnicity Religion Ability Class Immigration Gender & Sexual Identity Bullying & Bias Rights & Activism

Note: This tool was created under Learning for Justice’s former name, Teaching Tolerance.

Including diverse voices is a priority in K–12 classrooms, and we’ve developed a unique model to make it easier: Reading Diversity. (This model may look familiar: It’s a new version of an existing tool called Appendix D.)

Traditionally, tools that aid text selection have focused on quantitative and qualitative measures like complexity, word and sentence length, cohesion, language features and knowledge demands. But these tools do not include diversity and representation, critical literacy, or reader and task as part of the selection criteria.

Reading Diversity is different. This model promotes a multi-dimensional approach to text selection that prioritizes critical literacy, cultural responsiveness and complexity.

We have designed two versions of the Reading Diversity model as two editable PDF tools educators can download, complete, save and share.

Reading Diversity Lite: A Tool for Selecting Diverse Texts (Teacher’s Edition) is a one-page questionnaire that helps users include diverse voices in their day-to-day planning by answering 14 simple “yes or no” questions. One of our early users praised Reading Diversity Lite for its “convenient, quick, matter-of-fact structure.” This tool is ideal for busy teachers and anyone looking to assess a text’s diversity.
Reading Diversity: A Tool for Selecting Diverse Texts (Extended Edition) walks users through the multi-step method Teaching Tolerance uses to identify readings for our Student Text Library. This edition gives users an in-depth look at the complexity and diversity of a text and is ideal for curriculum coordinators, literacy coaches, book-selection committees and pre-service teachers.

Explore these sample Reading Diversity tools, and begin cultivating a more inclusive classroom library today!