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Classroom Library Survey
Audience
K-12 teachers
Topic
Advocacy
Resource Type
Survey
Format
PDF
Pages
1
Description
The Classroom Library Survey is a tool that can be used as part of a unit in which students evaluate the contents of their classroom library. Students use the survey to determine the number of books that are mirror books (representing themselves and their experiences) and the number that are window books (representing the experiences of others) (Style, 1988, Sims Bishop, 1990).
Considerations
It is important to discuss with students that mirror and window books will be different for each individual based on their backgrounds and experiences. Co-developing an anchor chart as a class can be a useful in modeling language that can be used to talk about our relationship to books. The Classroom Library Survey can also be a great jumping off point for other activities such as writing letters to publishers in support of greater diversity of characters in books.
How It Works
Step 1: Discuss with students the concept of mirror books and window books as well as how books can be sliding glass doors and allow the reader to join the world created by the author (Sims Bishop, 1990).
Step 2: Read a variety of stories and model how students can talk about books as mirrors, windows, and sliding doors.
Step 3: Prompt students to think about the type of characters, experiences, settings, and events they might be looking for in a mirror book.
Step 4: Finally, invite students to conduct a library inventory to determine what types of books they have in their classroom library and discuss how they feel about their findings.
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