RedRover Readers Program
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Go to Project: RedRover Readers Program.
RedRover Readers engages students in discussions that build critical thinking and literacy skills and promote empathy.
About You
About You
First Name
Nicole
Last Name
Forsyth
Twitter URL
Facebook URL
About Your Organization
Organization Name
RedRover
Organization Website
Organization Country
United States, Sacramento
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States
Is your organization a
Non‐profit / NGO / Citizen sector organization
Your role in Education
Other.
The type of school(s) your solution is affiliated with
Public (tuition-free)
How long has your organization been operating?
1‐5 years
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Innovation
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Established (past the previous stages and has demonstrated success)
How long has your solution been in operation?
Operating for 1‐5 years
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
RedRover Readers aims to prevent cruelty, neglect and abuse of animals and people. Many humane organizations portend to do this for animals; however, there are few programs designed specifically to increase empathy and even fewer with research demonstrating success. In addition, despite the clear link between cruelty and abuse of animals and cruelty and abuse towards people and the benefits of using the human-animal relationship as a model for positive relationships in general, humane education is often considered a “special interest” and rarely integrated into standard curriculum, despite several state mandates requiring schools to address the humane treatment of animals.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
RedRover Readers aims to prevent cruelty, neglect and abuse by training teachers, volunteers and humane educators how to use high-quality, illustrated children’s books and open-ended questions to facilitate engaging classroom discussions to increase perspective-taking skills, critical thinking and empathy in elementary school children, while simultaneously addressing content standards. Although the curriculum was designed by educators and has been evaluated by an independent education research firm, as a small animal nonprofit organization it has been difficult to attract the attention of schools and teachers and make training widely available. In 2011, we developed an online professional development class, so now we need to increase our outreach to help teachers understand the benefits of the program and the availability of both in-person and on-line professional development classes.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
RedRover Readers trains volunteers, humane educators and teachers to use books and discussion to actively engage children’s critical thinking skills about humane concepts. Children are asked questions like: “How do you think the cat in this picture feels?” “How do you know?” “How long does it take to make a friend?” “What does friendship look like?” “What choices does a person have when they see a stray animal?” “Could a dog and a person communicate?” “What would that look like?” “How is listening a part of communication?” “Why would someone listen to an animal?” The books used in the program focus on the relationships between people and animals, depict realistic animal behavior; capture the power of the human-animal bond and become a vehicle for talking about concepts such as friendship, kindness, responsibility and trust. Because animals are central characters in these books, most children are highly motivated to listen and participate. Teachers who have used the program in their classrooms report children have an easier time discussing pro-social behavior in relation to animals than to people, and that the RedRover Readers program has made a positive difference in their students’ attitudes towards animals.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
Since 2008, our peers (national humane organizations) have completely cut their humane education departments. Because local animal shelters and a few other smaller organizations usually teach humane education didactically and focus on issues like dog bite prevention or spay/neuter--not empathy specifically--we feel like they’re not direct competitors. We sometimes hear from schools that they already have humane educators visiting their classrooms, which is a big reason why we reach out to shelters to increase collaboration and offer to train their humane educators and why we need to clearly communicate the unique benefits of our program.
Now that you have thought out your entry, help us pitch it.
Define your company, program, service, or product in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
RedRover Readers engages students in discussions that build critical thinking and literacy skills and promote empathy.
Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
RedRover Readers trains educators to use the power of stories and questioning strategies to develop critical thinking and empathy.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
Since the RedRover Readers program was created in 2007, we have fostered empathy and compassion in 6,587 children. In 2009, an independent research firm conducted a qualitative study on the RedRover Readers program. The results suggest RedRover Readers builds self-esteem and motivates students to take an important subject seriously, stimulates additional student-directed learning, builds students’ knowledge and potentially affects their behaviors related to caring for pets, and builds students’ empathy and compassion for pets. “The more people who participate in this program the more it will benefit our community.” - Marie, teacher. “I learned a whole different way to lead discussions... to ask questions in a more neutral way to allow children to experience their own thoughts, not mine. - Kris, retired teacher.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
Empowered by the results of the qualitative research study and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from volunteers and teachers, we are seeking funding for a more rigorous research project with the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver, plan to train 112 new volunteers and 126 new teachers to implement the RedRover Readers program in classrooms by the end of 2012 and are developing a new “Adopt-A-Classroom” teacher outreach initiative through Facebook Causes, all to achieve our ultimate goal of fostering empathy and compassion in 30,000 children by 2015.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
Train 100 volunteers, teachers and humane educators who will foster empathy and compassion in approximately 2,000 children.
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
Conduct two (2) online RedRover Readers training workshops in the next six months.
Task 2
Conduct six (6) in-person RedRover Readers training workshops in the next six months.
Task 3
Launch Adopt-A-Classroom initiative through Facebook Causes so community members/teachers can bring the program to a classroom.
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Train 238 volunteers, teachers and humane educators to implement the RedRover Readers program and foster empathy in 4,760 kids.
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
Conduct three (3) online RedRover Readers training workshops in the next twelve months.
Task 2
Conduct sixteen (16) in-person RedRover Readers training workshops in the next twelve months.
Task 3
Launch Adopt-A-School initiative through Facebook Causes so community members/teachers can bring the progrm to their school.
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world [125 words]
When I became a teacher, I wanted to help children become conscientious citizens capable of making good decisions to benefit society and their own well-being. Soon after I became the CEO for RedRover in 2006, I read a research report on the state of humane education highlighting many problems and obstacles in the field. I remembered seeing students have “Aha!” moments during classroom discussions as a language arts teacher; and those memories, along with my knowledge of developmental psychology and graduate school work on the power of narratives, led to the vision of using stories and discussion as the means to help children understand animals and relationships and to practice imagining how others might be feeling. - Nicole Forsyth, President and CEO, RedRover
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
We collaborated with The Humane Society University to develop an online teacher and humane educator training. We are partnering with The Graduate School of School Work at the University of Denver to conduct quantitative research on the effects of the RedRover Readers program on empathy and pro-social behavior. We also have RedRover Readers partnerships with the Girl Scouts, Edmonton Humane Society and the Fredericton Humane Society. Both humane societies integrated our program into their humane education.
What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section? [75 words]
We currently have 141 volunteers implementing the program. RedRover Education Manager, Karly Gould (who works full-time on RedRover Readers); President and CEO, Nicole Forsyth; and Catherine Faver (a trained volunteer workshop facilitator) conduct training workshops. These individuals will receive additional support from other RedRover staff to launch the Adopt-A-Classroom/School initiatives and increase outreach to schools. 30,000 email subscribers, 1,000 Twitter followers and 5,000 Facebook fans will also be asked to help.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
We are willing to share this model with anyone who wants to replicate it. The question strategies can be applied to any subject matter to engage children, promote discussions about pro-social behavior and increase empathy and compassion.
 | 63 weeks ago Nicole Forsyth updated this Competition Entry. |
| 63 weeks ago Nicole Forsyth updated this Competition Entry. |
| 64 weeks ago Nicole Forsyth updated this Competition Entry. |
| 64 weeks ago Nicole Forsyth submitted this idea. |
