Final Blog Post- What Diverse Literature NOW Means to Me!!!

Throughout the semester I realized that I learned A LOT about diverse literature. I think that the biggest thing I learned about diverse literature is that diversity crosses many different areas and groups of people. Before this course I used to think of diversity in specifically cultural terms, however now I think about diversity in a whole new light. Included in diversity are people with disabilities, sexual orientations, and religions along with different cultural groups. I have also learned a great deal about really looking into a book and seeing the stereotypes that it presents. However, I think that I have also thought a lot about and learned how one could use these books and the stereotypes in them to teach about stereotypes in text.

I really enjoyed looking into the text and questioning things that I may have seen as stereotypical or simply just problematic in the text. However, I believe that questioning is a correct term because in some areas there are unanswered questions. Sometimes it is a matter of interpretation if something is stereotypical or not. There were many times in which my groups discussion allowed me to think further into the issues I saw in the text and to see that they may not be as stereotypical as I at first may have thought. On the other hand these discussion also brought up many issues and questions in the novels that I had not even thought of. Overall, I think that I learned a lot about looking deeper into the text that we read and would use in our classrooms. I think this is important because not every book is perfect and teachers can use the imperfections in the text as teaching tools, to make children aware, and as ways of discussion. I also learned that it is important to discuss issues related to diversity even if they may be uncomfortable at first. Going to the MSU museum to see the KKK Quilt, which at first my reaction was “why would this be in a museum”, was a great eye opener into this issue. After going to see the quilt and talking about it I think that I really understood better the reasoning for the quilt being in the museum and I appreciated the quilt as an artifact of history and a artifact to ignite discussion.

When thinking about the literature I would use in my classroom I thought a lot about how important it was to avoid all stereotypes in books that the children would explore on their own. I also thought about how one could use books that might present stereotypical images but with the intention of discussion of those things and how this would be great in a whole class setting. I learned that the literature that I place out for students to view may be different from the materials that I use in class to read together because I think some books are great books to use as discussions but they need to be used in a whole group setting to discuss possible problems with the book or things of that nature with a class. Overall, this course taught me to the important of multicultural literature, but also the importance of the authenticity of the literature that you choose to put in your classroom and the importance of having group discussions on books to share thoughts and ideas about the text.