Motivating Reluctant Readers - A New Initiative

In Term 3, I'm excited to be trialling a new initiative aimed at motivating some of our reluctant readers.  I'd been thinking about working with our older students, but Esther, our library and resource assistant, suggested I start with Year 4s, because intervening earlier might have more of an impact.  She also suggested tracking them over several weeks, rather than just doing it as a one-off.  I like this idea because it gives me a chance to build relationships with students who probably don't come to the library outside of their normal class library visits.  My positive experiences running Year 6 book clubs then led me to consider whether using that format would work with reluctant readers.  There's only one way to find out!

The plan for Term 3 is that I will take one Year 4 student from each of our Year 3/4 classes (plus one more to make it a nice round 10 - easier for statistics!).   I think that will be a nice size group to work with.  The students I was looking for did not have reading difficulties, which are addressed by our teaching staff, but instead had motivational issues.  They are the kids who can read but aren't.  I sent through data on library borrowing statistics to help teachers with their student selections.  Three of the students selected had taken out less than ten books since the start of the year.  I got a nice mixture of male (6) and female (4) students. I will take these students out of class for 30 minutes each week, on a Friday to maximise their reading opportunities over the weekend.  

I have asked the teachers if their students are comfortable with me having Milo (our school support dog) with me during our book club, and they all are.  This might be something that is a drawcard to the students, as none of the other book clubs has Milo present (a teacher takes him to the staffroom at morning tea, when the other clubs are run).

Using my book club format means I will start each session with a reading question and offer tags for when reading challenges are completed.  I will amend the challenges to make them more attractive to younger, less enthusiastic readers.  I think running this group as a book club will take away any stigma about being pulled out of class, and the fact that only Year 6s normally get to have tags might also be motivational for them.  I will emphasize that this is the first time I have ever done this so I will be relying on them to give me feedback on what is working and what is not.

I will have the students complete a reading questionnaire over our first couple of meetings. This will give me more information about the students and their reading attitudes and habits.  I have printed out their borrowing histories to give me an understanding of what books they have been issuing.

I have been running Library Skills sessions with our Year 5/6 classes and have noticed that almost all of them put their hands up when I ask them, "who finds it difficult to find a good book to read?".  I have been sharing some tips with those classes on how to find good books to read, and I will introduce some of these techniques with the new book club too.

A Support Dog in the Library - The First Full Week

Milo after a hard morning's work greeting teachers

This week was the first week that I brought Milo into school every day that I work (I don't work Wednesdays).  My husband dropped off Milo last week and he did well (Milo, not my husband!), enthusiastically greeting the office staff.  However, he hadn't gone to the toilet and I didn't want any puddles if I could help it so the longest he stayed was for an hour.  We popped in on the weekend and checked out the sectioned-off area where he would be toileting.  It wasn't so noisy so he 'watered the grass' and it was one less thing to worry about this week as at least he knew what was expected of him.

On Monday, my lovely husband again dropped off Milo and as it was close to morning tea time I decided to see how he would handle our staffroom.  We are a big primary school, with over 700 students and a large amount of staff.  We went in with our principal, Anne, and Milo was taken aback at first as when we opened the doors he was hit with a wall of noise.  Once everyone shushed a bit he was in his element though, walking up and down and checking out all the staff and showing off all his doggy charm.  After morning tea I took Milo to water the grass and then a nearby teacher asked if he could come and visit her classroom.  As it was a Year 5 & 6 classroom I said yes and Milo walked up and down the desks and had a good look around the class.  The teacher had prepared the class well and they were quiet-ish and stayed in their chairs.

For the rest of my week I started at 8.30am and Milo only stayed two or three hours as I was monitoring his energy levels and also working out how to balance looking after him with getting work done.  From inside the library, we watched students coming into school, and Milo met a few students who help out in the library in the morning.  Highlights were seeing some of our more vulnerable children showing an interest in Milo, and also the amount of staff who seem thrilled to have a dog on-site and are passing on tips and advice to me.  We have already had one staff member say that she really needed her short time with Milo, as she was having a bad day.  

We have not started visiting classes properly, although I've promised to go and see a Year 3 & 4 class next week who are going to be sharing about dogs at a school assembly later in the term. 

On Thursday afternoon our school newsletter was emailed to parents and we officially introduced Milo to our community.  I also made a little fact sheet and added Milo to our staff page on our website (I totally swiped this idea from another school, but it's cute!).

