Since 2010, the Global Read Aloud has impacted readers through the project’s mission: “one book to connect the world.” Each year, project founder Pernille Ripp selects a list of books for all interest levels, kindergarten through high school.
Participation is free and simple: educators can choose a book to read aloud to students during a set six-week period in the fall. During that time, they are encouraged to make connections with another classroom reading the same book. Teachers can spend as much or as little time on the project as they wish, and students get the chance to make a personal connection with peers in a different geographic area through activities like letter writing, postcard exchanges, and videos.
Building Geography and Communication Skills
Kansas librarian Alice Reinert has been doing Global Read Aloud activities with her second graders for several years. She begins by facilitating a Mystery Meet-Up activity (using a videoconferencing platform such as Zoom or Google Meet) to introduce students to their buddy class in another state.
The two classes alternate asking each other yes-no questions until they can determine the other class’s location. Because second graders don’t typically have much experience with maps and geography, Reinert prepares them by spending a class period introducing basic map skills: cardinal directions, identifying rivers and bodies of water, regions of the U.S., what it means to border a state or ocean or country (Canada, Mexico), weather differences, etc.
Reinert also teaches communications skills needed to videoconference successfully (one person talks at a time; keep quiet so everyone can hear). They also talk about how to think on their feet and formulate their next question based on how their buddy class responds. They create questions ahead of time and work together as a group using one large U.S. map to determine what to ask next.
After students celebrate correctly guessing each other’s location, they share information about their schools and communities. This is a highly engaging, inquiry-based activity that builds in so many important skills. Reinert ends the unit by sending the buddy class a book about Kansas that all her second graders have signed.
My School’s Experience
Last fall, I collaborated with two language arts teachers at my school to bring the Global Read Aloud to our fifth and sixth graders. We chose the middle grade novel in verse Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi. We used the Global Read Aloud Facebook page to find another classroom reading the same book and partnered with a sixth-grade teacher in Sweden.
To build excitement, I created a poster inviting students to guess what country our partner class was from. Each morning for five days, I posted a new clue about the country, beginning with very general clues and getting more specific each day. I also set out an atlas beside the poster to allow students to explore the maps to aid with their guesses. I announced the location during lunch at the end of the week, leaving students to buzz with excitement all weekend before we began reading our book together the following Monday.
Because of the time difference, it didn’t work for our students to do a live meet-up with our Swedish partner class. Instead, students created video and photo tours of their school. Our students were thoroughly engaged when viewing our partner school’s video and had lots of questions.
This led naturally into our letter-writing activity. Our students loved writing letters to their pen pals in Sweden. We sent the first batch of letters through snail mail, but because of the time it takes for the mail to travel so far, we scanned and emailed the second and third letters.
Students also communicated through Padlet, a free online collaboration tool that acts as a virtual bulletin board where users can post and comment on images, text, videos, audio files, and more. Our students shared artwork and audio files, posed questions, and shared ideas through the Padlet platform. A competitive Kahoot challenge featuring questions about the book added to the fun.
Reading and discussing an excellent piece of literature together was a fantastic experience in itself, but adding activities with a partner school took it to a whole new level of authentic engagement and impact. Students were breaking down stereotypes and challenging assumptions in powerful ways through this experience as they strengthened their global competencies.
Global Competencies
Global learning activities like the Global Read Aloud are beneficial because they cultivate essential competencies that equip students to be successful and make a positive difference in the world. The Asia Society has developed learning outcomes for K-12 students based on four domains of global competence.
- Investigate the world beyond their everyday surroundings. “How can I learn about the world beyond what I see every day?”
- Recognize perspectives held by themselves and others. “What is my point of view? How might others see this differently?”
- Communicate ideas clearly in a variety of formats for a diverse, global audience. “What do I have to say? How can I share my thoughts in an understandable way?”
- Take action by speaking against injustice, raising awareness, or solving a problem. “How can I do something to make the world better?”
AASL Standards
Aligning the Global Read Aloud project with the AASL Standards Framework for Learners allows librarians to build strong global awareness, cultural empathy, and digital citizenship into their curriculum.
The AASL Shared Foundations provide a clear framework for this cross-border literacy project:
- Include (Global Perspectives): Learners evaluate a variety of perspectives by interacting with students from different geographic locations.
- Collaborate (Empathy): Learners develop empathy and appreciate diverse points of view as they discuss shared texts with a global community.
- Explore (Inquiry): Learners use shared stories as a springboard to grapple with deep, open-ended questions about the world and their place in it.
- Engage (Digital Citizenship): Students use digital tools safely and ethically to share their thoughts and learn alongside peers around the world.
How to participate
Interested in bringing the Global Read Aloud (GRA) to your school? Here’s a guide for getting started.
- Select – Visit the GRA website to see this year’s selected books. Choose one or more books to read with students.
- Connect – Find a partner class through the GRA Facebook page or through the spreadsheet posted on the GRA website. Collaborate with your partner teacher and plan your activities.
- Read – Read your GRA book with students. Discuss the book together and complete some activities.
- Reflect – Ask students to reflect on the experience. What did they learn? What surprised them? What did they notice? How did this experience change them?
Have you participated in the Global Read Aloud? Please share your experiences and tips in the comments.
Recent Comments