The article, “Chatting it up On-line” by Pamela Livingston, discusses the benefits of her setting up an on-line chat between her students and an author, along with discussing the necessary preparations for getting such a chat ready. The chat was between students at Chestnut Hill Academy and author of the “Magic Tree House” books, Mary Pope Osborne.
Livingston starts the article by pointing out many important issues to think through while preparing for the chat. The first thing to properly coordinate the event is to actually register for the chat you are going to participate in. Beyond registering, Pamela writes that you must continue to check in on the people are company you are coordinating the chat with. This is very important, because it allows the teacher to know for a fact that the chat is going to take place.
Another preparation for the chat is getting the technology ready. This is incredibly important as this is the most uncertain part of the project. I believe that checking on this area as often as possible is crucial because without the technology, face to face chatting is basically all that is available.
Pamela also discusses properly preparing the children. This included telling them later than everyone else, having them prepare questions, and being sure not to tell the students until it is certain that the activity will be taking place. This is probably the most important task in order to make this project as successful as it can be.
After reading this article, I feel that this could be an incredibly helpful tool in making the educational experience of young students more enjoyable and more productive. This allows the students, as Pamela says, to really connect with the author of a book in “real” time. With writing being one of the most important skills to have in the educational career of a student, this could help not only make student’s better writers, but may also increase their interest in writing. That really is the key to making students the best learners; when the student has an interest in learning the subject.
Standards: NETS 4. (See http://cnets.iste.org for more informationon the NETS Project.)
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I agree with you on every aspect of your post. Given the age of the article it would be interested to see what types of chats are available now. Also, instead of having to wait for the author to be invited by a third party, it may be an option for the teacher to take the initiative and ask the writer (or other professional the students may want to converse with to participate in a chat with their class.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your first post I completely agree with all of your points. I especially agree with the fact that by having students chat online it will help them become more efficient readers and writers. I know that if students were to go online and chat it will definitely help increase there interest in reading and writing, yet also better their knowledge about technology. Nice job!
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