Philosophy

When thinking about why I was taking this class lots of things came to my mind. The obvious ones like, it's required, or it sounded interesting were there but there really is a bigger more important reason about why I am taking this class. I want to be able to broaden my horizons about children's literature and be able to impact students ideas, beliefs, and life just by opening their eyes to a new book that presents a particular topic that may be new or different than what they had originally thought about that subject. I also wanted to learn how to pick books and learn what makes one book better than another. I learned in 348 that that can be a hard thing to do somethings. It take a lot of time and effort and research to figure out the criteria and to know what is appropriate for all students in my class.
I know that in my class I will incorporate reading into all of my subjects and lessons so knowing how to pick good books is a huge part of what I hope my students will get out of my class. I also hope to some day write some of my own children's books so I know that I need to know what the criteria is for good books so that I can create a book that is mindful of all viewpoints and does not make generalizations about a particular group of people.
It is so important to me to embrace all of my students into my lessons and in order to do this I must work hard to give good representations of all groups of people in my teaching. I know that it will take more work to be conscious of this but I also know that it will be worth it to show my students that I care about each of them equally and that I do not value one group of people over another. I hope that my students will pick this up and also begin to see that as a valuable trait for themselves and see it as something they want to do.
By adding more multicultural literacy into my curriculum, I will be able to give all of my students a book to either relate to, or to learn something new from; at least that is my hope. I think it will be really hard to make sure all of my students see these connections and understand that I want them to learn something about these many cultures. I think it will also be hard to not put my own bias into the lessons.
Thinking about what my philosophy about multicultural education is, is a complicated task. I know that in order to reach and connect with students you must show that you respect all people and cultures. I think one of the most efficient and best ways to do this is to use books to explain all sides of a story or event. In this way I can get my students talking to each other about hard issues that may be uncomfortable. I hope I can create an environment that is safe and students feel they can share their opinions and learn new things about their peers that they may have never known before. I am worried that this may not go smoothly at first but I hope eventually I will learn what works and gain new knowledge about how to approach different subjects in a way that makes all students feel I am respecting the culture.