Students Talk to a Favorite Author by Pamela Livingston
The students at Chestnut Hill Academy were given a wonderful opportunity to "meet" famous children's author Mary Pope Osborne of the Magic Treehouse series. They were provided this opportunity by using an online author chat forum found through Random House Children's Media group and Talk City (www.talkcity.com/educenter/features.htmpl). Teachers and technical staff arranged the experience by finding and registering for the event, preparing themselves and the children for the chat, then getting online the day of the event and participating. The article cited various tips the author had, having gone through the process and reflecting on all aspects and details afterward. For example, she gave technical information such as disenabling firewall protection and testing connections before the event. She also suggested having the children only ask questions that they would be unable to acquire without the author. For example, instead of asking the author how many books she has written, ask her what is her favorite of the books she has written. Ms. Livingston also suggested preparing the students for the somewhat confusing, crowded party atmosphere of the chat. All things considered, the chat turned out to be a very positive experience for all involved and the children got many of their questions answered and had a great time in the process.
I think that this idea is excellent and I would be very excited to use this in my classroom. Children learn by doing and experiencing. What better way to make their books' authors come to life than by having them get to meet! I would follow some of the suggestions that Ms. Livingston gave concerning preparations for the chat. I think it is wise to not tell students until all details are confirmed to avoid disappointment. This project would be especially powerful if you could read one or more of the authors books in your language arts unit and then build on this with various projects followed by the author chat as a grand finale. What a great way to let children see that authors are real people!
This article was found in Learning and Leading with Technology (L &L) NETS 4
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I am totally on board with you, I feel that children learn best when they actually are apart of what they are learning and also experiencing it first hand. I believe it not only resonates with the student longer, but also makes them like what they are learning. I also liked what you wrote about making different projects out of it, allowing the students to feel connected to the author.
ReplyDeleteErin,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you! Having this type of activity in the classroom really makes authors come alive and then in turn makes books come alive! Reading is such an important part for childrens learning making an online chat is very powerful. I think this idea is great and a lo of teachers are going to be using this technique in the future. Great job!