Quality Storytents 2004

Quality Storytents 2004: Revisiting using choice theory to support reading through a community literacy project.


Abstract

This paper documents the results of efforts to replicate research from 2003 in a 2004 storytent program which ran in a Public Housing Neighbourhood in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The research component examined the impact of the program on the frequency of reading in children's lives, on their own reading levels, and on their perceptions about reading and themselves as readers. As well, this year, we researched the impact of our method of delivery on social interaction. The program had a positive impact on reading frequency, and all of the children who were assessed maintained or showed a gain in reading level. For those children who chose to make frequent or intensive use of the storytent, the program was instrumental in helping them acquire or improve their reading skills. Statements by children showing them to be surprised and delighted at their own emerging and growing skills appear in staff notes, and parent reports corroborate this appearance of positive self perceptions in their children as a result of having had a reading success in a need satisfying environment. Worker and parent comments indicate that most children who participated in the project socialized more positively with their siblings and peers. The authors believe that building and maintaining relationships, with children as well as their parents, is the heart of Storytent work.