Marissa Evenson

Story Boost Notes

Week 1:
Laron: Today I met LaRon. LaRon is very outgoing and talkative and talked
my ear off when we spent a little time getting to know each other. I enjoyed
this until he would not stop talking the whole time I was reading. I read
Owen and A Couple of Boys have the Best Week Ever. As I was reading,
Laron would make comments like, this is stupid and can I just go back to
my classroom now. This was discouraging and makes me nervous for how
the rest of the semester is going to go. When I asked LaRon to read back the
stories to me, he had to make up a new story from the pictures because he
had not been listening to me read.

Malaki: Today I also met Malaki. He is very different from LaRon as he is very
quiet and did not speak hardly at all our whole time together. Before we
started reading, I asked him questions to get to know him, but he would only
answer my yes or no questions with a nod. I read him the same books as
I read LaRon. When I asked him to read the story back to me he just sat
there and stared at the book. I started asking questions about the story plot
that went along with the pictures and he would nod his head yes or no to
these. His nods to these questions were right and made me believe he had
understood the books.

Week 2:
Laron: This week when I came to school, LaRon was much less talkative than
the last. He seemed to be upset about something but would not tell me what
was upsetting him. I read him In the Small, Small Pond and Interrupting
Chicken. Interrupting Chicken is very funny, but he did not laugh as he
spent most of the time that I was reading once again telling me that he
wanted to go back to class. When I asked him to read back the stories to
me, he made up stories to go along with the pictures that were not similar to
the story which made me believe that he was not paying attention once
again.

Malaki: Today, Malaki said a few words to me! He was still very shy and sat
very quietly as I read to him the same stories that I read to LaRon. He was
very quiet the whole time I read to him but seemed a lot more distracted
than last week. A lot of classes walked by during our time together, and
when they did he would look or talk to them and stop paying attention to
what I was reading him. When I asked him to read back the story to me, he
mumbled so I could not understand him. I asked him to speak up more, but
he continued to mumble until our time was up.

Week 3:
LaRon: This week was good as LaRon started obeying me a little bit more. He
was talkative again like he was the first week, and talked a lot as I started
reading the first book, The Relatives Came to him. When I told him that he
needed to listen or else he would have to go to his classroom, he stopped
talking without telling me that he would rather be there. He was able to
correctly read this story back to me which made me ecstatic. He was very
talkative and distracted during the second book, the paperboy and was not
able to correctly read this story back to me. It is fun to see the story he
makes up from the pictures, though.

Malaki: This week, Malaki was very quiet again throughout the whole time I
was reading to him. When I asked him to read back the stories to me, he
was mumbling and I was unable to tell if he had correctly understood the
book or not. I started to ask him yes and no questions and he nodded
correctly for all of those. After I got finished reading with him, I asked him
questions about his weekend to see if this would help him open up. He
remained very quiet until I asked him about any movies that he liked. His
face lit up as he started to tell me all about his Star Wars games and action
figures. He talked my ear off about this until it was time for him to leave.

Week 4:
LaRon: LaRon seemed upset about something again today as he remained
quieter than the first few weeks I spent with him. I read Mirandy and
Brother Wind and Snow Day to him. He really enjoyed Snow Day and
talked to me about some of the things he had done while playing in the snow
with his siblings. When I asked him to read back the stories to me, he did so
successfully which helped me know he was listening.

Malaki: This week, Malaki continued to be outgoing after the end of our time
together last week. He and LaRon almost switched roles today as he talked
through most of the time I was reading. I would tell him that he had to be
quiet and listen, and he would obey me for a couple minutes and then start
talking again. I feel that he does not have a lot of people willing to listen to
him talk about his toys as that was mostly what he was sharing with me. He
did this throughout all of our time together. When I had him read back he
got bits and pieces right but was missing a lot of the main point from the
stories. I am assuming this is because he was talking a majority of the time I
was reading to him.

Week 5:
LaRon: This week, Laron was back to his talkative self. He talked my ear off
before I started reading Anansi the Spider and Click, Clack, Moo Cows that
Type. When I started reading the first book, he was very talkative and I had
to tell him many times to stop talking. Once I told him he would have to go
back to the classroom if he continued to interrupt me, he was fairly quiet for
the rest of our time together. He was able to read back to me most of the
first story and all of the second story. When LaRon would interrupt, it would
be about basic things he had done in his day and nothing relating to the
story at all. This made me believe he just wanted someone to listen to him
and ask him about how his day was going. I will make sure to do this after
today.

MalakI: This week, Malaki acted about as close to the perfect student as you
could ask for. We talked a little bit about our days and weekend before I
started reading to him. Once I started reading, he was quiet and even made
comments about pictures on the pages as I was reading. When I asked him
to read the story back to me, he was successful for both books. I will also
make sure to be asking Malaki about his days so that I know he has at least
one person that is willing to listen to him.

