Teacher Colleague Letter written at the end of the semester on December 7, 1999

Dear Colleague,
I chose the reading time at Oxford Pediatrics Office because it gave me the opportunity to practice reading to younger children and inform parents and grandparents about the ROR program and what it does for their children. I have gained a greater sense of confidence in approaching young children and their parents to model reading and the ability to talk on a more teacher/parent level; reaffirmation that teaching is the way to shape young peoples lives and the best job out there; sense of what its like to be a child sick all the time. Watch out for the sick children. There are 3 questions that still remain for me since completing this assignment: Why do some parents seem put out or so convinced that their child would rather pay games instead of read with them or a volunteer? What goes on at home if they believe this? Are children getting what they need educationally outside of the classroom? How can we get more volunteers outside of the education department involved in Reach out and Read, especially freshman and sophomores looking to gain skills and outside experience?

Sincerely,
Eric J. Baumann

After finally locating the Oxford Pediatrics Office I was met by a friendly staff who let me know what I was going to do. They said that though the day was full of appointments, not all of the children will want to be read to. The best you can hope for is to go up and ask them and if they want to be read to they will come to the reading area. I was told to stay out of the quarantine area.

Unfortunately all or most of the children were going into that area. When I first walked in I was happy to see that there were 4 children in the room but by the time I sat down they were called into there appointment. Things were running smoothly that day, but as the flu season comes in and more children come in, things will back up and more children will be able to listen to stories if they so choose.

Since most of the children were in quarantine, I was mostly confronted with parents of newborns. I did talk to them about the program and most of them were unaware of what was going on. I did get to see one little girl and read the book No Jumping on the Bed. She was awesome, and really into the book though she was young. I was also able to talk to her mother and grandmother and they said that she loves to read. They love the program.

Though some of the parents seemed not to care much about what I had to say, I can say that it was a very good experience. I was surprised how comfortable I felt asking the children if they wanted to read with me. I thought I would be nervous but my teacherly instincts kicked in. I look forward to next week.

When comparing my first week to this week at the Oxford Pediatrics Office to work on the Reach out and Read program there is not much that happened differently. Actually less happened. I was able to talk to one mother and read to another young girl named Rachel. She was in to have her eye checked and seemed to be nervous. We read her favorite story in Bambi-growing up and she seemed to relax. I only was with her for about 5 minutes. She loves Rugrats though.

The second girl I talked to oddly enough named Rachel was about 3 years old. She told me that she had a brother named Eric as well. I was about to read her the book Goodnight Moon but before I could read to her, she had to go into her appointment. Her mother was very well versed on the Reach out and Read program and all her kids love to read with her.

Unfortunately it was a very, very , very slow day. I spent most of my time rearranging the books which were all over the place and flopped all over. I was told that some of the appointments did not show up and that the rest of the day was going to be slow. Hopefully next week I will have the chance to read more to more children.

Well the third week has come and gone and things are very slow still. I only saw four families come in and three of them were kids in their early teens. I was able to talk to one of the parents who seemed confused with what is going on. I went over and introduced myself and asked her if I could read to her daughter Gentry. She said sure but she wouldnt want to. I tried anyway and as a result her daughter said yes very happily. I was glad I tried and not take her word for it.

There could have been many reasons for her mother to think that automatically that her daughter rather play with the Legos. I hope it was as a friend said to me that she didnt think there were going to be any readers and as a result told her daughter that she could play instead. I tend to agree with this argument. In the end it didnt really matter because she was called in before I could read a book about ELMO. She said good-bye and I spent the rest of the time waiting for the next child to come. They never did. If I had time in my schedule to try a different time I would, but I must make do with what I can.

The previous week I was in field for my elementary methods placement so I was unable to go in to the office to do my reading. So I have decided to go into the Oxford Pediatric Office twice this week to catch up. It had been two weeks though I felt that early trepidation that I felt during the first few times I came to read. I felt out of my rhythm and was hesitant in approaching the children.

That was quickly remedied when I came in tot he office and I saw twins (a boy and a girl) eyeing the bookcase but not sure whether to go up to me or not. I quickly got to them and asked them who they were and if they liked to read. They quickly but shyly nodded their heads and we went to the bookcase to pick out a book. They chose Good Night moon and we were able to get through almost the whole book before they had to go back into the office.

