Why can't she remember that?

Why cant she remember that?
Terry Meier

Kelsey Davenport

february 19,2011

1. "Like all good literature, for young children, the book (SO MUCH) is lyrical and repetitive, with just a hint of west indian grammatical features and intonation patterns."

- This line from Terry Meier's article is talking about a kindergaten teacher reading the book SO MUCH to her students. The book is about a family gathering for a suprise birthday party for a baby. Guests start to arrive and each time they arrive it is signaled by a "DING DONG!" in which the teacher  brings to life by playing with a bell. When family members arrive they see how cute the baby is and they want to hug, kiss, squeeze, eat him because they love Him SO MUCH! This quote means that the book SO MUCH is a great book to teach children about repeating phrases. It teaches children lyrics, or rhyming words , and helps them repeat phrases in unison. After hearing "SO MUCH" multiple time the children pick up on the catchy repetive phrase and repeat before the teacher even has time to finish reading it herself. They enjoy listening to books that relate to their lives. A teacher who reads "SO MUCH" will find that the children are attentively engaged in the storyline because its of something they know ; family, little brother and sisters, babies, grandmas, grandpas, home, door bells and anything else.

2. "why can't she remember that?"

This quote is important because it is the name of Terry Meirer's entire article. "Why can't she remember that"? is coming from a young girl named gabriela, and gabby is always noticing how her teacher asks the same questions about the same book each time she reads it. Gabby wonders "why cant she remember that" meaning why cant the teacher remember that awnser to that question. I personally thought this was funny and rightfully true because at 4 years old a child may think that the adult knows everything and therefore shouldnt be asking such silly questions. A child like gabriela may need to be challenged a little bit more. the review questions are too easy for her. Its contributing to the artile by making the reader think. You know, Why do teachers ask the same silly questions like how many owls are in this tree? Where is the RED pair of scissors in this picture? The awnser? They do this to assure the children are really learning, paying attention, and are engaged. but truth is, that if a teacher really wants her class to be engaged she should come up with new ideas or ways to keep her class engaged. I liked the question game.  The teacher would ask a silly question but instead of saying awnser, have her students silently raise their hands or they could snap their fingers ( if they know how).

3. "Part of the process of making books come alive for children is to engage them in authentic conversations"

I think this quote is important because if children are exposed to differences both racial and social at an early age i believe that they will feel more comfortable with it as they grow up. Teaching children authentic conversations is getting them ready for higher level thinking and education. This quote contributes to this article because this whole article is about how to enhance young children's minds, thought process, and literacy skills. This skill of authentic conversation was used by a teacher in this article and it helped her and her group of students to discuss an incident that happened on the playground. Now lets say that this book that the teacher read to this group of students was never read, then that would maybe mean this incident never would have arisen, therefore the children wouldnt be able to discuss, think, learn, or resolve any fuzzy or gray areas surrounding this issue.

I enjoyed this article by Terry Meier. There were some really humous sections and there were some thought provoking ideas. Anything written with the words "children" , "kindergaten" "books" , "education" "social interaction", "diversity"  or "teachers" will alway pull me right in. I dont know theres just something about hearing the different stories of children all around the same age and how much they differed in their literacy skills. It makes you think, and realize that not every 3 or 4 year old has read "Mother, may I ?" or Dr. Seuss. There are children whose familys cant afford or dont believe in reading books to their children , and those are the children who are lacking valuable information. Many of the ideas i read about how to keep children engaged with learning and reading i liked enough to want to use that when im teaching some day.