Middlesboro Independent students began reading books for others to hear last year by calling the Jacket Storytime phone book. Photo courtesy of Rian Johnson, Partners for Rural Impact.

Bryce Bowling was a senior at Middlesboro High School (Middlesboro Independent) last year and was preparing for the start of school and the upcoming football season when his teachers asked him to participate in a new literacy program they were starting.

The program: a new phone line called the “Jacket Storytime Phonebook,” where anyone could call and listen to someone read a children’s story.

“The teachers actually came to me and asked me if I wanted to read to the kids, and I said, of course I did,” Bowling said.

Bowling was part of a group of football players and cheerleaders who initially began reading books to get the program started. School administrators paired the readers with younger children to read to them in person while recording audio for the phone system.

“I really enjoyed it because I got to break out of character a little bit and just enjoy it and have fun,” Bowling said. “And the kids ended up loving it, so it was really cool.”

One of the main organizers from Middlesboro High School was Nick Shoffner, an algebra teacher and football coach. He said the district already has a tradition of football players greeting elementary students every Friday morning, so it was easy to develop the reading program around that.

“I think the readers had more fun than the listeners,” Shoffner said. “You walk into the room and they have a blast with it.”

When asked how a math teacher got involved with a literacy program, Shoffner said he was part of a committee of district educators and other community members working to improve school spirit in the area. The Jacket Storytime Phonebook seemed like the perfect project to encourage collaboration between students and the community.

“I saw the potential of this project,” said Shoffner. “I don’t try to get involved in everything. But when I see something and see the value in it, I get involved with full intention and try to make it as good as possible.”

Shoffner and Middlesboro Independent have partnered with Partners for Rural Impact (PRI) to begin work on the phone line in summer 2023. The project is funded by PRI’s Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant.

“Our mission is to put books and technology into the hands of every child and their parents and families in the community,” said Doug Coots, project director for the grant.

Coots said the idea came about when a team member talked about a program one of the banks in Middlesboro had when she was a child, where children could make calls and hear someone read them a story.

“I thought, this is a great idea, so let’s try and see if we can make this happen for ourselves,” he said.

When they began looking for partners, they came across LibraryCall, an organization that up until that point had worked almost exclusively with libraries. Lori Ayre, who runs LibraryCall through her consulting firm The Galecia Group, said libraries primarily use the Dial-a-Story program and that Middlesboro Independent’s joining has increased the number of books they can offer through the platform.

“Then Middlesboro and Doug Coots came along and suddenly some of the things we hoped people would do started happening with this organization,” Ayre said.

The program was developed on the football field. Announcements were broadcast over the PA system at home games, which increased awareness and led to a boom in calls. Coots said LibraryCall statistics show the phone line received 360 calls last September and has averaged about 100 calls per month since then.

“I think at one point our phone book was one of the most called numbers in the country,” Shoffner said.

Community members also promoted the program by putting up signs in their front yards advertising the phone line.

Eventually, student-athletes from winter and spring sports got involved, and Shoffner said members of academic clubs also joined in to read to the children. Middle school students and some older elementary school students also began reading for the hotline. District leaders plan to continue this in the new school year and beyond.

Brandy King, a literacy coach at the Middlesboro Independent, said the program has provided new learning opportunities for the students involved.

“I was able to talk to the kids and say, ‘Guys, you don’t want to read in a monotone voice. We’re talking about intonation and you can even use the characters’ voices,'” she said. “And it’s great to see how creative they are and really use different voices and really have fun doing it.”

“It was a lot of fun to be able to give back and change the perspective,” Bowling said of the opportunity to serve as a reader and role model for the younger children, just like the high school students he interacted with during his time at Middlesboro Elementary.

“It was just a great joy. I mean, (the students) just had big smiles on their faces. They loved every second of it.”

Anyone interested in hearing a story from the Jacket Storytime Phone Book can call (606) 752-0352.