Final Post

I have learned a lot of things throughout the semester about diverse literature, but there has been one thing in particular that has stuck out to me. I learned that it is extremely important for teachers and adults to read books critically. Children read books differently than adults do. For the most part, they take what they read very seriously and often don't question whether the text might be realistic. Therefore, when children read books that may portray stereotypes of certain groups, some children might overlook them completely. With that being said, I learned that it is important for adults to point these things out to children. I don't think that children should not read books that contain stereotypes, but I do think that adults and teachers have a very important role in helping the children understand that some things in books are inaccurate.

Another thing that I learned this semester was that many classrooms have books that appear to be diverse literature; however, they may not be as diverse as most people think they are. For example, they may contain pictures with African Americans, but they may not realistically depict the African American lifestyle and family values. I feel that this class taught me how to look for that and gave me great ideas about specific books that depict diverse cultures in an accurate way.

One other thing that I definitely have a better understanding of after taking this course is the difference between a generalization and a stereotype. At the beginning of the semester, I had no idea what the difference was. I now realize that there is a fine line between them, but I feel more comfortable identifying aspects of books that might be stereotypes and aspects of books that might be generalizations. Overall, I am very glad that I took this course. It taught me how to read books critically, which is an important skill, especially if you're going to be a teacher. It also opened my eyes to books that I had not been aware of.