What About the Classics?

During discussions about using a multicultural approach to teaching literature, the following question often comes up: "What about the classics? I don't have enough time now to teach the classics in my classroom. How can I fit in multicultural literature too?"

I have a few answers to this question. My first immediate response is this. Our job is not to teach every work of classical literature to our students. Our job is to expose them to different types of literature and give them the tools, so they can read, comprehend, and evaluate written works on their own.

There will never be enough classroom time to spend on every piece of literature that I feel is important and "classic." And what works I label "classics" and what you label "classics" may be different. And our students' definitions of classics will again be different than our own.

A multicultural approach to education asks us to evaluate what literary works make our "classics" list. These days, every book we are teaching should not have been written by a dead, white male. Because there is wonderful literature out there composed by women, by people of color, by fresh young writers. Today you can inspire the students in your class with writing from the "classics" list of the previous century and with from the "classics" list of today.

A word of caution, just as you shouldn't dismiss all the works of the dead, white male writers; you shouldn't include a work, for example, because it was the first book you found that takes place in Cambodia and you have a Cambodian student in your class. Evaluate every piece of literature. You don't have to teach books written by every ethnic group represented in your class. If the writing isn't there now, maybe your students will be the future authors to fill those gaps and holes.

As I said before, there isn't enough time to teach everything you'd like, so here are a few ways to include multicultural literature:

• Book Talks - Give book talks on some of the "classics" you can't cover, so students can read the books on their own.
• Library Visits - Ask your school librarian to show off parts of the collection on each visit. Maybe African-American literature on one visit, Asian-American on another visit, etc.
• Classroom Library - Make sure that your classroom library includes all the "classics."
  
• Reading/Writing Workshop - Not everyone in the class needs to be reading the same book at the same time. Spend part of the school year doing reading/writing workshops.
  
• Different Perspectives/Same Time - Choose 4 or more books that are written from different perspectives but take place during the same time period, such as World War II. (Students could choose to read about the experiences of a family of Koreans or Japanese-Americans or Jews or Poles. This could lead to interesting class discussions.)
• Invite authors of different ethnicities to speak in your classroom or at your school.
• Have students do research projects on authors from different time periods and of different ethnicities.
• Take a class in African-American literature or Native American literature, or Southern Writers, or Women Writers, or Latino Writers. This is a fast, effective way to expose you to writing you may not be familiar with. And you can share what you learn with your class.