Due to all the new COVID protocols put in place, KO has started a Micro School, a program for KO faculty children to come for the day to engage in a wide variety of activities. One very fun activity has been the Public Speaking Class coming to read books to those in the Micro School.
This idea came from public speaking teacher Kyle Reynolds who originally thought that something like this could never happen. “I was reading this article over the summer, and it said that one of the ways that students and people in general learn to be engaging, is that they take a risk by being quite vulnerable in reading storybooks to children and I thought about what a good idea that is,” Mr. Reynolds said.
He originally thought that this could never happen because there are never little kids on campus. However, when he found out about the KO Micro School, he instantly knew that he had to have his public speaking class read books to these children.
Hannah McCarthy, daughter of history teacher Katie McCarthy, attends the Micro School and said that she really enjoyed having the public speaking class read books to her and the other kids in the Micro School. Her favorite book that one of the students in the public speaking class read was called “Terrific.” She hopes this happens again and in the future suggested that it may be more fun to do it outside on the senior green.
Mr. Reynolds worked very closely with Camp KO Director Sherri Shea to make this experience possible, and a few weeks later, it occurred. The KO students were very nervous prior to and during the reading of the books since they did not know the kids in the Micro School, but Mr. Reynolds could tell that the kids in the Micro School absolutely loved being read to. Another challenge was reading seven books back to back, and making sure that the later readers stay engaged.
Freshman Saanve Bathula thought that this was a great experience, especially due to the fact that she has a five year old brother who she reads books to often. “Reading books out loud was kind of something I got used to, but reading to such large groups was a very new and different experience for me as I am used to just reading to one kid,” Saanve said. She believes that it was a good experience especially for learning how to engage people, especially kids who have a limited attention span.
In the future, Mr. Reynolds hopes to make a partnership between KO and a local elementary school where the public speaking class can go and read books to the kids. This would then give the kids in the class more time to practice, as they did not have much time to prepare and were very nervous leading up to it.
Che and Nora Shah, son and daughter of English teacher Heidi Hojnicki, said that they really enjoyed being read to. The public speaking class brought some books, and the children from the Micro School got to choose the books that were going to be read.
Nora chose the book “Pete the Cat” and said she really enjoyed being able to choose the books that got read. Che suggested that maybe next time they bring some books for a variety of different ages including both picture books and chapter books. He suggested that next time they read a book from “The Magic Tree House” series, as he believes that anyone would enjoy listening to those books.
Mr. Reynolds said that this is not something that he would normally do in his class, as most of the assignments are writing different kinds of speeches and reading them to the other students in the class.
Overall, the kids in the Micro School definitely enjoyed being read to, and despite being nervous, the kids in the public speaking class enjoyed this experience as well. This was a great event to occur and hopefully this will be an event that can happen in the future. Thanks to Mr. Reynolds for coming up with such a great idea!
