A furry friend has provided a new way for Chilmark School kids to improve their reading skills.
This school year, students in Melissa McNickles' second and third grade class have started reading to Molly, a great Pyrenees mix owned by the teacher. Having a dog to read to can enhance children’s oral reading comprehension by putting less pressure on students compared to when they read aloud to their peers or teachers, according to Ms. McNickles.
“Molly has always taken to kids,” she said. “I think she thinks of kids as her flock. She’s really calm and big and fun and easy for kids to connect to.”
On Fridays, Ms. McNickles’ class sits down with Molly, who is a licensed therapy dog and also passed her canine good citizen test last summer.
In a rotating schedule, kids read to Molly in pairs. On a recent Friday, Nora Ruel and Pepper Eisner took turns in a quieter room, Molly lying contently on a blanket as the girls sat on air cushions and read their books.
“When I started reading, I wasn’t as good at it, but now [reading to Molly] I’m better,” Nora said.
Ms. McNickles has seen an improvement in reading skills among her students.
“I have some kids who are definitely shy and struggle with reading to a peer or teacher, but when reading to a dog, there’s no pressure,” she said. “They’re so confident and calm. It’s just a really beneficial practice for them.”
The idea of bringing Molly in first came when Ms. McNickles was approached by school principal Kate Squire. During a staff meeting, she talked about Molly when presenting fun facts about herself.
“[Kate] said she’d love to have Molly come in and thought it would be a helpful thing for students to experience,” she said. “Kate and I talked before Molly started coming in about what we wanted the goals of the program [to be]. We thought it would increase kids’ confidence and fluency in reading.”
The second reading pair of the day was Mischa Keene and Cormac Moriarty, who settled in as Ms. McNickles showed them a Tik Tok on her phone.
“Part of Mischa’s weekly thing here is watching a TikTok with Molly and then he’ll read to her,” she said.
After a reminder from Ms. McNickles that Molly “is a reading dog,” the two boys teamed together to read graphic novel Prunella and the Cursed Skull Ring to Molly, who stayed still as the boys pet her in between reading lines.
“I like [reading to Molly] because we get to pet her,” Cormac said. “Sometimes we get blankets too.”
For Ms. McNickles, Molly is an important addendum to her curriculum.
“Reading and literacy is something I’m really passionate about as a teacher and I wanted to find a way to bridge my love for literacy and kids,” she said.
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