"Why Can't She Remember That?" by Terry Meier

This author Terry Meier argues that the importance of instilling the love for books at the pre school and kindergarten level is immensely relevant to their later successes in the world of education. She explains that in her personal experience many children of color or bilingual learners who have not grown up with many book reading experiences have not had the importance of books instilled into them. When a child has an experience of book reading they are already more engaged because they have read these books and seen the direct real world relationships that mimic the lessons in them. When we constantly teach children about books in which characters of color are not introduced or relate able, they will not form a connection to the story or understand it’s relevance and importance. The reading suggests that teachers should not just ask questions that have obvious answers. This teaching tactic does just one thing- to make the child an “information giver” and make sure that the child is “listening”. The most important part of a child’s education is to make sure that the child is not just listening but they are getting some form of relation to the story, characters, or the relation from the story to their world specifically. This will help the child see the book as a source of value to the vast information that will allow them to understand the world around them. Meier gives examples by using puppets and branching out the lesson to more than just reading a book. It is important that the capacity of learning is beyond just reading text. Many ways include but are not limited to: using a puppet to answer the obvious or "silly" questions, choosing books that may be the old tell tale story but reworking the name and race of the characters so other children will see themselves in the stories, and making sure that if the majority of the class is a different race that the material given to the students will reflect and resonate with them all. 

Questions to ask:

I want to know what were important stories of your childhood and if everyone related to those stories or remembered being read to as a child. I want to ask my classmates what stories stuck with them and taught them a life lesson- if any. My story would probably be "Ma, You're Driving Me Crazy!" - the cover of the book was a little girl with red messy hair and freckles. I have included a photo of the cover in this blog post (top left) and a link to an adorable little girl engaged by the book: HERE.  I would like my classmates to respond to this blog with a link to a book they remember and why it resonated- if any examples arise from this question.