Meire's "Why Can't She Remember That?"

Important quotes from the passage:


"There is no more essential task for teachers in preschool and kindergarten classrooms than to help make books meaningful in children's lives."

• In my opinion this quote could not be any more true. During Kindergarten and Preschool, children are first exposed to books on a larger scale and become a key element in education. Books not only help with learning new material, but are also beneficial in dealing with situations in the classroom (aka-bullying or other issues) and can be used as therapy for children going through new stages in their lives (bibliotherapy for the death of a parent, divorce, a new sibling etc...). If a teacher does not encourage the use of books, then a child may not be exposed to a whole new world of literature that could not only help their reading abilities, but also their vocabulary and general knowledge as well. Early education teachers play a key element in introducing children to books and showing them their full potential inside and outside the classroom.

"Books are not meaningful to children who do not see themselves represented in them. Especially for very young children, learning occurs most productively and profoundly in a context of familiarity."

• This quote is also very important to the article because it correctly explains how learning works in the classroom. If a child is exposed to something that they cannot connect with at all, then they are not going to absorb the material as well as we would want them to. The same goes for books. If a child is constantly exposed to main characters who do not look like them and who do not act like them, they are not going to connect with the book at all and completely disregard the message. Not only would they do this, but they would also see themselves as different or wrong because they don't look like the people they are constantly exposed to. It is important for kids to know that they are represented in the classroom and that their interests are taken seriously. A teacher should include books of all genres and topics, so that every student is accommodated in some way and not turned off to reading because they have no interest in any of the material.

"Whatever efforts teachers can make to create spaces for extended discussion about literature will be richly rewarded as children begin to force deep connections to books."

• It is always important to discuss books read within the classroom, but it is also important for books to be used as gateways for discussion of other topics as well. For example, within the article Meire states that an entire discussion on skin tone was created due to a book being read in class. Books are huge factors in facilitating discussion within the classroom, and can be used as examples for the students in terms of behavior and what to do in certain situations. Discussion is also very important within the classroom because it allows connections with other students and, when discussing literature, connections with the text that they may not have gotten from simply reading it. Books are great topics of conversation and can allow the student to put themselves into the situation and think on an entirely new level. It is the teacher's job to facilitate that discussion and to allow deep conversations about literature to occur within the classroom to allow for growth. 

This entire passage constantly reminded me of a program I worked with while at Salve Regina called BOLD. In this video that describes the program, it shows that literacy is a weak issue in the Newport schools. While at Salve, I was able to work with a fourth grader for the semester and we read books together, made connections to the text, and worked on her skills overall. This article explained everything that we were required to do as BOLD volunteers, which included making the reading interesting to the student and show that reading is a fun way to spend your time. The student I worked with did not like to read when we first met but by the time we were done working together, she enjoyed the activity and always looked forward to what book we were going to read next.

        

We read a wide variety of texts including Junie B. Jones to informational books on erosion or architecture. Not only did we focus on her interests, but we also learned new material every week. The BOLD program really showed me how important literacy is and how books can be so essential to a child's growth and development, which was highlighted within the article.