Though the rest of the day seemed to go by slowly because there were few patients in hat day but I was happy knowing that I helped extend a childs love for books and hopefully they would continue on with their reading. I remember when I was that young and how I couldnt wait for my parents to read to me my favorite book of Pooh stories and if I can show my excitement for reading to the children, they might become excited themselves.

Well this day was not very productive for I was unable to read to anyone but another classmate. When we were given the cold shoulder by two twin boys who were more interested in the toy trucks and Legos then us, we sat down and read together. Their mother told us that they were very nervous about their appointment because they were to get shots and rather just keep their mind off by playing.

The rest of the day kids went in the door and right into their appointment before I could even get a chance to say hello. The doctors were on schedule and on occasion ahead of schedule. The parents were very nice that I was able to talk to in those few moments before they went into the office.

I discovered though the four health puzzles and the food pyramid felt game that I could have sworn were not there previously. I was able to look at the pieces and tried to piece the parts together. We tried to incorporate any children in the office to come play but they were not wanting to join before they went in to their appointment. I did do peer reading for the first time to model for the students and I found that very non-intimidating and I hope to try it again the next time I go in.

It finally happened, I had a day that was more busy then slow. I changed my time and day because I felt I was being unproductive. As a result I saw more children then before and they kept coming in. I was constantly watching someone and reading or playing with another. I was now coming in on Thursdays at 1:30pm.

Though the first 15 minutes was very slow, there came a family of 5 children into the room with three of them being 4 years old and younger. In actuality there were three kids from a family and the other two were being baby-sitted. I immediately went to the oldest (age 7) and asked her if she would like to read a book and she did. She was in second grade and loved to read and she read to me. I just sat there and asked her questions. She really seemed to enjoy it. We got through two books before she was called back with the rest of the family.

In actuality all were called up but the little boy (age 2 ) whom the mother left out with us. I found this a little strange considering that he was so young and that we were strangers. I wound up spending most of my time chasing him around, playing and making sure he was not about to hurt himself. He was very active and getting on top of everything. He also liked to jump from these places which made for some quick movement on my part.

I would have liked to read to more of the children but I did not want to leave him alone for fear of what he might do so I just followed him so I could keep a better eye on him. The other two readers, Jaclyn and Jessica, were doing a very good job with the other children so it freed me up to run around. It was the first time that I felt like I really accomplished something and hope that I can do it again next week and get the same turnout. Next time I might bring out the puzzles and felt games to have children play who may not want to read.

Well seven weeks have come and gone and I am now happy with the experience that I had at the Oxford Pediatrics Office. The first five weeks I was coming in on Tuesdays at 1:00pm and I never saw a soul. I sat there with two other Reach out and Read volunteers and we mostly sat around and read to each other. It got very frustrating when children would come in and go right in the back of the office for their appointment.

I know what was probably better for the children and parents, especially if they were sick, but it became frustrating when I did not get a chance to work with them. If I did get to talk to them or reading to them, I would just be getting started establishing a trusting bond and they were whisked away. I often did not even get through the first page of a book. I would leave feeling that I wasted everyones time as well as mine.

Things changed over those last two weeks though. I switched my time and day to Thursday at 1:00pm and it made all the difference in the world. I was surrounded by children and many of them seemed hesitant at first but then warmed up as I model read with the other volunteers. The parents were receptive to talking about their children and we had good conversation about the ROR program.

On my last day I was able to have a full day even though I did not get a chance to read to much of the children. I went in with another volunteer to model reading to interest the students and it worked well. There was a young two-year old whose mother said loved books but was shy so when I first approached her she was at first hesitant and then went to her mother. She grabbed a book and went to her mother to read it to her.

As I began to model read with the other volunteer she slowly got sucked in to our story of Where the Wild Things Live paying less and less attention to her mother and more toward us. She then had to go into the appointment by being bribed by stickers and suckers. Then another family came in though. The family was of a father, son and a baby sister. They both had colds and were very polite even though they were not there for very long.

For the rest of the day there were few children but we wound up talking to the nurses and they showed us what they had for books that are handed out to the children. They also got new books the day before and they took us out back to see what they were. They had some really great titles in there from Goodnight Moon to the Clifford the Big Red Dog. We were able to talk about how successful the program has been and I thanked them for letting us come in and help them over the past seven weeks.