When did you start volunteering with Read Ahead?
I started volunteering this past fall. I was looking at the company intranet page for local volunteer opportunities and saw that this was a program that my employer, Guardian Life Insurance, partners with, so I decided to reach out!
What inspired you to pick Read Ahead?
I’ve always been an avid reader and had some prior experience with an adult literacy program so this program spoke to me in that way. I would also say that teaching is a part of my nature as I taught literature classes at the college level for about eight years as an adjunct professor. I hadn’t worked with children before so this appealed to me as a different way to make an impact and start with a mentee from a young age. I also volunteered in the writing lab while I was doing my graduate work, so I’ve always thought that reading and storytelling helps bring people together.
How would you describe your experience with Read Ahead?
I’ve enjoyed it a lot. I’m glad to have the opportunity to co-mentor with one of my colleagues, which makes participating in the program possible for me. I wish that I could go every week but my schedule doesn’t permit it! The Program Coordinator at my school was great to work with and kept us informed, she was always cheerful, friendly and helpful. The best part was, of course, with my student. They did a great job of making the program fun so that the student would want to read on their own.
How has your relationship grown with your student?
I was a little bit tentative when I first started as I hadn’t ever worked with a student this age, but Damani and I have had a lot of laughs over the school year. We got used to each other and he has become comfortable with me to the point where we both look forward to our time together. He’s a great kid and there’s always something to laugh about when you’re 6 years old, so it has been great.
Do you have any strategies that you use that have been particularly successful?
Like most kids, Damani loves rhymes. When I saw that I made sure to choose those kind of books and we started playing rhyming games where we would take turns rhyming and then writing down our rhymes so that he could see how they were spelled. I think that was good for us in building our relationship. We would also go through the book the first time without reading it and creating our own stories, just to engage him a little bit, then we would read the story together. We even took a detour and started reading a comic book which was above his reading level because he was so interested in it. Even though that wasn’t what we always focused on, we used it as a reward
Did you have someone in your life who inspired you to read?
I was very lucky in that both of my parents were avid readers. There were always stories being told and shared among my family members. I remember back when we used to drive to my grandparents’ house when I was a kid, they would play the AM radio station that told stories.