Journal Entry #2

"Chatting it up Online - - Students Talk to a Favorite Author", by Pamela Livingston

Wow! I had no idea this was possible! This article talked about how students at a particular school talked to an author of a book they were reading in an online chat. The article gave the steps involved with a little friendly advice from the teacher who had arranged the chat. The steps are:
1. Find the chat: Among various websites, this particular teacher used www.talkcity.com. A list of other sites can be found at http://206.48.233.20/L&L/archive/vol27/no1/supplements/livington.html.
2. Register for the chat: Signing up online, in advance is required.
3. Prepare for the chat: Once confirmation of the chat is received, this is the most important step for ensuring a successful author chat. Among other things, the teacher needs to work with the school's IT people to enable the connection and test it in advance. A suitable room with a sizeable monitor are also necessary. In addition, the students need to make a list of the questions they want to ask. These questions need to be open-ended, as opposed to yes/no, questions that they can't find the answers to elsewhere. Then the teacher emails the questions to the author so he/she can prepare. If possible, the teacher should participate in a couple "unofficial chats" in various chat rooms before the author chat to get used to the way the dialogue unfolds on the monitor.
4. Get online for the chat: Connect to the chat site well before the scheduled time to check the connection and become familiar with the software.
5. Chat: Use your chat skills to navigate the screen so your students can follow the questions and answers.

Other than the uniqueness of the experience of "talking" to an author "live" is the benefit of getting immediate answers to students' questions, as opposed to waiting weeks for responses to mailed letters.

The main question that came up as I read this article would be how realistically I could get my school to put in new window shades in the lab on short notice! Other than that, my only other question is how valuable do I find this experience in the overall curriculum? I think it would be fun for the kids, and valuable as far as showing them the wonder of technology, but I don't think it would be more educational than any other teaching tool. I think I would maybe do this once a year as a special treat for the kids.