Final Reflection :)

Over the course of the semester my thinking has grown and changed in terms of diverse children's literature.  From looking at my questioning the text papers and thinking about our class discussions, an important theme I have noticed deals with stereotypes.  My thinking at the beginning of the semester was that stereotypes were obviously bad, but I was not sure how to pick up on all of them and how to know if the stereotype was purposeful by the author or not.  I still question stereotypes and their purpose by the author.  Like we discussed during our last class, a book without any stereotypes may not seem authentic or real to the minority being focused on.  I find myself often thinking about the article we read towards the beginning of the semester about stereotypes versus generalizations when I question stereotypes within literature.  From this article I gained valuable information such as, generalizations being flexible opposed to stereotypes being rigid and fixed.  Generalizations also give hints to individuals who belong to different groups opposed to stereotypes making hints into assumptions.  I still feel though, that the line between stereotypes and generalizations is very thin, and I am going to continue to try and define this line in my mind as I continue to look at diverse literature.

Another insight I had during the course is that no book is perfect.  Each of the books we read in class were written by insider authors and considered quality diverse children's literature, but there was also always something to be discussed and questioned within the text.  This showed us that although a book may be considered good multicultural literature, there still needs to be discussion within a class or with a student who is reading multicultural literature. This discussion may be where students gain most of their knowledge while reflecting on the book and its themes, while listening to what others thought and what the teacher points out about the diversity within the literature.

From here, I plan on expanding my library of children's literature to include many more pieces of diverse literature.  I want to make sure my students and myself have books that present them with windows and mirrors.  In order for this to happen, I must have a wide variety of multicultural literature present and available.  Since I know that due to monetary reasons I am not going to be able to purchase all the books I would like to, through this class, the readings, and our pubic blog I have great resources to look at in order to know which books to check out from the library or recommend to students to check out from the library.  From here, I also plan on trying to incorporate multicultural and diverse ideas into my future incorporating dance into the classroom.   With this I can also bring diverse types of dance, and literature about dance, showing dance from many different cultures. Like regular literature, I would want to make sure the books about dance were written by insider or very knowledgeable authors and were not stereotypical.

I am very glad I took this course this year.  I think it was great preparation for next year as a student teacher.  I can bring my knowledge about diverse literature directly into the classroom in order to widen students knowledge base through literature.  I am excited and eager to spread my knowledge about diverse children's literature with my students, colleagues, friends and family!