Multicultural Literature

I really enjoyed the Multicultural presentation by Ted, Andrew, and Corinne. It was great that they got us up and moving while also interacting with each other. I like how they broke it down into three major categories: gender/sexuality, religion, and curriculum as a whole. It really got me thinking about a lot of different issues. With gender/sexuality, I certainly see the importance of allowing related discussion into the classroom. I just get nervous about how parents may react to it. I would love to teach a book like Boy Meets Boy but I do wonder if angry parents would get involved. Something as simple as the children's book about the two kings caused a lot of uproar a couple years back, so I wouldn't be surprised. If I were to use a book like that in my classroom, I would have to clear it with my principal and probably even get permission from the parents. As for religion, I'm not sure I would want to use specific religious literature (like the Bible for example) but I certainly wouldn't ignore novels that highlight certain religions. I think it is important to expose students to many types of religion. It is okay to talk about, as long as I don't place a bias on one particular religion. These topics can't easily be ignored if we want to expose our students to a variety of literature that they can learn from. Parents and principals alike have to be aware of this. Ted's question at the end was also very thought-provoking. I definitely agree that schools should do a lot more than just add a little multiculturalism here and there. Schools should really consider reworking their entire curriculum. This might be expensive, but certainly worthwhile for the students and teachers.