Where Will I Go From Here?

This course in multicultural literature has changed the way I think about designing my future classroom. I think about ways to incorporate the diverse literature in any way I can. It's an important theme to teach students as early as kindergarten. Children begin to develop ideas about different groups of people very early, as I have described in a previous blog. They get these ideas from their parents or even older children, and take those ideas as truth, which can then become a misconception. It is our responsibility as teachers, to nip those preconceived misconceptions as early as possible. I feel that I have come quite far since the beginning of this semester about my thoughts on multicultural literature. Before, I felt that diversity was important to teach, but I never realized to what extent it could go. It is important to keep in mind that one piece of diverse literature cannot be representative of an entire group. Everyone brings something different to the table, and should have a voice. A classroom library should represent people from all different cultures, whether those cultures are represented in your students identities or not. I still have a fear that I will come across a situation with my students where I don't have the answers for them. I understand that some questions do not need to be answered, I just hope that I can handle those "gray" areas effectively. I also am nervous about handling stereotypes. I understand that a stereotype is a generalization about a group of people, but sometimes a person of a group lives up to that stereotype for many different reasons. So, I wonder how can you teach students that it is wrong to stereotype people, but sometimes it is okay to accept s "stereotype" about a person because it is a part of who they are. Regardless, I still have high hopes for my future classroom with the inclusion of multicultural and diverse literature!