Terry Meier

"Why can't she remember that?"

This author Terry Meier argues that educators should try to get students involved, interested and connected in the literary experience. To do this they should shift the focus from the meaning of  the text to the experience of the reader. That this should begin at the kindergarten and preschool level because it is gravely important to their development and will impact their level of education as adults. Her belief is that children who don’t have early book reading experience learn through interactions with their family, community and culture. They are unused to the reading patterns that’s mainly used in the classroom and at times consider it to be monotonous and may become perplexed by it. She thinks that because of this it is important for the teacher to use materials the students can relate to. for example reading books colored characters for colored children and books with both spanish and english for bilingual children. By doing this they will be able to identify familiarity between the characters and their lives. Teaching the readings in a clear and detailed manner and making the books come alive through using props such as dolls, puppets, recordings etc. will make the book reading experience pleasurable and intellectually engaging.

One quote in this article that stood out to me is “I turn the pages, book after book, and ask where are we?” this resignated with me because i can completely relate to this persons concern. I had a similar experience when I took my daughter book shopping. I wanted to get her a book that she could relate. I went through rows after rows of books. Most were fairy tale depicting the perfect life with characters not of her race. After a while of searching I was pleasantly surprise to find a counting book with a black family doing day to day activities while they counted. I was happy to get my daughter this book because she can relate to the characters and what they were doing. She won’t have to look at the other books and think that she’s not valued because her people is not represented in them. On the positive side I can see this problem being addressed in today’s society. One example of this is the Disney animated musical production “The Princess and the Frog.” This is Disney’s first production featuring a black princess. The plot told a more realistic story that I think people of color can relate. I also think in shows children of color that they too can grow to be great because they are just as good.

http://www.philnel.com/2014/03/17/boundaries/