Blogging

Blogging is going really well so far! It's really easy to access this blog and other's blogs to view what the class has to say over similar topics. I love that there is a teacher's blog with the entire class listed where you can click on their name which assists you right to their page. I really enjoy the fact that you offer a prompt to follow in case we don't have any ideas what to write about. But, I also think it's important to let us free write about something that might have moved us in class or in a reading assigned to us. I believe it's important to leave that option open in case there is something other than the prompt we wish to discuss. I believe it would be really frustrating or limiting if we didn't have that opportunity. In the future, I could imagine my use of writing in blogs being helpful to summarize what happened during each day of my student teaching. I think that seeing from the very beginning how much I've learned in the classroom would be completely beneficial. Also, looking at the positives and negatives over different lessons I give would be really important to look back over and see how far I've come as a teacher.

Team Mascot Movie

Now that we've watched the Native American movie on team mascots twice in class now, it's really opened up my eyes and see things from a different perspective. I had no idea how hurtful the Indian/chief team mascots were to Native Americans. I applaud the mother in the video protesting against College teams. She had to stand up against all of the fans at the University of Illinois who were extremely rude and were not even willing to listen to what she had to say. My jaw literally dropped during half of the movie with the hurtful words that came from some of the fans mouths. I was completely moved by this movie and believe that it should be shown in many schools to set an example. This movie displays discrimination and can really open people's eyes who are willing to take into consideration the mother's feelings and compare it to a variety of cultures, ethnicities or any diverse group who has been discriminated against.

Insider/Outsider Debate

I believe that there should not be a specific regulation as to who is qualified to write diverse/multicultural literature. I think that it is important to have literature out there from both insiders and outsiders. Although outsiders may not have directly experienced the culture, race, religion, etc.; they can still do their job and research in depth about whatever it is they're writing about. Yes, I do believe that insider authors have one up on the outsider authors and that it's important to see multicultural literature from the person who has actually experienced it. However, I don't think that this means that outsiders can't do just as good of a job researching and observing a diverse group and collecting information to formulate a solid text. I think the only requirement diverse/multicultural literature should have is that the author should have proper and accurate information about that diverse group. It does not matter if that author experiences it first hand or collects information from insiders, as long as the literature reflects accurate information about that certain race, religion, gender, etc.