Talking Point #2

The importance of storybook reading in multilingual, multicultural classrooms                               Kyle Garcia
By:  Terry Meier

"According to the U.S. Department of Education, by the year 2020 students of color will represent the majority of students in 18 states including California, Texas, Florida and New Mexico"
This quote taken from Terry Meier's piece shocked me.  It surprised me that this would be the case in some parts of the country.

"In addition, as the research cited here documented, they have figured out how to use language to get things done in the world, often in highly sophisticated ways."
Meier gives three examples of young children around the age of three getting away with things or getting what they want.  The accomplish this by tricking their parents by doing something that they think is cute.  I never really thought about the fact that kids get away with a lot until this article. 

"Or a teacher may spend 10 minutes or so reading aloud and then spend the balance of the literacy period on follow-up activities (e.g., an art or cooking project related in some way to the story)."
Some teachers feel like they have to do this because students can not sit and listen to the story.  I feel like they should spend more time going over the story and less time doing little projects.  The students need to give more effort to get through the assignment. 

I think children at a young age are a lot more intelligent than we think.  The fact that they have the ability to be persuasive around their parents and get away with things proves this.  They get these idea from books that they have read and stuff that happens in school.  The information that they get sticks to their mind and they try to use it in every day life.  I feel like students should spend more time reading because of the benefits that they get from it.  Their vocabulary is expanded each time they read a book because a young child's brain is like a sponge. 

The persuasiveness and exchange of power can be related to the Delpit piece.  The children take the power from their parents and somehow manage to get what they want.  This is an exchange of power because the parents direct their kids to do something and the kids get to do what they want because they are persuasive.