Personal Philosophy

The reason why I chose to be apart of this class is because as a language arts major within the elementary education profession I wanted to be able to become more educated about not only children’s literature but diverse literature. When choosing my classes for to fulfill my language arts major, I was very pleased to have this as an option instead of the typical thesis papers that I have been writing all throughout my college career. When choosing language arts as my major, I thought I would be studying about how language arts goes on throughout the elementary education setting and different strategies you would use within your classroom to be a more effective literacy instructor but it was not even close to what I had expected. The main focus has been on writing thesis papers based on the literature and articles that we had been reading. Besides this struggle I have faced within finding classes that suited my future profession, I have found this class extremely beneficial to my future. This class has been teaching me to look at literature in a whole different light. It just isn’t about what is good literature and what is not, it is about how different cultures are portrayed and in what ways you need to make sure your book is an accurate portrayal when teaching in your classes as well. I have realized that diverse literature is just not incorporating it into your classroom, but to make sure you are educated on the books that you do choose to use within your classroom and the stereotypes that may come out of your books. It is about educating your students about what they are reading and the different cultures reading and learning about and to make sure they are getting the correct portrayals of that culture. My personal philosophy about multicultural education is that the more educated I become the better. Diverse classrooms are a huge part of a teacher’s job and the more I can learn about how I can accommodate to such settings, the better teacher I will become. Children’s literature is a vital element in a student’s education and academic success. I believe that reading does not just help children academically but it expands their knowledge on so many different levels. With reading, I believe the children are able to find who they are and what interests they may have through reading various types of books. I have been creating my classroom library ever since TE 348 and now by taking this class it has taken me on a whole different level. It now isn’t just about finding literature that fits your students and the classroom setting, but it is about finding books that hits upon different cultures and by doing so in a correct manner. It is no longer about creating a classroom library, it is about creating a diverse multicultural library to accommodate all of my students needs, wants, levels, and cultures. As being a future teacher comes near, some concerns that I have is that I am not fully prepared to be in a classroom or a diverse one at that. By taking this course I have learned that it is not just about being “politically correct”; it is about making sure you are completed educated especially when teaching about another’s culture. I have come to realize that I am going to make mistakes, but it is about fixing it and making sure my students become correctly educated especially when it comes to one’s culture.