Currently, many students come from vastly different backgrounds.

Compare to the past

there are more diversity in the families which creates a challenge for teacher educating students

about family. There have been several studies on effective methods of integrating diverse points

of views on families – the LGBT community, single mothers or other minority families – via

children’s literature. While more schools are integrating the multiple perspectives of families it

still lacks few important factors: “the composition of the family” and “marginalized family

experience” (Tschida, & Buchanan, 2017, p.3). The authors propose an integration of “multiple

perspective” model by using multiple stories of families rather than a status quo, a single story

family.

The tradition model defines family as a person with a biological relationship; however,

the multiple story perspective broadens its point of view from families by expanding the meaning

of family. For instance, students can share their significant people in their lives. There might be a

dear friend in a student’s family who is not biologically related to them. Yet, the family still

considerate that individual to be a family which could widen the view of families. Personally, I

have an American host family whom I feel like my real family. Even till today I always visit

them during Christmas and they always greet me as their sons. Through the experience, students

can have a wider understanding of what it means to be a family

Traditionally family has been conceptualized as a social unit that consists of people

related by blood, Tschida, & Buchanan(2017) defines this as a telling a single story. Even though

learning the single story was the status quo, Tschida and Buchanan express there are gaps

between the different single stories in the classroom. Heather Landreth explains her struggles

with teaching a family unit because diverse natures of families students could not fall on the

same model on family, thus, she had to shift her lesson from “family” to “me and my feeling”
(p.3). As more classrooms become diverse, the teacher often does not know how to respond to

the challenging questions in the eyes of the students. A single story has a limitation on

explaining diverse families in the classrooms, Books can be a great medication tool for students,

moreover, Professor Emerita explains the benefit of reading books as a “Mirror, Window, and

Glassdoor.” (Bishop, 1990). Students can use stories as a self-reflection or means of sharing their

experience with their peer

Literature such as picture books could also beneficial impact student on comprehending

the broader understanding of family. It is important to choose a book that could work as a mirror

as well as a window but, due to the vast diversity of different stories it often could be a struggle

selecting a book fitted for the students. So the authors introduced a four-step process of choosing

a story and each step carefully selects the appropriate literature for the classroom. This inclusive

text could be a great way to understanding to the deeper meaning of family value and tradition.

The single story can only show a narrow view of families so when teachers teach a family lesson

plans teachers should consider the incorporation of multiple story perspective

Reference:

Tschida, C. M., & Buchanan, L. B. (2017). What Makes a Family? Sharing Multiple

Perspectives through an Inclusive Text Set. Social Studies and the Young

Learner, 30(2), 3-7.

Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives, 6(3), ix-xi.