Welcome to my blog :)

Hi. My name is Samantha, but most people call me Sam. I am a senior Elementary Education major focusing in Language Arts. I am also a dance specialization student.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Michigan State and am trying to live up my last semester here. This summer I will be traveling to Australia for the Pre-Internship Teaching Study Abroad trip. I am very excited to have the opportunity to travel to and teach in Australia!!  When I come back I will move home to Walled Lake, Michigan to complete my year of student teaching in the Detroit Area.  

I am interested in diverse literature because I feel it is necessary to constantly be learning about others, whether this be their culture, race, ethnicity, religion or interests.  By learning about others you can learn about the world and see how everyone has commonalities yet brings something different to the table to make the world an interesting and vibrant place. I also feel it is important for me to learn about and be exposed to diverse literature so I can include diverse literature in my classroom.  Students can then be provided with books as mirrors and windows in order to enhance their education.  Along with becoming an elementary teacher I am interested in teaching dance within an elementary school.  My knowledge of diverse literature will encourage me to bring diverse styles of dance to the classroom so students can gain exposure and experience in types of dance within our country and around the world.

There are a couple questions I would like to explore within this course.  I would like to find out if I am holding stereotypes about cultures and if these will be exposed through our reading and analysis of diverse literature?  I would also like to know if authors of diverse literature usually write with the goal of spreading knowledge about their culture, or because their culture is what they know best, or for a different reason?  I am interested in what questions other people have as well and look forward to discussing answers to our questions throughout the semester.