Week 6:
LaRon: This week, LaRon was very in to the stories I brought to read. I
brought Extra Yarn and One Cool Friend. He loved One Cool Friend as it
talked about penguins and the language was very formal. He was able to
successfully read both of these stories back to me. He was also very talkative
when I asked him about his weekend.

Malaki: This week as I was reading to LaRon, Malaki walked by and told me
he had an appointment that he had to go. I was unable to spend time
reading to Malaki this week.

Week 7:
LaRon: This week, LaRon told me he was very excited for me to be reading to
him. I brought the books, We are in a Book! and The Red Book. LaRon
LOVED We are in a Book!. I think he had me read it to him at least three
times. The last time we read it, he tried to read it word for word back to me
and did a decent job. He was excited to get some of the words right and I
was exited to see him trying. He also successfully read back to me, The Red
Book by using the pictures. We spent time after reading just talking about
how our weekends had been.

Malaki: This week Malaki was very talkative. I had to remind him many
times not to talk when I was talking to him or else he would have to go back
to his classroom. He struggled listening as I read, On Market Street, but
also absolutely loved the book, We are in a Book!. He had me read this
book to him 3 or 4 times, and would have me substitute words for banana
which he thought was hilarious. After reading it many times, he read it back
to me word for word. I was very impressed with his reading skills as he did
very well.

Week 8:
LaRon: This week, LaRon was in a very bad mood. It reminded me a lot
about how he was the first few weeks that I had known him. He talked all
throughout the first book, Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse even after I
told him many times to stop talking. He was also very talkative during
Working Cotton. I told him he would have to go back to the classroom if he
continued to talk and he told me he would rather be there. I tried to finish
the second book I read to him, but he kept interrupting me and telling me
the book was stupid. Halfway through, knowing I was accomplishing nothing,
I told LaRon it was time to go back to class.

Malaki: This week was another good week for Malaki. He seemed a little
quieter than usual as we spent some time talking before I started reading to
him. He did a really great job listening to me read this week though. He
enjoyed both of the books and was able to successfully read them back to
me.

Week 9: This week, LaRon was back to normal and was being a good listener.
I brought the books, Hide and Seek Fog and Can I Play Too? He did not
seem to enjoy Hide and Seek Fog very much, but really enjoyed, Can I
Play Too? He read them back to me successfully and told me that he really
enjoyed the books by Mo Willems. I will be sure to bring another book by
him next week.

Malaki: This week, I believe Malaki was upset about something as he just
mumbled the whole time we were together. He wouldnt really talk to me as
I asked about his weekend and seemed very distracted the whole time I was
reading the books to him. I could not tell if he had understood the stories
correctly because he was mumbling the entire time I had him read back the
stories to me.

Week 10:
LaRon: This week, LaRon was very talkative as we talked about our
weekends. I brought, Same and Dave Dig a Hole and Inch by Inch. He
was not over talkative as we read today, but he was very fidgety. He could
not sit still and was moving around all over the place. I asked him to sit up
countless times and he would, but would go back to fidgeting soon after.
When I had him read back the stories to me, he got about half of the stories
right.

Malaki: This week, Malaki was very quiet again. He would answer questions
that I asked him but would not willingly talk very much. As I read to him, he
would listen well until a class would walk by and he would get distracted. He
read the stories back to me through the pictures and got about 75% correct.

Week 11:
LaRon: This week I took the books, The Story of A Jumping Mouse and Are
you Ready to Play Outside?. He still loved Mo Willems books and really
enjoyed reading Are you Ready to Play Outside?. He said that he liked
reading these stories because the characters were the same each week. He
was fidgety again this week, but listened much better than he did last week.
He could correctly read back both stories to me.

Malaki: This week, Malaki was back to normal and was very talkative as we
talked about what we had done during our weekends. He listened very well
and was able to correctly read back both stories to me. We had a little extra
time so he went back to his classroom and got a Star Wars book so I could
read a little bit of that to him. He really enjoyed this.

Week 12:
LaRon: This was our last week together, and I brought the book, Dinosaurs
and, I Will Surprise my Friend! LaRon loved both books. In the book,
Dinosaur the end pages had dinosaurs all over them. He wanted to count
every single one and it made me think about how important the end pages
really are. I had bought the book, I Will Surprise my Friend! for him to keep
as a present. I am sad our time together is over!

Malaki: This week, Malaki was in a great mood. I read him the books,
Dinosaur and two Star Wars books I had gotten for him to keep. He loved
the book, Dinosaur because he loves dinosaurs. He also loved the Star
Wars books and was sad when it was time for me to leave. He told me he
could not wait to keep reading the Star Wars books on his own.