Thursday, December 01, 2005
Internet Interaction: Connecting Students with Pen Pals Across the World
Here is the final draft of my classroom activity. I welcome all suggestions or experiences you would like to share to improve this project. A million thanks to everyone who has helped me come this far.Objective:
The purpose of this activity is to encourage students to develop skills in writing and reading as well as more information and respect for other cultures in the world. Studies have shown that students are likely to hone their reading and writing skills while corresponding with their peers. Students look forward to communicating with their diverse peers, being careful to check and edit their work. This activity will also develop proficiency with computer skills, particularly typing and e-mail.
Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills:
Prior to conducting this activity, students should be able to express themselves in writing, be able to read for content, and have some knowledge of computers (particularly typing and sending e-mails). Your students' reading abilities will be tested with this project as their foreign peers may write with broken English and unique colloquialisms.
Materials and/or Tools:
Students will need computers with Internet access, computer time in the classroom, a printer and paper to print their letters, and a folder to keep their letters.
Set Up/Context:
This activity is designed for middle school students (grades 6 - 8), but it could certainly be revised to account for any grade level. Cultural awareness should be made apparent to any age group, but the process can be adapted so that it is more challenging for higher-level students and easier for younger children. While this activity can span any length, I would encourage teachers to continue their pen pal interaction throughout the year. Once a week, teachers could devote time for Internet correspondence, having their students use the classroom computer to write their emails. This activity should only take place in the classroom so that teachers can monitor their students.
Process/Instructions:
1) Teachers need to create an account with ePALS (this was the server I used to experiment with this activity). Their website is http://www.epals.com. Click on the link "Become a Member." Following this, you have the option of signing up with "ePALS School Mail" or "ePALS Global Network." The Global Network is free, and I found it to be suitable for this activity. From there, select the "Teacher Channel," which will require you to fill out some personal information, but don't worry, ePALS offers a safe, secure privacy policy. Be aware that it may take a day or two for your account to be activated.
2) Once your account has been activated (you will be notified by your ePALS e-mail account), you can then begin searching for other classrooms around the world. On the left hand bar of the welcoming page, there is a link to "Find Classrooms." Once you begin your search, you can narrow your selection to classroom size, age, and country by clicking on "Refine your search." A list of candidates will appear, allowing you to contact the teacher of each class through e-mail. Be sure to pay attention to how long your prospective pen pals have been members of ePALS. If their profile has not been updated for quite sometime, I suggest you look for someone more recent.
3) Once you have an idea of which countries your students would like to converse with, contact your candidates one by one. I suggest you start this activity at the beginning of the year, so that you can give your candidates time to respond. If you do not receive a response within a few weeks, I would suggest you move on.
4) Once you have made contact with a teacher from another country, tell your students which country they will be conversing with. Have your students use the Internet or the library to research the country they will be studying (if some of your students do not have Internet access at home, allow them to use the library or class computer sometime in school). It will help if your students have some knowledge of the country they will be communicating with. Have them answer the following questions (or similar ones):
- What is your impression of this country? What do you know or what have you heard about this country?
- Where is this country located?
- What is the geographical terrain and typical weather of this country?
- What nationality are the people in this country, and what language(s) do they speak?
- How many people live in this country?
- Name something that has occurred in this country's past.
- Name something that is currently happening in this country.
5) Before initiating the pen pal interaction, provide your students with a detailed lecture on Internet safety tips. Your students may not know how to protect their privacy on the Internet. Tell your students that they must never share their full name, birthday, phone number, or address with their pen pal. Also, if their pen pal says something mean or asks for personal information, tell them to ignore it and notify an adult. Your students also need to know that they must never arrange to meet someone they have met on the Internet in person.
6) Once your students have been introduced to their country and learned how to stay safe on the Internet, you may begin the pen pal process. You will need to contact your teacher to determine how you would like your students to correspond (chat, video, audio, postal, but if you conduct a postal interaction make sure you use the school's address, not your own), and you will also need to retain e-mail addresses. Make sure you inform your teacher what you will be doing with your class, and set up a schedule for correspondence - perhaps an e-mail exchange every week or so. Also determine when the both of you would like to end the project. Allow your students to develop a natural friendship with their diverse peers, but try to incorporate topics your students could discuss with their peers. Have your students ask their peers questions, such as "What are you learning about in school," or cultural questions, such as "What is your favorite food?" Since there are probably a limited number of computers in your class, have your students write their e-mails on paper before typing them in class. This way, you can read what they have written, checking for errors or inappropriate language, before they type their letter. For every day of the week, have a handful of students type their e-mails in class. Be sure to check their messages before they submit them, and be with them when they send their e-mails. Your students should maintain correspondence with their peers, even if they have not received a response.
