Blog Post #7 – Metamorphosis (Reading Buddies Project)

1. What challenges did you overcome throughout this action project? How did you go about
   overcoming these challenges?

A challenge I faced throughout this project was dealing with having a new reading buddy each week. The idea of the program was to have the same buddy for the entire thing. That way, you would get to know them well, and you’d learn their reading strengths and weaknesses over time. For me, the program had an uneven number of older and younger buddies, so I always had a different buddy every week. This was a challenge because I was never given enough time to get to know my buddy, so in 45 minutes I would have to get to know them, figure out what they’re interested in, and find a book for them to read. Ideally, the reading buddies are supposed to get to know each other on the first week, learn what they’re interested in the second week, and start reading the third week, so I had to rush everything. However, I managed to overcome this and do the best with the time I was given. For the first ten minutes of the session, I would get to know my buddy. Then for the next 5 minutes, I would learn what their hobbies were. And for the rest of the session, we would read together. It was definitely rushed, but I did the best I could with what I had!

2. How did this change the way you think?

This project helped me realize that one person can really make a difference in other people’s lives. Throughout the program, almost every single reading buddy I had hated reading. I figured out that this was because most of them weren’t reading books they enjoyed, and in school they weren’t really being given a choice to pick what they wanted to read. By talking to my buddies for only 10-15 minutes, I was able to learn what they were interested in which led me to finding books to them they actually wanted to read! By the end of each day, most of my buddies started enjoying reading, and it was a great feeling to know that I helped make that happen.

3. How did this action impact your future decisions?

In the future, I want to continue volunteering/working in a library setting. Libraries are amazing, and they have so much to offer. They’re a place where anyone can come to learn something new, and I think public libraries are so important for our society. The fact that such short sessions helped me help other kids enjoy reading was such an amazing feeling, and I want to continue doing it. I really hope that the future generations will still keep reading books, even though they were born into the Internet era. I don’t want libraries to die, so I’ll continue to support them in the future!

4. What impact will this action have on others locally and/or globally?

Once again, this action has inspired me to continue supporting libraries. I hope that on a larger scale, this action could help keep libraries alive in the future, and prevent them from being taken over by technology. Being taught to read by other human beings is so important, and I don’t think it’s something a computer can properly teach. Hopefully, if this action becomes bigger and something more people could participate in, reading will stay alive for so many more years to come, and technology won’t replace it.