A Reflection on What I Have Learned

Looking back on this past semester I can see how my ideas and knowledge have evolved from what I have done in this class. Before I stepped into the first class in January I felt that I was not to say "knowledgeable", but I felt that I knew enough about diversity and I thought I was sensitive enough to know how to handle it in my classroom through the books I would provide to my students. But now I understand what I did know wasn't enough and that there is so many more issues on diversity that we didn't get to cover that I should go out and learn more about. This class taught me that diverse literature has many more components than just accepting and welcoming books that are multi-cultural and that you should have a variety of books on these different cultures in your classroom library and not only that, but that there is a correct way to do this and to choose those books.

One topic that seemed to be ongoing was the insider/outsider debate. Before this class when looking at and reading books I never even took into consideration who wrote the book and if they were qualified or not to be writing this book. Now before I am going to pick a multi-cultural text I know that I should do some research on the author to make sure that I am picking an authentic representation of that culture. I thought it was very beneficial to have all the articles we read along with the novels because every week it gave us a new perception on a different culture and their thoughts of the insider/outsider debate. What I took from these articles every week is that more often than not if the author is an insider than that book is most likely a great and an authentic representation and that usually outsiders are ill-informed. So because of this class I have developed my own thoughts and ideas on this debate and feel a little better going into a library or bookstore and picking out culturally diverse books!

Another topic that I felt that I really grew from was the People with Disabilities literature and the film about the woman who has Autism. When reading books about PWD I never thought about who was writing the book or who was the voice of the book. A lot of disabilities don't allow the people who have them or give them the opportunity to write their experiences so that leaves it up to other people who aren't insiders to write their stories for them. Because of this it is harder to know if the book is really about how the person with the disability feels or how the writer views the disability and how it affects their life. Watching the film it showed me that this woman has so many thoughts and ideas on her disability, but it is very hard for her to get them out, but because of new technology, like the piece of tech. they showed her using, there will be more and more insider books about their disabilities instead of people who work with or are family members of people with disabilities.

Finally, I would just like to add that I really enjoyed this course and I liked the fact that we didn't have to write papers for every book we read because it gave us a chance to just read the text and reflect on it without any pressure about those reflections. I think all the books we read were great and they all opened my eyes to different texts about different cultures. Also by having you bring in all those texts every week showed me that good books are out there about every culture! Because of the weeks I spent in class I feel more prepared for providing diverse literature in my classroom and to my students, but I know that I am nowhere near being an expert and I have a lot more to learn and understand. This class has provided me with a head start on becoming more knowledgeable and sensitive when it comes to choosing diverse literature.