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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ989043 |
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Table of Contents:
- Roses in the Concrete: A Critical Race Perspective on Urban Youth and School Libraries Kumasi, Kafi School Libraries Librarians Urban Youth Youth Opportunities Cultural Relevance Library Services Library Research Library Development Change Strategies Outreach Programs Critical Theory Best Practices Didacticism Music Appreciation Race The late rapper Tupac Shakur wrote a poem called "The Rose that Grew from Concrete" that serves as a good metaphor for helping educators, including school librarians, to disrupt stereotypical metanarratives they might have about urban youth and replace them with new narratives of hope, compassion, and high expectations for all students. Tupac's poem is a good primer for discussing what school libraries and school librarians can do to better support urban youth's diverse backgrounds and literacy abilities. What lessons might educators and school librarians learn about educating urban youth based on the message embedded in Tupac's poem? Moreover, how might they reflexively look back at their own practices and policies in the school library to see how they accommodate (or do not accommodate) the experiences, backgrounds, and literacies of urban youth? Finally, what insights might Critical Race Theory (CRT) afford them in an analysis of school library programs and school librarians' practices as they relate to educating urban youth? These are questions that the author explores in this article to provide readers with the conceptual and practical tools for developing more culturally sensitive library spaces that support literacy development among urban youth.