Abby Greenfield

Dr. John McCracken

Foundations of Literacy

Fall 2019

Story Boost Reflection

According to Project Story Boost: Read-alouds for students at risk, an article provided at

the beginning of the semester, “Project Story Boost is designed to provide qualitative read-aloud

experiences at school for children who have has little or no access of these experiences outside of

school” (Wood & Salvetti 78). Frances Slocum Elementary is one of the schools in Marion

School District, that needs additional support for their students using read-alouds. For my Story

Boost Project, I visited Frances Slocum once a week to read to four students who would benefit

from the experiences.

In my first group of kindergarteners, I started off reading to Zaida and Aiden. The first

day, I personal was very excited, and thought I had great book choices, Olivia being among

them. After I finished reading, Aiden made a comment that I was not expecting, nor did I know

how to address it. He asked why Olivia was so white. I paused and was scrabbling for words, but

Zaida almost did not miss a beat when she responded, “She is white and likes red. I’m black and

like purple. Not the same.” Aiden added on by saying that he was brown and likes blue. I took a

moment to talk to them how we are all different and like different things, but we also like some

of the same things. Providing the example of my favorite color is blue just like Aiden’s, but we

are different, both kindergarteners started to identify things they have in common. This

experience changed the way I selected books to read to the students for the rest of the semester. I
found books that included animals as characters and characters of color. This allowed for the

students to relate more to the reading when they saw someone who looked like them.

By the fourth week, Aiden moved out of the school district and Ivosh moved into the

district and become a part of my group. Ivosh has a laid-back personality, where he just takes in

every experience and reading without being phased. He rarely interjects while I am reading, but

after the reading is done, he often leaves me thinking. I began to realize that Ivosh’s stand-off

behavior that seems like he is not engaged is actually him observing his surroundings. He has

little wheels in his head that are working on noticing things that often are overlooked. For

example, when reading the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems, Ivosh silently listened

and watched, but he was the first one to find the hidden pigeon. He often points out small details

in the background of images and questions why or what they are.

The second group of kindergarteners we a more energetic group. Both girls, Sky and

Kalea, always had a story or experience that related to the reading. One of the big moments that

stuck out to me was when we were reading David Gets in Trouble. Sky is absolutely in love with

David books, so it came to no surprise that she kept interjecting while reading to make remarks.

She would say, “I did that” or “my brother got in trouble for doing that”. In addition to David

Get in Trouble, we read Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes on a different day. After I finished

reading it aloud, Sky made a connection to when she got her shoes wet and how she hates it.

Kalea added to the mix that sometimes when her shoes get wet, her socks also get wet, which in

her mind is worse than just getting her shoes wet. Through Sky and Kalea, I learned to

understand reading from a kindergarten perspective, which is relating the story to themselves in a

unique way that most adults overlook. They have an energy when it comes to reading that warms

my heart, for they are always excited and open to any book.
 Throughout the semester, I was able to watch the students grow. Their personalities and

reading skills expanded in ways that amaze me. At the beginning, most of them resorted to

looking solely at the pictures, but they started recognizing words and reading along. Ivosh started

out to be a shy student, but slowly he opened up and I was able to recognize how observant he

was. He proposed interesting questions to further conversations. Zaida became the connector; she

would use her experiences to connect it to the story. Sky went from a ball of energy not wanting

to sit still for the twenty-minute reading to curling up with the books in her lap. Kalea broke free

of her shell and started contributing, especially since Sky was not as abrasive. Each student’s

personality shown through by the end of the semester, which played into effect of their reading.

Their personalities were intertwined with their interaction and response to the reading.