A Global Read Aloud

I have been thinking about the read aloud.  Every day I read a part of a book aloud to my students, usually a book that they would not pick themselves to read and then we discuss what is happening.  Sometimes the book is tied in with curriculum, often times not.  My favorite author happens to be Neil Gaiman, both for children and adult books and so when I saw that his book, American Gods, had been chosen as the first One Book, One Twitter book club I was excited.  What a great concept; read a chapter a week and then discuss it via Twitter.  That made me think; why not do that with a read aloud book and connect classrooms across the world?

So here is what I propose:  Choose a book, we can set up a poll and take suggestions,  and read a chapter aloud a week.  Students will then have to blog about the chapter or a wiki could be set up for them to share the experiences as they read the book.  How phenomenal would it be to know that your class is reading a book that another class across the world is also reading?

We strive to make connections on a global scale and so the intimacy of a book can do just that for us.  I am hoping others will agree to this because this certainly excites me as an educator.

Amazing feedback already on this, so here is the link to fill out the Google Form for the Global Read Aloud 

If you would like to contact me with questions please do so at either Psripp@gmail.com or Pripp@mcpasd.k12.wi.us