I am thankful for my children's literature classes because they have taught me so much about how to be an advocate for incorporating multicultural literature into my classroom and showing me how important multicultural literature is to children. Since the beginning of the semester, I have learned so much about the importance and meaning of multicultural literature. I have expanded my horizons on my beliefs about literature in a classroom and this class has given me the courage to address multicultural literature to my students.
In the beginning of the semester, I would have told you that multicultural literature only included racial groups. I am now educated enough to say that multicultural literature includes diversity among all people; including, special needs, religion, and sexual orientation of people. Before I took this class, I would have never thought to include these other areas of multicultural literature. This class has educated me in many ways and allowed me to question myself and others when talking about multicultural literature. For example, the labels we use when addressing a multicultural group/topic.
For anyone reading this blog, I encourage you to take TE 448: Issues of Diversity in Children's and Adolescent Literature at Michigan State University.
I agree that I have learned so much from TE 448. While I still have one more year before my internship, my teachers are already encouraging me to build my library as well. Last semester I began to compile a list of books that I wanted for my classroom library. However, I have begun to question many of them after taking this course.
ReplyDeleteI think it is so interesting because I am always thinking about my teacher library and how many children's books I have already that I have collected through college. The thing that makes me really happy is the fact that not only do I have a lot of books, but they are good quality and I already know lessons that I can do that go along with books. This will definitely make my life easier as a teacher for the future.
ReplyDeleteLindsay,
ReplyDeleteI too have put extensive thought into how I will incorporate what I have learned in my two children's literature courses into the book I choose and how I categorize my classroom library. I have also realize the extreme importance of having a wide variety of high quality books covering a huge range of topics available to my students. I always knew I wanted a class library, but I now see how vital one can be to the education and incorporation of literature into other core content areas. I have always loved reading, and a good library can be instrumental in helping my students feel the same way.
Like many other people, my classroom library is on my mind to. It did always seem like i was going to have a lot of time to collect children's books to fill my shelves, but it seems like it is creeping up closer and closer. I have realized though this class that it is extremely important to include amazing multicultural literature in my class library so my students can be exposed to life styles and cultures that are different than there own, or if they are the same, get a new perspective on it.
ReplyDeleteTo think about this now, after taking this class, seriously frightens me.... but, I've been told numerous times by current teachers that I shouldn't go out and spend my money buying new books. Instead, I just just go to garage sales and stock my bookshelves that way. Yikes! I can't say that I always read high-quality literature when I was younger but as a future educator, I am responsible for making sure that my students get the best literature out there and I wouldn't feel right with myself just getting a box of unwanted books from a garage sale. In combination with TE 348, this class has taught me so much regarding the importance of authentic, multicultural literature and I take its incorporation into the classroom very seriously. If we expect our youth to grow up to be open-minded, intelligent people, we cannot just leave them to do it on their own by reading books like "Arachnid: the Spider King."
ReplyDeleteLindsay:
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog, and I don't feel so bad after all. I have yet to build a large library for my future classroom either, but I plan to do so this summer.
You raise some really good points in your blog. First, you said that your view of multicultural literature has changed as a result of taking this class in the sense that it has broadened. This gives you an advantage because now that you know you can share this with other future and current teachers who are unaware of the many categories under the term "multicultural literature."
Second, I admire the fact that you are becoming aware of the terms/labels to use when addressing multicultural issues. This is something that I still struggle with, and I stumble over words during conversations with other out of fear of not wanting to say the wrong term/label.
Finally, I believe that we all have a great advantage since we have learned how to authentically assess children's literature. Instead of choosing a book by its cover, or illustrations, we now possess the knowledge to select books based on their conventions.