I've Got My Philosophy

Is a philosophy something that can be written in a sentence? Two? A paragraph? I feel as though it is something that has been formed of a lifetime of experiences, educational and other, and will continue to change, grow, develop, mold, as life goes on. Teaching is about life, and life is never still. Up until this point, I would say that so much of me, my personality, experiences, interests, pains, problems all contribute to my life philosophy, and therefore my teaching philosophy. Educationally speaking, my philosophy has been formed through my experiences, both good and bad, painful and engaging, in thirteen years of school (including kindergarten!).
MSU and the College of Ed have both been integral in shaping my philosophy of education through the classes I have taken, as well as the intense promotion of diversity that saturates the university. Until college I had not really been concerned with diversity, I have always thought that everybody is different in their own way, and that was just fine with me as long as they weren't hurting themselves or me at all. Diversity has definitely achieved a new and much more complex definition after arriving here.
Now I feel much more well equipped to deal with situations of diversity and teach diversity to my students, hopefully in a light of social justice and equality. I want everyone to feel welcome into my classroom, to promote peace among all people, and work hard to establish principles of equality in my students, my classroom, and my community (ie. the world). Pretty ambitious, to say the least. But I think that's all part of my philosophy. To make a difference. Be the change you wish to see in the world. Live peacefully and simply. Love. I hope to take all of these qualities, ideals, ideas and promote them in the classroom. It is a goal of mine to teach life skills, to empower students to be the best person they can be, to be themselves, believe in themselves, and make a difference. Go and change the world. I'll be right there with you.
So this is kind of an unrefined, scattered, wild attempt at gathering thoughts for my personal philosophy. Hopefully by the end of this year I will be able to create something refined and eloquent, something that I can carry with me through my years of teaching and life.

Appalachian Trail

This post really doesn't have anything to do with class, it's just something I would like to post about my Spring Break trip, if anyone's interested.

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Symbolically Speaking

Our discussion about The Heart of A Chief revolved around the use of names as ways to identify, stereotype, and control people. I realized not too long ago that the school district in which I am employed, Okemos, uses the Chief as it's mascot and logo. The Native American head with a feathered headdress is all over the apparel from the school district. I was wondering, how is it that some schools have gotten away with using such stereotypical images as their mascots while other schools have been so persecuted? Does anyone know if Okemos has encountered any suits or issues over the use of the Native American Chief as it's mascot? Should this be taken up with the school district? Why hasn't it before? It really made me realize how subconsciously these stereotypes reside in me. I had not noticed until well after the discussion that the mascot was a Native American chief - it had not bothered me, it was of no consequence at all. Do I consider myself biased? No. Have I internalized these stereotypes which have invaded the media unconsciously? Most likely, yes. How can we go about combating these stereotypes, aside from learning about them in this class and taking what we know about diversity into the classroom? So many questions from such a seemingly simple symbol.

Insider Vs. Outsider

The debate about insider vs. outsider in our readings today presented many different, compelling views about multicultural literature. One that I found particularly important was the definition of multicultural literature presented in Cai. "Instead of embracing the literature of any culture, a definition of multicultural literature should there-fore draw a demarcation line between the literature of the dominant mainstream culture and that of marginalized cultures" (83). I think this is a valid point in that in order to challenge what has been "the canon" (Shannon), it first needs to be recognized that other groups have been marginalized because of this powerful group. The goal of multicultural literature is ultimately to reform. The social order should be reordered so that each group has more power and more voice, which results in the majority losing long-held privileges. This may not be comfortable for many people to talk about, and it may also be difficult to relate to for certain people. While this debate is not an easy nor a clear debate, it is necessary to address.

Let's Get It Started

Hi everyone! Here's my first post. I'm not quite sure what this is all about yet, but I am open to comments, criticism, and change. So please feel free to insert your own comments :) I guess I'll start by asking if anyone has any recommendations for diverse literature other than what we are going to be studying in this course. Suggestions, please! That's all for now :)
kate out.