Introduction

Hi, my name is Elizabeth Allen and I am a senior in Elementary Education with a teaching minor in Language Arts. I currently work at an elementary school in Lansing and have a great time learning about how young minds think (and hearing the funny things they say)! My interest in diversity stems from the fact that I've seen what non-diverse classrooms look like, such as my elementary classrooms growing up, and I know how that can hinder a person's world-view later in life. A diverse classroom allows students to learn about other cultures and, as a result, have a better understanding for other students' differences. I didn't get a real dose of diversity until my freshman year of college and it was quite shocking to me to see what I had been missing in terms of knowledge about other cultures. I look forward to the diverse literature we will be reading and learning how to incorporate diversity through literature in our classrooms!