Importance of Diverse Literature

My name is Sara Maurer and I am a senior at Michigan State University. I am an Elementary Education major with a teaching concentration in Integrated Sciences.

In TE 448, I am hoping to learn some better strategies for determining what makes a book "good" or "bad" to use in a classroom setting. More importantly, how to incorporate a variety of diverse literature into my lesson plans as a teacher and into my classroom in general.

As a child, I was not introduced to many books that had principal characters of other cultures and living situations. I think it is very important for children to make connections to characters who are not exactly like themselves. Exposure to many different people and situations helps to shape our own "self" and how well we understand those around us. Throughout this class I hope to build on my background knowledge of diverse literature. I'm looking forward to discussing many issues that may come up in a classroom.