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As I reflected back on this cultural selfie process, I realize how integrated literature is into our everyday lives. I come across all kinds of literature daily that I did not realize before. These types of literature are things such as my name, weakness and strengths in teaching cultural diverse classrooms, my cultural biases and fears, and even my daily literature habits and experiences such as email, text, and social media. This assignment helped me realize what I have and have not been doing culturally in my instruction. I believe this level of reflection is important so that I can help better relate to my students as well as integrate their cultures into my lessons instead of trying to force a generalized lesson upon them.
As I have learned more about myself throughout this project, I have realized that I have been created lessons that would integrate all kinds of cultures, instead of better getting to know my students to properly relate and associate my lessons with each of my students specific cultures. There is difference between cultural diversity and culture bias and getting to know my students and creating a positive relationship with them will create a vibe in the classroom that promotes a safe learning environment.
Growing up here, and now teaching here in this culture, it is hard for me relate to the disconnect that some of my students come in contact with throughout their learning. In reflecting on my own culture through life and literature in this assignment, I was able to really lay a foundation for my own culture, and now I can begin to build upon that culture with new cultural experiences and be able to better identify with my students. My goal is to set a classroom culture that integrates all of the individual culture present in my classroom. Whether this is through literature, conversation, or any other content area, I will strive for cultural diversity throughout every lesson. In order to ensure that I reach this goal, I will make it a point at the beginning of every year to get to know my students on a personal level in order to get to know their cultures and how they learn best from the very beginning.

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I Am
Tiffany
Organized, Loving, Friendly, Happy
Daughter of Kelli Lyn, Sister of Emily Jane
Lover of Christ, chocolate, and travel
Who feels excited, driven, ready
Who fears fish, failure, the dark
Who would like to see motherhood, Disney World Paris, a shooting star
Resident of the good suburban Georgia
Stout

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This selfie depicts how I see myself well; a young woman with a playful smile, who hopes for a bright future full of love and a Sunday dinners around the dinner table. In addition to choosing this selfie that depicts the happiness in my heart, I also decided to take this picture outside because of my love for the outdoors and the way the slight breeze felt across my skin and through my hair. Fall is my favorite season of the year because of the constant breeze, and ability to wear sweaters and boots. This selfie shows my happiness for the time in my life I am in and how full my heart is knowing I have amazing friends and family surrounding my life.

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As I reflected on my weakness in teaching cultural diversity, I reflected back to my man trips overseas and what weaknesses I felt I had. I believe my weakness in teaching cultural diverse students would be connecting with them on their level. I grew up in this American culture and am used to the customs of this country and am unaware of the struggles and differences that cultural diverse students face.

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As I reflected on my strengths in teaching a culturally diverse classroom is literature. We have an abundance of lists of literature to use in teaching in diverse classrooms. I have already acquired a wide variety of culturally diverse Children's literature that I cannot wait to implement into my lessons. When it comes to creating culturally diverse instruction, I believe this is something I hold a strength in, and am continuing to learn about and grow in.

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The book "Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Disney Little Golden Book" by Diane Muldrow is a very important book to me. This book was given to me by my mom. In being a Disney freak, I am always on the hunt for ways to incorporate Disney into my future classroom (and let's be real...everyday life). This book is amazing for a first day of school read, as it talks about life lessons in terms of Disney movies (relatable? I know). This book sits on my dresser as a constant reminder that no matter what life throws at you, whether good, bad, or ugly, all you need in your life is a little bit of magic and a whole lot of hope and faith that life will be looking up soon!

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The photo shown below is a coffee shop called Rustic Couch. While I do not visit often, I love to read and write in coffee shops in general. There is something about the calm atmosphere, soothing classical music, and smell of coffee grinders that relaxes me into a proper state of mind to be able to concentrate on my reading and writing. I often enjoy the act of writing more than reading, and tend to spend most of my time expressing my thoughts and emotions through words.

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As I reflected on my favorite literacy experience, I remembered the time that my parents used to read these books (pictured below) to be before bed. All of these classics are the stories I grew up on, and remind me of gently following asleep before I ever actually heard the ending. As I have revisited these stories now, I feel very comforted by their stories and cannot wait to be able to one day read these stories to my children as well.

