Chatting My Way

Chatting It Up Online: Students Talk to a Favorite Author by Pamela Livingston

I found the article “Chatting It Up Online” to be very insightful. Before, I had never considered incorporating online chats into the classroom due to the nature of certain chat rooms; however, I now realize that it is actually possible to establish a chat room for educational purposes. What I found most interesting about this article is that this teacher was able to truly bring reading alive by connecting literature with the outside world. I feel that through the students’ ability to “chat” with the author, they were not only better able to understand the author, but the students were also able to form an even closer connection to their books and their reading. Due to this experience, these 3^rd grade boys will have formed a positive, fun memory that could potentially be very motivational and inspiring to the students. I believe that when teachers can think outside of the box and are able to connect a subject with an outside source, the students are impacted much deeper, and what they learn has much more meaning to them. Since these students conversed with the author on a more personal basis, it allowed the words to jump of the pages in Osborne’s books, allowing students to become even further involved in their reading and learning. I suggest as future teachers we should strive to make assignments a fun and enjoyable experience, as in this case, so that the children will become excited, igniting future goals and dreams.

I would definitely incorporate an assignment such as this into my classroom. If I could set up an online chat with a classroom’s favorite author, I would run it similar to the chat that was experienced by the 3^rd grade class at Chestnut Hill Academy. I would allow students to use the computer to type their questions to the author. I would give innuendos to ask questions about what goes into the writing process, what it takes to be an author, where does the author’s motivation come from, etc. so that the students have a feel for what it takes to publish a book. After their chat, I would reflect with the class about the experience and what they learned as opposed to what they thought they knew. I would adapt this lesson plan to make it my own by having the students create and “publish” their own books. I would have an assignment were the students brainstorm book topics and ideas. I would allow students to use the internet to discover and learn more about their favorite books. Over the course of the school year I would have my students write their books- a page or two here and there. Down the road, I would have students edit their own work, as well peer edit the works in their class. After many editing sessions, I would have students type their books and find pictures to accompany their stories online. I would allow the children to research online what should be included in a book, for example a title page and a table of contents. At the end of the school year, with the books complete, I would have the books bound and allow the students to share their stories with the class. I believe with an assignment such as this, the children would be able to learn about literature and writing while incorporating technology into this century old subject.

The relevant ISTE NETS standard is NETS-4.