Bellport High School students now have access to a wider variety of book titles through the school’s new Equity Library.
The Equity Library, which is housed within the school’s main library, was inaugurated this school year as the result of a collaborative curriculum enhancement review conducted by the English Language Arts Department and led by Jaclyn O'Hagan, director of humanities and Monica Pullows-Tetuan, director of ELL, Bilingual and World Language programs. Titles currently offered were evaluated and new ones that would provide students with access to fiction and nonfiction texts with diverse characters and stories were explored.
“It is important to provide students with windows and mirrors through characters who come from a variety of backgrounds and content that shines a light on diverse lived experiences,” said librarian Colleen Oates-Robesch.
Classes and individual students are already using the Equity Library. ELA students recently participated in a book tasting, complete with a menu of books and viewing of book trailers, where they “tasted” a variety of titles. During Hispanic Heritage Month, students took part in literature circles, where they worked in small groups to read and discuss books written by Hispanic authors or featuring Hispanic characters.
The books were all purchased with Title I funds and include titles such as “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson, “Dear Martin” by Nic Stone, “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo, “Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson, and “March” by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell.