Teaching Through Culture: Strategies for Reading and Responding to Young Adult Literature

In an increasingly multicultural global community, teachers are striving to bring more culturally responsive materials to their classrooms. Joan Parker Webster provides instructors with the basic tools to teach young adults Hispanic literature using selected texts and tailored methods for implementation in classes made up of culturally diverse students. When students can see themselves in the stories they read, they encounter familiar ideas and situations, which lessen an often overwhelming and intimidating school environment. Parker Webster has chosen exemplary narrative works from some of the most respected authors of Latino literature including the works of such authors as Anile Bernardo, Diane Gonzales Bertrand, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Ofelia Dumas Lachtman, Floyd Martinez, and Tomas Rivera. In each chapter, Joan Parker Webster provides the historical and cultural context for each text and applies strategies for understanding and teaching the text in the classroom. Each chapter is divided into the following sections: Synopsis of the Story, Background before You Read. Reading and Responding to the Story, Working with Words and Connecting across the Curriculum.