{"id":68015,"date":"2007-04-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-04-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-german-professors-dog-listens-as-schoolchildren-read\/"},"modified":"2007-04-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-04-02T00:00:00","slug":"uri-german-professors-dog-listens-as-schoolchildren-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2007\/04\/uri-german-professors-dog-listens-as-schoolchildren-read\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 German professor\u2019s dog listens as schoolchildren read"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\u2018Reading coach\u2019 has furry ears<\/p>\n


\nKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013April 2, 2007\u2014He\u2019s tall, dark, and very handsome. When he strides into Room 12 at Fishing Cove School in North Kingstown, all heads turn. He stops at his blanket placed on the floor, turns, and looks at 23 wide-eyed third graders in Barbara Montecalvo\u2019s class.<\/p>\n


\n\tHis owner, Doris Kirchner, a German professor at the 溏心vlog免费B站, signals him to lie down. This gentle, 136-pound Great Dane named Sharif obeys.<\/p>\n


\n\tSoon students, one at a time, begin reading books to their furry \u201creading coach.\u201d The first student, 10-year-old David McLemore begins reading Snowshoe Thompson hesitantly and softly. By the second chapter, David\u2019s voice has become louder and he\u2019s reading more confidently. At one point, Sharif places his paw on David\u2019s arm. <\/p>\n



\n\t\u201cReading researchers have found that children who are normally hesitant to read actually enjoy reading to a dog,\u201d explains Kirchner. \u201cWhile therapy dogs have long been used in hospitals, senior centers, and as service animals, the idea of using them for reading is relatively new.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tKirchner quickly points out that while Sharif has not been trained as a therapy dog, he was evaluated by a professional trainer representing Therapy Dogs International for his stints as a reading dog at the West Bay YMCA after school program in North Kingstown. Owner and dog have been helping children there for the past two years.<\/p>\n


\n\tSharif easily passed the evaluations. He obeyed commands, remained as calm as Ferdinand the bull when other dogs were introduced, he did not suffer separation anxiety when Kirchner left the room. The gentle giant did not blink an eyelid when a big metal door was slammed behind him or when young children surrounded him. <\/p>\n


\n \tBack at Fishing Cove School, David is reading Chapter 4 when Emily Sleve, who is subbing for Mrs. Montecalvo, stops him. Sleve notes that students not only appear more confident they read longer when they are reading to a dog. <\/p>\n


\n\tDavid takes his seat. \u201cI thought it went well,\u201d the youngster says. \u201cI think he liked it. He was listening well.\u201d<\/p>\n



\nEmily Bailey reads portions of More Surprises. \u201cHe liked it,\u201d she says. When asked why she thought so, she replied with all the assurance of a 9-year-old: \u201c When he got up and looked right here,\u201d she says holding her hand a few inches away from her face. When asked if she had any pets, Emily said she had three: a fish named Fishy, a rabbit named Dede, and a hermit crab named Pinchy.<\/p>\n


\nThe 溏心vlog免费B站 professor was asked why she volunteers her time to these types of programs. \u201cI love teaching and reading and I love animals. It just makes sense,\u201d she said, adding that she hopes others who read this article might also want to volunteer to help a child read.<\/p>\n


\nPictured Above

\nTwo third graders at Fishing Cove School in North Kingstown spontaneously escort Sharif, the reading dog, into their classroom. 溏心vlog免费B站 News Bureau Photo by Michael Salerno Photography.<\/p>\n


\nSharif, the reading dog, places his paw on Fishing Cove School third grader David McLemore. 溏心vlog免费B站 News Bureau Photo by Michael Salerno Photography.<\/p>\n


\nSharif, the reading dog, and his owner, 溏心vlog免费B站 German Professor Doris Kirchner of East Greenwich, listen as third grader Emily Bailey reads. 溏心vlog免费B站 News Bureau Photo by Michael Salerno Photography.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Reading coach\u2019 has furry ears KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013April 2, 2007\u2014He\u2019s tall, dark, and very handsome. When he strides into Room 12 at Fishing Cove School in North Kingstown, all heads turn. He stops at his blanket placed on the floor, turns, and looks at 23 wide-eyed third graders in Barbara Montecalvo\u2019s class. His […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}