When I first came to TE 448 I was unsure what to expect however I must say that I did not feel that real challenge was to be part of a class on Diversity. Boy, was I wrong. My brain sometimes hurt after leaving the class, not literally and not in a bad way. The class made me think. It challenged me intellectually and gave me the opportunity to learn knowledge that can eventually be applied to my classroom.
My readings/understandings of diverse literature have changed significantly. I never before would have questioned the text and its authenticity or have checked to see whether or not the author of the literature I was reading was an insider/outsider/informed. Although these issues are of great importance I question whether or not questioning the text can be sometimes unsettling. As a future teacher I think that I will not only question the text but I want to also weigh out the positives against the negatives. I want to look for the positives in the book otherwise I am sure any novel may provide certain flaws, some unnoticed and some noticeable.
I want to chose books that my students can relate to/identify with; and I don't mean that I will only by books that share the same cultural background as my students. I still want my students to be well-rounded. In order to obtain such a characteristic I want my students to explore books of all types of cultures; something that I have learned in TE 448. I never really thought about the role diverse literature can play in peoples lives. It can create awareness and teach people of differences and similarities that are not solely on such factors as skin color.
I have all the tools and now it is up to me to use them. I am not concerned with any questions I have about diverse literature. I have come to learn that it is a challenging topic and something that may not give you the answers right away. I am ready to apply my new learned knowledge but I am not ready to stop learning!
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