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

Dear Colleague,
I chose the ROR program because it gave me the opportunity to interact with young children. I gained the love for reading to children, pleasure from their smiling faces, and confidence through the interaction with parents and children. This is such a great program. So many children are happy to see you there and that makes it worth it. I still have some questions on my mind and maybe you can help the program by finding out. The first is, why does the waiting room never change?, why are we only allowed to go once a week?, and is there any way that a list of children in the office that day can be given to the readers? I totally recommend this program to you and anyone else that may be interested.

Sincerely,
Chris Cracraft

The date that I read at Oxford Pediatrics was October 6. This is a day that I will remember for a long time. It was 10:00 in the morning and it was a very sunny day when I arrived to read. I will not lie to you, I was very nervous about going to read. I guess that I was just worried of messing up somehow. Anyway, when I first got there I had to make out my name tag and put on my smock. There were no children there right at first and that bummed me out. About 10:10 a little girl came in and her name was Stephanie. I asked her if she wanted to share a book with me and she smiled and said yes. She chose the book Where The Wild Things Are and I started reading. She had many stories to tell me and that made this visit ten times better. It was so heart warming to see her smile and laugh at the pictures. I know that the children get a great deal from the reading, but my favorite part has to be when they just have fun looking at the pictures and talking to you. I ended up reading her three more books before she went in to the doctor and that was one of the best times I have had in my life. From this experience I have gained many things. I have gained the love for reading to children and the reinforcement that I have chosen the right profession for me. Just knowing that I may have made the smallest contribution to Stephanie makes me happier than anything. I can not wait until I go back to read again next week.

My experience last week at Oxford pediatrics was very enjoyable. I had many chances to read to the children. The funny thing was that the office was packed with children when I arrived. However, the children started to go in to see the doctor rather quickly. This was kind of disappointing, but there were some children still left. I went up to one little boy and asked him if he would like to share a book with me and he ignored me completely. He was very shy and he did not even look my way. I asked him a couple more times, but had no luck. I turned around and went back to the chair that I was sitting in. After I had sat down I heard the boys mother ask him if he wanted me to read to him. He said that he would rather have his mother to read to him. My whole goal really turned out to be a success, even though I am not the one that read to him. He still got to read a book and gain from its many benefits.

I found it very productive to sit over in the main waiting area by the toys. This gave me a chance to interact with the children and then I would ask them if they would like to share a book. There was another little boy that I ended up reading to. He was playing with the toys at first and then I started to play with them also. He was smiling and having a good time. I was having a good time also. Then I asked if he would like to read and he said okay. We only got through five pages of the book before he had to go in, but he seemed to enjoy himself when I was reading to him. That just gave me a great feeling. When a child smiles it makes the whole trip to Oxford Pediatrics worth it.

When I heard that I had the chance to be a part of OxROR, I was delighted. I feel that these children are benefiting greatly from this program. To be perfectly honest, this is something new for me. However, I think that it is great that I get to be part of a program that is helping so many young children.

Although that I have never experienced any program of this nature before, there are still some things I am expecting. The article that I read gave me some ideas of what I should be expecting and then I also had some of my own thoughts. More than anything I am expecting the children that come into the office to very diverse. What I mean when I say diverse is that they come from different backgrounds, experiences, and abilities. Out of these children some may already be independent readers and then there will be those that may not have the basic literary knowledge. I am taking all of this into consideration because these are important ideas. When it comes to physically reading to the children I think that there will be many children who will want to be engaged in the reading process. There will be children who want to talk about the pictures, retell the story, discuss their favorite actions, and request multiple readings. This aspect for children is a chance for them to identify symbols of their environment. The types of books that I expect to be reading are mostly about health. I like the idea of big books because it may be easier for some children to get into the story as far as symbols and word recognition. As far as I am concerned, reading aloud to children is the most important activity for building understanding and skills for reading success.

I realize that when I go to read for these children I will have my good days and then I will have average days. On a good day I expect to direct the childrens attention to aspects in the book and also help them to recognize letters, shapes, and colors that they are familiar with. I also want to expose children to books that they may have never seen before. Some of the books that I will be reading will have rhythmic words and phrases because this also allows children to associate symbols and words with different sounds. Another thing that I think will make a good day will be to ask predictive and analytical questions before and after the stories that I read. This will help the children on their vocabulary and comprehension. The most important aspect of a good day is making the children feel comfortable. I want them to feel comfortable and have fun because that is what reading should be to these kids.

I do not really like to focus on having an average day because every day that I read to these children I want it to be good. I think that if I have an average day children may not be getting everything that I think that they should be getting. However, I feel that an average day may be brought on by few children coming into the office that day. Another aspect that might bring on an average day could be the type of books. The children might not like the type of stories that I chose. This does not mean that they will all be bad, but that one book that they do not like just takes away from the book that they could have liked and learned better from. The childrens moods may also determine the type of day. They might not want to hear a story that day. I will try to get them involved as best as I can, but the day may not be as productive as a good day. Most average days will still be much like a good day, except that it will not run as smoothly. I hope to have very few average days because in the end I want these children to take away something beneficial from that doctors office. I want them to have a better understanding of what reading is all about because what they read today will help them tomorrow.

