Makayla Kujawa

Foundations of Literacy

Dr. McCracken

Project Story Boost Reflection

This semester I got the opportunity to be involved in Project Story Boost. This means I

got the privilege of going to one of the local elementary schools near me named Francis Slocum

to read to a group of kindergarteners. I read to a young boy and girl at 8:40, then to two more

young girls at 9:00. A little bit about the story boost project is making sure no students are left

behind. The goal is to help kids turn into young readers by submerging them read-aloud books.

This project gives them the chance to start developing word knowledge and get insight into what

it means to read out loud.

The first group I met with had one timid student and one very energetic student. The little

girl was scared to speak at first and did not know what to say other than talking about her family.

The little boy was super outgoing and couldn’t wait to tell me everything about himself and the

latest projects they were working on in class. As we continued to meet and get more comfortable

together, they began to chime in a lot of ways they related to the story. I was very impressed by

this because of how closely they were both listening. Depending on the day, we sometimes got

off track and ended talking a lot about animals or what they did for the weekend. This was when

I had to do a lot of redirection and remind them of the story we were reading. Halfway through

our meeting time my boy student then switched to someone else. This new student is good

friends with the other little girl in the group so it became harder to get them to focus because of

them always wanting to hug and play a game or something together. I had to come up with a lot
of different techniques to get them excited to do in the end, so we got the chance to finish the

book.

For my following group of students, they were two very energetic girls. They are best

friends, so it was tough to continue reminding them we were out in the hallway to read and not

have a play date. These two were very picky on the books I read each week, and I had to make

sure that I was bringing what they requested or they were not in tune. It was crazy to see them as

we read point out sight words on each page. Another common theme I noticed was every time I

would read a page, they would be mouthing the words after me and would ask every time, “Can I

read? I know how!” They were very good at retelling the story at the end and telling me the

emotions the characters were feeling and how they felt.

I wish there were more time, so I could continue to see how they all were progressing.

This project has definitely shown me the impact reading does have. Not to mention the benefit of

consistency of having someone come for you each week. I noticed when I missed three weeks in

October to be home with my family, they knew I was gone, and our first meeting back was off.

They were so excited to be getting read to again finally, and you could tell they were determined

to tune in closer since they had missed out on a few times. I watched the development through

the weeks and noticed what they had been learning in class because they would relate it to our

book. I cannot wait to try a program like this when I am a teacher and get local young adults

involved. I have experienced personal benefit as well in watching the progression and love

getting to be there for a kid.