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2nd Place Winner

Post 1:

    I am in the Reading Buddies program at the Boulder Public Library and the past two weeks have been a great experience so far.  I am an Astrophysics major at CU and I took the Language in U.S. Society course because it looked fun, fulfilled a core, and I am interested in getting a minor in Linguistics.  I also have interest in teaching English abroad after I graduate so I thought the linguistics practicum would be a great opportunity to pursue.  My buddy’s name is Aseil, and she is six years old and in first grade.  I have also had the opportunity to interact with Aseil’s little sister, Yaqeen, on both of the days we’ve had reading buddies so far.  It’s been very interesting to see how much more comfortable Aseil is with me when we’re reading away from the group, because she gets much more shy when we come together as a group at the end.  Aseil has really enjoyed playing games with me, even if she doesn’t always want to stick to the rules of the game.  We also have more success getting through a book with her reading the book to me rather than me to her.  She does a great job of remembering to show me the pictures in the book while reading to me and she gets very excited and expressive when we read a book she likes.  I also found it very impressive that the first week we were reading a book that had the word ‘culture’ in it and I helped her read it and then again this week she came across ‘culture’ and knew exactly how to read it without asking for my help this time.  I am very excited to see what type of book Aseil and I will write over the next weeks. 

Post 2:

    Over the weeks of reading buddies with my buddy Aseil we have generally not had too many problems.  One thing that is challenging during my sessions with my buddy is that Aseil has quite a lot of energy to spare when we are doing our reading buddy time.  She is very sweet and just wants to have fun when we are hanging out, but occasionally it gets a little bit out of hand.  Most of the time, if I'm not very serious with my asking her to calm down a little or sit down and read with me, she doesn't take me seriously (obviously).  If I make it more clear that I am being serious and I want her to calm down, it generally works but I also feel bad sometimes because I feel like I'm ruining her fun.  I think that sometimes I should make it clear that I want to start the session with some quiet time and then we can do fun energetic things like playing games. 

    Some strengths that I have noticed in our sessions are that Aseil has grown very close to me very quickly.  She always seems excited to see me, which I reciprocate, and am very happy about.  Aseil also responds very well to the way I address her and (usually) try to get her to do things (like drawing pictures for our story rather than just playing games the whole time). 

    I also find that I need to get better at not just feeding Aseil words when she doesn't know them while we're reading.  It's very easy to just want to tell her how to read a word without just giving it to her, and I've had to work on that these past weeks.  I have to remind myself to just help her sound out the words. 

Post 3:

    I’ve had so much fun this semester doing reading buddies at the Boulder Public Library and I’m surprised at how quickly we’re nearing the end of the semester and the program.  Over the past weeks, I have loved being able to connect with my buddy and give her a fun opportunity to read and play games with someone different than she normally does.  It’s been very heartwarming to experience how quickly a 5-10 year old can form a bond with someone.  It has also been very enriching spending this time, albeit a short amount, with my buddy and the other buddies.  Seeing how excited the little buddies get when they see their big buddies every week is just awesome.  Also, when my little buddy reads a word right or finishes a drawing and becomes very proud of herself, I can’t help but reciprocate the feeling.  I’ve definitely also learned to have more patience (especially with a 6 year old), as there are times when my little buddy and I want to do two different things and we have to come to an agreement with each other before we can do anything.  My little buddy has quite a lot of energy most days, and this program has taught me how to help her distribute some of this energy to various creative outlets and activities, which has been very helpful.  This program has also been helpful in teaching me the best ways to interact with all different ages and reading levels of children (as I sometimes read with other buddies alongside my own buddy when they want to hang out with each other).  Overall, I’ve enjoyed this reading buddies program very much this semester and I can definitely see myself coming back next semester and doing either the same program again, or trying out a different program.