I am Dr. Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, an Emeritus Professor from Sac State and an author of textbooks and children’s books (PB & MG). I started out with humble beginnings, being raised in poverty by a single parent mom in a rural village in Illinois. I was educated at the University of Redlands with a Double BA in Psychology and Music, where I graduated Cum Laude. Then I continued my education at Stanford University GSE, where I obtained a PhD in Child and Adolescent Development. After 30 years in the field, 28 years as a Professor, I am retired and focused on helping others with my writing. This bi‐monthly blog is one way that I am helping. I hope it is informative and helpful to those who read it.
What is Dialogic Reading?
In Dr. Brown-Wood’s own words, it is a strategy to read a story in an interactive and engaging manner in order to enhance language and literacy skills.
How does Dialogic Reading do this?
It allows children to engage in conversations about what they are reading. This process enriches children’s oral language skills, which are foundational for literacy. * To learn more about Dialogic Reading, you can read the book ‐ “On Reading Books to Children” that was published in 2003. There is a specific chapter titled ‐ “Dialogic Reading: A shared picture book reading intervention for preschoolers.” This chapter is authored by Zevenbergen and Whitehurst.
To help parents, educators, and librarians with dialogic reading, Dr. Brown‐Wood has created a free read‐aloud literacy resource titled Jammies with JaNay, which can be found on her website. With this resource, she models dialogic reading by reading in an engaging manner and by asking questions that lead to interactive conversation. The goal of Jammies with JaNay is for adults and children to watch the story segment with the book in hand, and then the adult continues the story using interactive reading strategies, as well as the story prompt questions and vocabulary words developed by Dr. Brown‐Wood and also found on the website. This literary resource has a very engaging jingle that Dr. Brown‐Wood created herself, having written the melody and lyrics. She collaborated with her vocal coach Raquela Burt and music producer Gelu Ionescu Pavel. Children sing along on the jingle.
Some of the books on Jammies with JaNay have been Last Stop on Market Street; Bear Snores On; Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site; and Imani’s Moon. She also has links on her page directing parents where they can purchase the books to expand their own in‐home libraries, or where they can find the books at their local public libraries.
If you are a traditionally published picture book author and you want your book on Jammies with JaNay, please reach out to her at this email address janay@janaybrownwood.com. She will consider all requests.
Dr. Brown‐Wood is building her subscriber list of adults who parent or teach children PreK to 2nd grade. If you are interested in becoming a subscriber you can subscribe to the Jammies with JaNay Youtube channel or go to this URL for the story starts and videos: