Global Read Aloud Partners with Paths to Literacy and Bookshare!
I am so very excited and honored that Paths to Literacy and Bookshare has partnered up with the Global Read Aloud for this year’s event. Inclusiveness and opening this project up to as many children as possible is one of our major goals; this partnership furthers that. Please see the announcement below
The Global Read-Aloud 2013
Paths to Literacy is excited to announce our new relationship with the Global Read-Aloud Project , a common reading experience initiative founded in 2010 to help students find connections through shared reading. Founder Pernille Ripp, a teacher and blogger in Middleton, Wisconsin, uses multi-media activities across her fifth-grade curriculum. She remarks on her website that the Global Read Aloud “is meant to make the world a little smaller, to open our eyes to the rest of the world and look at all of our shared experiences.” “How phenomenal,” she writes, “for a child to know that the same book they are reading is being read in classrooms across the globe.”
The website explains:
The premise is simple; we pick a book to read aloud to our students during a set 6-week period and during that time we try to make as many global connections as possible. Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be. Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible. The scope and depth of the project is up to you. In the past we have used Twitter, Skype, Edmodo, our wiki, email, regular mail, Kidblog, and any other tools we can think of to make these connections. Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year.
At Paths to Literacy, we were inspired by the inclusive and adaptable nature of the project, and its potential to demonstrate the social value of literature and reading experiences. Paths to Literacy was instrumental in connecting Global Read Aloud with Bookshare. to help select titles available in alternative formats.
For the past three years, Global Read Aloud participants have selected a single book for this project. For 2013, project members will select 3 titles for differing age groups, to provide a selection for younger students, and to get upper grades involved as well . Finalists for this year’s titles are available on the project website. Take a look at the selections and vote for your recommendations!
Getting your students involved in the Global Read Aloud is easy.
From there, the ideas and opportunities will emerge through the summer in preparation for the fall event. To learn how past participants have gotten involved, take a look at their stories onhttp://www.globalreadaloud.com/p/press.html
You do not have to be a classroom teacher to participate, and you do not need a group of students. There is no entry fee.
Paths to Literacy will continue to provide updates as they develop, and we are excited to hear from Paths members who join up. Follow the action here, as well as on Twitter, using #GRA13 and following @pernilleripp, @bookshare and @pathstoliteracy on Twitter. If you prefer Facebook, add https://www.facebook.com/GlobalReadAloud to your pages.
The Global Read Aloud 