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DKG Practice/Program

Read-alouds provide an opportunity to model thinking and to make the process
visible through “think alouds” (Kunz & Lapp, 2020). When teachers use think
alouds, they verbalize their thinking process at preselected stopping points to show
students how skilled readers construct meaning. Modeling of the reading process
and thinking process reinforce each other (Coiro, 2011).
A key ingredient of effective read-alouds is purposeful selection of text (ILA,
2018). Children look first for a good story and what they can relate to from their
experiences; “mirrors” help them see themselves in books, but a good story can
also open “windows and doors” to help them see and understand new perspectives
as well as what makes us human (Bishop, 1990).
In order to support teachers with effective read-alouds, Zeta Chapter launched a
pilot read-aloud project with members who were actively teaching. The project was
introduced at our fall Zoom meeting and received overwhelming response. Three
partnerships were established to support a Pre-K teacher and two Grade 1 teachers;
these classroom teachers were given the option to use the videos in their teaching
or have members read to students via Zoom or other videoconferencing platforms
based on their instructional needs.

Kahanu’s Classroom (Grade 1)
In the following vignette, we describe how Avis, a retired professor,
partnered with Kahanu Nguyen, Zeta Chapter president and practicing Grade 1
teacher. Kahanu’s school focused on values of responsibility, respect, integrity,
perseverance, and unity. As a master teacher, Kahanu was challenged by finding
instructional support and extra time during the pandemic to select quality literature
to illustrate these values. With these values in mind, Avis carefully selected the
books noted in Table 1 to create read-aloud videos.

Table 1

Grade 1 Read-Aloud Videos
Theme Book Author/Illustrator

Responsibility Mother Bruce Ryan T. Higgins
Respect Drawn Together Minh Le/Dan Santat
Integrity A Bike Like Sergio’s Maribeth Boelts/Noah Z. Jones
Perseverance Sumo Kitty David Biedrzycki
Unity Thank You, Omu! Oge Mora

After receiving permission from the publishers and following the specific guidelines of each group,
Avis created videos for Kahanu’s classroom. To ensure effective read-aloud practices, each video
consisted of the following:
• video introduction and closure;
• picture-in-picture overlay video running during the story to maintain personalized connection;
• provision of background knowledge;
• modeling of inferencing and reading strategies via think-alouds;
• explanation of difficult vocabulary; and
• connection to prior knowledge.

Collegial Exchange · 29