Kay
Allport brings many years of experience as a teacher and teacher librarian connecting
children with literature to share a rewarding and valuable volunteer group that
she now works with. Meet Kay and story dog Taylor as you discover Story Dogs
and the powerful connections made between children and their assigned dog team as
they build their literacy skills.
After I
retired at the end of last year, I decided to combine my love of dogs and love
of children’s books and joined the Story Dog program. Two NSW mothers started
Story Dogs in 2009 with 4 Story Dogs Teams at Murwillumbah Primary. The program
now has 500 volunteer teams across Australia, working with 2300 children each
week.
The program
is free and available to both state and private primary schools. The volunteers
visit the same school every week, same day and same time, for approximately a
two-hour block of time.
The dogs
must have a good temperament and pass an accreditation test carried out by a
certified Dog Team assessor. All dogs must have an annual vet check,
vaccinations, council registration and be groomed before going into school.
The dog’s
owner must do a six-hour course in basic literacy. This ensures the handler
will not judge the child and will be able to help in ways that will best
improve the child’s reading. Dog Teams are fully insured, and handlers must
have a Working with Vulnerable People (Children) Card.
The children
are usually from Stage 1, primarily Year 2 but could be Year 3, 4 or 5 students
who have missed out due to health issues, absenteeism, home environment or are just
not sufficiently motivated. Students are chosen by the school and parental
consent is required. Reading
sessions take place in a quiet area of the school. A reading session is
approximately 20 minutes long, where each child is one-on-one with the Dog
Team.
My dog, Taylor,
and I go to Bowen Road Primary. Having put on our orange Story Dog jackets, we
collect a student from the classroom and return the child after the session. In the
session, I speak for the dog, such as “Taylor doesn’t understand what is
happening on this page, could you help her out?” The child then becomes the
teacher and confidence soars! Other
times the child asks questions such as “Will Taylor bark if I get a word
wrong?” I say “No, she will wink at me
and I will help you.” When Taylor laid
down to listen to a child read and closed her eyes, the child asked, “Is Taylor
asleep?” I said “No, she listens better with her eyes closed!”
Each child
brings a levelled home reader to read to Taylor and then the student chooses
one of 6 picture books provided by Story Dogs for us to read together. At the
end of each session, I fill in a Weekly Record Sheet noting books read and if
there were any difficulties while the child chooses a dog sticker to go on
their own Story Dog bookmark. This
provides a visual, showing how many sessions they have read to Taylor. Some
children take it a step further and show Taylor the sheet of stickers and ask
her to pick one! (Sometimes I have to
‘guide’ Taylor’s head to help her choose!)
Please check out storydogs.org.au which has more detailed information or email me on kallport8888@gmail.com
Kay Allport
Teacher Librarian (Retired)
