The Meier reading talks about the importance of literature in the lives of young children. It also addresses how smart the young ones can be at an early age and about how important it is to engage children with literature so that they maintain an interest in it. The reading talks about a young girl Gabriela " who came to school with little experience of books, book reading was not shaping up to be a very pleasurable or intellectually stimulating activity", I think the worst thing we can do is bring the content down the the level we think the children are at. Instead the children should be encouraged to rise to the occasion and be given changeling content. It is in my experience at least the kids are smart, smarter them we are willing to giving them credit for, and more often then not they will rise to the level they need to be at and impress you. I think we need to give students every opportunity to be challenged and inspire growth. It actually reminds me of comic books. If you go back to the 1950s comic books are geared purely to children ages 6 to 12. Rarely would you see words using more then 2-3 syllables. When Stan Lee begins writing stores for Marvel Comics he starts using more advanced vocabulary greatly expanding the target audience and making the stories far more engaging with out losing the original audience of children. I just feel we need to set the bar higher for children when it comes to literacy and give them the opportunity to impress us.

This reading reminds me of something I try to do whenever I am experiencing something new start with an empty cup. Throw away any preconceived notions and look at the situation with fresh eyes. Walking into a scenario thinking I know everything is potentially damning. Everyone has something worth saying and I need to be willing to listen. What I need to do to make that happen is shut my own mouth and listen to what the world is trying to tell me, and if I can manage to get out of my own way I may be able to learn something useful.

I completely forgot I needed to repost this until now. My apologies.

Reading anti racism literature,specifically regarding white or male privilege, makes me feel guilty. Like I have done something wrong by just existing, and maybe that is the point it is the closest I have come to experiencing racism myself. Feeling alienated simply for the circumstances I was born into is unnerving to say the least. Unfortunately the most I can do about it for now is assess the way I treat all people and do my best to give them the same respect and courtesy that they give me.