Things I've Noticed

• I am no longer of interest.  The constant question is "Where's Milo?".  I think I'll need to make a sign to indicate whether he is at school, sleeping, or at home so that we don't have to keep answering that question!
• It's not just the students, a lot of staff want to see Milo and just interacting with them is tiring for him and time-consuming for me.  I expect that this will wear off a bit once everyone has had a chance to meet him, although I think I underestimated the effect on my productivity.  It is quite stressful trying to get things done at the moment.  Luckily I don't have any major events on this year, as we run our Book Week and Book Fair every second year.
• Just looking out for a puppy at school is exhausting as I want him to be well-behaved and well-looked after but I am also trying to work.  Lots of people have been telling me that having a puppy is like having a toddler, and there's a reason people don't bring their toddlers to work!  By Friday I was exhausted and I need to take that into account when considering how often Milo should be at school.
• A lot of foot traffic comes through my office as it is the closest door that links the library and the resource room.  This disrupts Milo if he is trying to sleep so I'm going to have to ask that staff use the other door unless they need to speak to me. 
• Milo has been very excited at school and enjoys meeting everyone.  He is definitely a "people-dog".  Thank goodness for that!

For the week ahead, I am planning on taking Milo on three days for about two hours each time.

A Support Dog in the Library - the First Steps

Last year, my husband wanted a puppy and I was not so sure.  Then I remembered therapy/support dogs, which are dogs that work in schools (and other places).  I'd read articles about dogs being used to help literacy and knew that our public library also runs a programme that uses therapy dogs as "reading buddies".  I thought this sounded like a wonderful idea and it convinced me to agree to become a puppy owner for the first time.

I discovered that an ex-teacher from our school, now deputy principal at a nearby school, brings her dogs into her school as therapy dogs and she kindly invited me to come and see one in action.  She warned me that having a puppy is like having a baby, which was intimidating, but I think it was a good warning to help me realise what a big commitment it is.  

We investigated what breed of dog would suit our lifestyle (not overly energetic!) and decided on a Cavoodle (a cross between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Toy or Miniature Poodle).  Cavoodles are known to be very gentle and friendly and their size and appearance is not intimidating to children, which was another factor we took into account when making our choice.  I read that the Toy Cavoodle is slightly more fragile and better suited for older children, and the Miniature is more sturdy, so we went with a Miniature Cavoodle for a primary school environment.

My first step was to approach my principal.  I was sounded her out and provided this one page document for her to consider.  She was enthusiastic and offered to bring my proposal to the Board of Trustees for approval.  

I discovered that another nearby teacher, Kelly Daniel, not only brings her dog to school but has also set up a NZ Facebook page for support dogs that has lots of useful information.  I got to meet Kelly, and included her Dogs on School Grounds policy (from the Facebook page) and Education Gazette article for the BOT to consider.  I added a bit more information about how things would work to my original document (addressing training and toileting).  I also attached a copy of the Canine Good Citizen exercise breakdown, which I said I would work towards passing.

In September, the BOT approved a support dog for the school!  There was an understanding that if the dog was unsuitable for the role then the school wasn't bound to have him continue.  Although I had already contacted a breeder, it wasn't until I got BOT approval that I officially went on their waitlist.

We had second pick of a litter of five, and as the breeder is in Gisborne we had to make our choice from afar.  We asked our breeder for the most calm puppy from the litter rather than choosing by looks.  At the end of January we picked up Milo (named after the main character in "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster).  There was a settling in period, for us and Milo, including a day of despair about three days in, during which we wondered what on earth we were thinking!  

On Monday, Waitangi Day, I took Milo in to show him the library, which fortunately he seemed to approve of.  

On Thursday, I took him for a short visit to meet a few of the senior management and admin staff.  He was very excited to meet everyone (and fortunately well-behaved!).

I have ordered a special high-vis coat so that Milo will be clearly identified as a support dog when he is at school.  We will also be putting a notice in next week's school newsletter and on my library Facebook page so that our parents are introduced to Milo and know the reasons he is at school and what to expect.  Teachers will talk to their classes about Milo, and go over some dog safety information.  I am also going to be working on a list of books with dogs in them, as I hear they are a popular choices to read to dogs!

My husband has a couple of weeks off and I will bring Milo in for a few short visits over this time and see how things go.  My two main priorities are to make sure that Milo is happy and that he is on his best behaviour around our students.