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The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought disruption to nearly all aspects of daily life. For the 52 current and retired Boston College employees who participate in the University鈥檚 award-winning Read Aloud program, it meant school closings and the end to classroom visits with the students at St. Columbkille Partnership School and Thomas Edison K-8 School, both in Brighton.
But Read Aloud volunteer John O鈥橤rady, facility operations manager in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, found a creative way to stay connected to the second-graders at St. Columbkille. On his own, he recorded a聽聽where he read aloud聽The Night Before St. Patrick's Day. He sent his virtual read aloud to SCPS second-grade teacher Kaitlyn Moran who shared O鈥橤rady鈥檚 video via SeeSaw, the platform the school is using for students in grades PreK-3.
鈥淭he kids loved it!鈥� Moran wrote in an email. She noted that SeeSaw is an interactive platform and the students responded to O鈥橤rady鈥檚 virtual read aloud by writing that they loved the book or thought it was funny. Several wrote 鈥渢hank you for reading to us.鈥�
Others responded by uploading videos or pictures of leprechauns and leprechaun traps鈥攊deas from the book.
John O'Grady of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences turned to video so he could continue reading to the second-graders at Brighton's St. Columbkille Partnership School after the COVID-19 pandemic eliminated school visits.
O鈥橤rady, who has been participating in Read Aloud for 19 years, said he was inspired by his daughter Alanna, a creative director at The Paint Bar who was using Zoom and Facebook Live to reach out to toddlers and school-aged children.
After learning that O鈥橤rady had created a video, Read Aloud coordinator Laura Bitran of the Office of Government and Community Affairs emailed all the Read Aloud participants suggesting they create videos and send them to the teachers to share with students, after first contacting the teachers. Information Technology Services Assistant Manager Jon McGrath held a Google Hangout to help any readers needing assistance in creating videos.
鈥淭his a terrific demonstration of how we can create new possibilities in order to curtail the fear among us while also respecting social distancing,鈥� said Bitran, who added that a number of other volunteer readers have gone on to create videos for their classrooms as well.
With support from Human Resources, Bitran has organized the Read Aloud program since its inception in 1995. She called O鈥橤rady one of the 鈥減illars鈥� of the program. He has already created a for Casey at the Bat.
For O鈥橤rady, the time he spends reading aloud to the students reminds him of when he and his wife would read to their own now-grown children. 鈥淭he students really seem to appreciate and look forward to their sessions with the readers. They listen and ask good questions. I look forward to the time with them.鈥�
Moran, who graduated from the Lynch School of Education and Human Development in 2016 and is now enrolled in graduate studies at the Lynch School, said she appreciated not only the work O鈥橤rady put into creating the video, but also his care for the students.
鈥淲e know that the students are feeling a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty during this time,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淥ur goal is to provide the students with as much of a sense of normalcy, routine, and connection as possible. Sharing videos from 精东影业 Readers helps to increase that normalcy, routine, and connection and helps to provide a lighthearted distraction.鈥�
Added Bitran: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a way for us to show the children and our school partners that we have not forgotten them.鈥�
Kathleen Sullivan | University Communications | April 2020