When I went to Oxford Pediatrics I was expecting to have better luck than the week before. I did not have the chance to read to many kids the week before, so my luck had to change. The day started out like any normal day with very few children in the waiting room. Finally, after about fifteen or twenty minutes some children started to come in. One child was very ill and the other child was way to young to be read too. I was somewhat disappointed, but it was still early. About five minutes later a little girl came in and this was my chance. Before my partner and I could even have the chance to ask if she would like to share a book, she came over to browse through them. We gave her a few minutes to look through them and then we asked if she would like us to read to her. However, she declined, but proceeded to read to us. This was very different, but it was okay. She was reading quite well for a five-year-old. I have to say that I was impressed. She would read a book and then we would help her on the words that she had trouble with. We would also discuss the pictures and she had many stories to tell us. This was a great experience because it showed me that she has had some contact with books before. Her mother later told us that she loved for her mother to read to her and was starting to read to her mother more. I cannot help but think that this program had some impact on her learning about books. The benefits of this program are overwhelming. It is awesome.

I would like to share one idea that could help in getting the children more involved in the waiting room. The corner where the poster and books are need to be moved. The other corner across the room would be perfect. The only reason that I say this is because it would give the children a chance to see the books at the same time they are playing with toys. The whole problem with the corner being where it is now is the fact that the children get involved with the toys and do not want to have any part of the books. I just feel that a restructuring of the waiting room may increase the benefits for the students. I would not mind helping to rearrange the waiting room if this suggestion is considered.

Last week at Oxford Pediatrics was very disappointing. It was a very slow week. Very few children came into the doctors office. I guess that it is a good sign for the children because it shows that they are not getting sick. However, for me it is somewhat boring. The one thing that my partner and I did was to straighten up the waiting room. The waiting room this week was overly messy. There were chairs all over the place and the bookstand was very unorganized. I guess in a way we did have something productive to do. We both straightened up the waiting room and made it very nice and clean. Although there were no children that came into the waiting room, there were children that did have to come from seeing the doctor. I got to see smiling faces and I also got to see some not so happy faces. It is sometimes enjoyable to watch children walk out because they act funny. They might be playing with a sibling our just being funny. Since no children came into the waiting room my partner and I just reflected on past experiences at ROR and that past the time.

There is one thing that I would like you to pass on from this reflection and that is thanks. I enjoy going into the doctors office because the staff is so friendly. There has never been a time when they have not had a smile on their faces. This just puts me in a better mood. It is good to know that these types of people are taking care of children. They just put everyone in a better mood and I feel that this is important to making a difference in someones life.

When I went to Oxford Pediatrics I got a welcomed surprise. One of the parents who brought her kids in asked if we (my partner and I) would like to read to her kids. This was something new because this had never happened to me before. I was always the one that had to make the first move. Her two kids were very cute and they loved to read. Their mother said that they went to the library two or three times during the week. I thought that this was great. Anyway, we started to read to them. The little girl was about three or four and the boy was three. The little girl got right next to me so that she could see the pictures. She told me that she love to look at the pictures. While she would look, I would read the book. She would laugh every time that I finished a page. She just thought that the pictures were so funny. The little boy also loved the pictures. His only problem was that he could not sit still. He was running all over the waiting room. The funny thing is that he would run all over, but then he would come back to the book. He would sit there for a second and then he would take off again. We read for awhile, but then they had to go in to see the doctor.

About ten minutes passed and they both came back out. They wanted to be read to again. We proceeded to read and they loved it. Their mother ended up taking the little boy outside to play, but the girl wanted to stay in and read. It was so amazing how excited this girl got about reading. My overall experience at Oxford Pediatrics was very enjoyable and I hope that this week coming up is similar to this experience.

My last trip to Oxford Pediatrics was rather funny. There was a young boy that came into the office who had a lot of energy. However, he was very shy and my partner and I could tell. We approached him slowly and asked if he would like to share a book. To our surprise he said yes. He was running around the office playing with everything and we did not think he would stop for anything. The funny part that I was talking about was how jumpy he was when we were reading to him. At first he was laying on the floor, then standing, then kneeling and it was very funny to watch. It was remarkable how much he was enjoying the book. He like to act out some of the pictures. Later this same visit a little girl came in and she was very cute. She was in a pretty dress and she came right up to us. We had all the books laid out and that is what attracted her attention. We read the book Buz because that was this little girls favorite book. She knew what the next page would bring before we even turned the page. She got so excited that she knew the next page. Not one other child came into the office that day. The two kids we did read to were into the office very fast. At least we got to read to them somewhat. I have so much fun when I read to a child and they become happy. The feeling is just overwhelming.

When I went to Oxford Pediatrics it was kind of depressing because I knew that it was the last day. I have never had an experience like this program before. I truly enjoyed reading to the children every week. I liked it so much that I may even stay on and keep volunteering. I will just have to see how my schedule goes. Anyway, the last day ended with a big bang. To start of with my partner and I started reading to one another. There were very few kids, if any, that we could read to. We did not become discouraged because we knew that some kids had to come in eventually. Finally a couple children came in and we asked them if they would like to share a book. They were very shy and all refused. My partner and I sat down and began reading to each other again. We hoped that this would grab the attention of the children. Although none of them ever actually came over, we could tell that they were interested. One little boy in particular was very interested. His mother had tried to get him to come over, but he never did. We started reading very loud and showing the pictures to all the children in waiting room. I think it had its effect because the children seemed to be paying attention. Although they were far away I think they still enjoyed the books.

I talked to one mother and she was very energetic and excited about ROR. I explained what it was all about and she seemed impressed. Her daughter was not in the office very long so we did not talk as long as I would have liked. However, explaining to one person is an easy way of spreading the idea of this wonderful program. I think that this program is a wonderful idea and I will be telling more people about it. The more people that get involved, the more the children benefit.