Welcome to my Blog!

Hello! Welcome to my Blog! My name is Rashel, but a lot of people call me Munchkin. I am an undergraduate student at Michigan State University in the College of Education. This blog is a part of my professional development within the college of education and I will be posting here throughout the spring semester as a part of my Diversity in Children's Literature class. Please be aware that I am still a student and make no claims to be the "all-knowing" person on any subject. My posts here will be my thoughts and ideas that are bound to be modified as I continue to learn. Please learn along with me and add your thoughts to help broaden mine.
I am enrolled in this class because I see and feel the need for diverse, multicultural, and multi-ethnic literature in the realm of children's literature. I hope to be a great teacher one day and want to provide the very best education possible for my students. I hope that this class will help me to explore and understand what makes books considered diverse "good" or "not so good" as well as the best ways to incorporate this literature meaningfully into my classrooms. I believe that children need to be taught in a multicultural, or at the very least a multiculturally appreciative and sensitive, environment. All societies and people are interconnected so deeply today that it seems absolutely ridiculous to me to not have a rich and meaningful education in a diverse manner. Additionally, I know that I was raised in a somewhat homogeneous community. I want to become better informed about other communities and ways of life so that I do not unintentionally offend or deeply hurt someone else. As much as I would like to travel the world and use that experience to inform my knowledge of people that may be different from myself, I know that this is unlikely to be the best approach. I definitely see literature as a window into the lives and cultures of other people.
At the present moment I cannot think of many specific questions that I would like to explore in this course, but I am sure this will change over time.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy my blogging!