Mikayla Coyne- Blog #5

Through volunteering at the BTU now three times, and writing the sponsors of literacy draft, it has made me reflect a lot on how I learned to read and the challenges I faced with it. My parents used to make me read every night for thirty minutes. I remember making a checklist of everything I had to do a night, and reading for thirty minutes was always on the list. Most of the time I would read aloud, I would also sometimes decide to read in my head. There were definitely days that I did not read for these thirty minutes, so I would just sit there and pretend to read a book. Even though I was not always reading during these thirty minutes, it was definitely a way to get me to sit still and relax, which definitely was not common for a seven year old. My parents would make my sister and I do this for many many years and I really think that this is what made me learn how to read. Something else that I vividly remember in elementary school was when my ELA teacher would read short stories aloud. I remember creating a specific picture in my head with the story, and imagining everything she was saying. This is what made me start to enjoy reading. When I was young, I had a very vivid imagination. Reading these different short stories contributed even more to my imagination, which I really enjoyed. I remember even trying to write my own short stories and even a chapter for a chapter book after reading some of them that really sparked my creative side. Through volunteering at the BTU, I am able to gain some of the imagination and creativity that I used to have a kid. Not only am I able to do this through working with the kids there and seeing their imagination at work, but I am even able to test it out for myself. I never really thought that I would be asked to come up with a new vegetable and describe what it does and what it looks like in college, but volunteering at the BTU has led me to do this. It is something so different than what I am doing on a daily basis at Northeastern and I really feel like it is a great escape from the rest of the world around me. Working at the BTU has reminded me what it like to be in the fifth grade again and has taught me many valuable lessons about it already.