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Everyday, I engage in some form of literacy. Pictured below is my Reading River. Here is a compilation of all of my everyday literacy practices. Some of these include Facebook, in terms of current events, reading other's posts and liking/comments on them. In addition, some of my practices include texting, calling, Google for research and to further my knowledge, and Buzzfeed (which is a site that shows various articles of current events).

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As I have discussed other cultures and beliefs, mine are similar to most and different to others. My main belief is in the church and in God. This belief is what I build my entire life around; choices I make, people I surround myself with, etc. Below is a picture I took from a worship night as had a while back. These night fill my cup and remind me of my purpose here on Earth. In having this cultural belief, I am able to live in comfort knowing that God has my back and I can confide in Him in everything I do.

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In July, one of my best friends got married. Her and her husband are Muslim and had a 4 day Indian wedding to celebrate the festivities. This process was a total culture shock, as there were plenty of ceremonies in which I, coming from a Christian household, did not understand. While I could not use the world discomfort as an adjective to describe how I felt throughout the days, I would express that i was worried about being accepted by others. We were the only white bridesmaids, and everyone seemed to accept up greatly, offering us food, dances, and smiles. Everyone was so excited to hear how we enjoyed ourselves and what we thought of the different ceremonies. This experience gave me a better, more well rounded experience and taste into other cultures and made me want to experience more up close and personal as this.

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I believe we are all born with cultural biases. We live in our own "bubble" of beliefs and when encountering other cultures, we tend to project our own values and biases on them. The picture below was taken at a church in Romania. A few summers ago I traveled here with my church to teach children English, but ultimately use that English as a platform to teach them about the love God has for them. Going into this experience, I was very excited to meet new people, and teach them all God had for me to teach them. Upon arriving, the area in which this church was pictured was poverty stricken. Families could not afford to own cars, or proper houses, and barely could they afford food or new clothes. But they did not care at all. They were always smiling and even through the language barrier, greeted up with open arms. Going into Romania, I expected it to be similar to America, but after spending a week here, I realized I had projected my cultural bias on them. This place and the people here taught me more than I could have even taught them and I am eternally grateful for my opportunity here.

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When contemplating my privilege, I was amazed at how many things I do have, that I take for granted. I took the picture below in Disney World this past summer. This is my favorite place in the whole world. I am myself, happy and carefree, here. I chose this picture because there are many people who do not get to take trips such as this. These trips are expensive and growing up, we would take a trip out here every year (if not twice a year). My family made sure that no matter how much money we had or how much we could or could not afford a trip like this, that we had this time to spend with the family and be together in the happiest place on Earth. I am so lucky to have grown up in the place that I do, which the privileges that I have, and the people I am surrounded with.

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My favorite object are flowers. Oh man, I could go on and on about the simplistic beauty of flowers. People give flowers to invite happiness, love, wellness, and welcoming spirits into all kinds of situations. These flowers pictured below are the first flowers I received from my boyfriend, Taylor. These flowers are my favorite object because they are the perfect symbol of the beginning of our relationship. While white roses will always be my ultimate favorite flower, these are my favorite object because of what they represent and the person in which they are associated with.

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My favorite character trait is my organizational skills. I get this characteristic and value from my mom. Growing up, the house was always organized and neat and my mom instilled this habit in me. Portrayed in the picture below, you see how my supplies are organized at work. I work for a preschool at a church and this picture depicts the various toys we use from week to week, that goes in each of our aged classrooms. In being organized, I believe this trait will behoove me in the future in my classroom organization, and in my every day life, juggling social, and work time tables.

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My favorite physical feature is my smile. Growing up, people used to always tell me that my smile is contagious. In addition, people used to always tell me that I smile like my mom and they tell me that when I do, I look just like her. Of course with that, it only makes me smile more, because my mom is my best friend and biggest fan. I believe you can tell a lot about a person based on their smile, and I hope my smile tells a good story.

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My name is Tiffany Marie Stout. Below is an overview of what my name means. My first name, Tiffany, means manifestation of God. My middle name, Marie, means rebellion. My mom named me Tiffany after the jewelry company, Tiffany and Co. and my middle name Marie after my great grandmother's first name, Although my mother was convinced I was a boy, she was happy to find out that she would be having a little girl. People call me Tiff, Tiffy, and even Fanny (against my will). All in all, I love my name.