Chloe Cater

Edu 245

Story Boost Reflection

Over the semester I went to Frances Slocum school. I had the wonderful privilege of

working with Abigale and Phoenix this semester. I also had another beautiful little girl but

unfortunately, I never knew how to pronounce her name. I would meet with these girls once a

week every Tuesday. Not only did I have the privilege to read to these girls but I also got to

know them on a more personal level. I spent approximately 20 minutes with each of the girls

reading aloud one or two books. The first few weeks it was hard getting phoenix and Abby to

listen while I read aloud. I noticed they could only pay attention for seconds at a time. Then they

would get up and run around not listening to what I had to say. The other little girl was the

opposite and hardly ever said a peep. All three of them responded well to the stories no matter

the background of the story. They would respond well to stories with animals. They would

always request for me to bring books that had animals involved in one way or another.

All three of them varied in their responses to the books. Phoenix was the only one who

thought carefully about the stories and the characters. She was constantly pointing out the

pictures and expressing her thoughts while I read to them. Abby was the trouble maker and if she

goofed off Phoenix would follow. The other girl I read to was very shy and quiet when we first

met. I had to pry questions at her to spark a conversation. Overtime, she became comfortable and

soon enough she was talking a million times a minute. All three of the girls were very good at

being able to predict what would happen next in the story. Often times I noticed they did a better

job at predicating a story than I did. Phoenix was able to express why she liked a specific book

and retell a story when I asked her about it. I asked all three of the girls when I first met them if
they have read at home. They all said yes and that most of their moms and dads read to the

before they go to bed. I believe that they are stronger in their literacy because of their parents

reading to them at home.

Out of the three of the girls Abby was the touchiest. She would sit really close to me

when I read aloud. She even volunteered to flip the pages while I was reading. Abby could not

read many words but she would love to repeat the sentences back to me after I read them. She

didn’t pay attention to detail like Phoenix did. I think this was because she had a harder time

with reading comprehension.

I made sure to not bring any books to read that didn’t have any words in them. The girls

did not seem as interested in making up the story themselves. They preferred when I brought

books with words and had a background story. Throughout the semester all girls grew in the

literacy skills. At the beginning the girls had a hard time following along and reading the

sentences. I noticed all the girls grew tremendously and sometimes I would catch them reading

aloud with me. Sometimes they could even read the sentence for me. It was such a fascinating

process to watch the girls grow so fast. Phoenix by far had the best literacy skills. I noticed very

quickly into the semester that she would point to the line while I read them. I think she did this to

help herself but also to help the other girls follow along. I could tell Phoenix really cared about

her friends and was always encouraging when they didn’t understand the story as well as her.

Phoenix began reading the stories with me to the other girls. We would take turn reading

passages to the other girls.

I really enjoyed spending the semester with all three of these lovely girls. Even though I

spent approximately 40 minutes total at the school, it became something all of us looked forward

to each week. It melted my heart walking into the school each week and witnessing the girls
being so excited to see me. I believe Story Boost is a great way for kids to learn and grow in their

own literacy skills. Through Story Boost it gave me an incredible front row view of watching

growth mindset occur in these three girls. I sure hope not just the girls I read to but all students

learn to love and appreciate the power or reading.