7) Print every e-mail your students receive from their peers and place them in a folder. This way, your students will have a record of every interaction, as well as the information they have gathered from this activity.
8) Finally, at the end of the pen pal interaction, put together a "culture package" filled with American souvenirs and pictures. If you can afford to do this, ship the "culture package" to your friends in the other country.
Outcome:
After this activity, your students should have more information and knowledge about their country of correspondence. This cultural interaction will allow your students to develop more respect for their diverse peers, and hopefully, this will be replicated in their behavior. At the end of this assignment, your students should have a keepsake folder depicting their pen pal interaction composed of their letters as well as those written by their peers.
Evaluation and Feedback:
During correspondence, grade your students based on how involved they were in this assignment. Take a look at their letters. Do they seem interested in their peers? Are they trying to learn more about the culture? At the end of this activity, after reading through the e-mails, try to uncover what your students have learned from this assignment. Using the responses of their peers and the information your students collected at the beginning of this activity, create a test to measure what your students have retained. How well your students perform on this test will indicate what they have gained from their interaction.
Follow Up:
The most appropriate follow up for this assignment would be a student reflection, but prior to having your students write their reflections, arrange time in class so that they can discuss their pen pal experience. Ask your students what they have learned from their peer interaction. What did they enjoy most? What did they enjoy least? What could have been done to make their interaction more enjoyable? How has their interaction changed their first impression of this country? This discussion will prepare your students to write their reflections. You can use the same or similar questions as prompts for their reflections. The reflection will enable you to see how your students have grown in their acceptance of diversity.
7) Print every e-mail your students receive from their peers and place them in a folder. This way, your students will have a record of every interaction, as well as the information they have gathered from this activity.
8) Finally, at the end of the pen pal interaction, put together a "culture package" filled with American souvenirs and pictures. If you can afford to do this, ship the "culture package" to your friends in the other country.
Outcome:
After this activity, your students should have more information and knowledge about their country of correspondence. This cultural interaction will allow your students to develop more respect for their diverse peers, and hopefully, this will be replicated in their behavior. At the end of this assignment, your students should have a keepsake folder depicting their pen pal interaction composed of their letters as well as those written by their peers.
Evaluation and Feedback:
During correspondence, grade your students based on how involved they were in this assignment. Take a look at their letters. Do they seem interested in their peers? Are they trying to learn more about the culture? At the end of this activity, after reading through the e-mails, try to uncover what your students have learned from this assignment. Using the responses of their peers and the information your students collected at the beginning of this activity, create a test to measure what your students have retained. How well your students perform on this test will indicate what they have gained from their interaction.
Follow Up:
The most appropriate follow up for this assignment would be a student reflection, but prior to having your students write their reflections, arrange time in class so that they can discuss their pen pal experience. Ask your students what they have learned from their peer interaction. What did they enjoy most? What did they enjoy least? What could have been done to make their interaction more enjoyable? How has their interaction changed their first impression of this country? This discussion will prepare your students to write their reflections. You can use the same or similar questions as prompts for their reflections. The reflection will enable you to see how your students have grown in their acceptance of diversity.
# posted by Catherine @ 12/01/2005 11:10:00 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
Andrew-
I am impressed! I love your idea. In fact, I'm doing something extremely similar for my classroom activity, only mine is targeted towards 3rd graders. Your activity is very well thought out and organized. It's a great way to have students interact with others different from them and have them become more culturally aware of those differences. I also liked how you provided step-by-step instructions on how to create an E-pals account. It's very professional! I do have to agree with Catherine, though, and say that you should keep the activity within the classroom. The hand-written letters and reflections could be done at home, but computer use should be restricted to in-class time. Great job!
I am impressed! I love your idea. In fact, I'm doing something extremely similar for my classroom activity, only mine is targeted towards 3rd graders. Your activity is very well thought out and organized. It's a great way to have students interact with others different from them and have them become more culturally aware of those differences. I also liked how you provided step-by-step instructions on how to create an E-pals account. It's very professional! I do have to agree with Catherine, though, and say that you should keep the activity within the classroom. The hand-written letters and reflections could be done at home, but computer use should be restricted to in-class time. Great job!
Daniela:
You are right. As I read this section over, I realized that I was not very clear. I meant to say that students could use the Internet to research their country, prior to conducting the pen pal interaction. It ended up sounding like students would use the Internet at home. I changed this part under the Process/Instruction section so that students could use the library as well. Thank you for catching this.
Amanda:
Hmm… I was a bit confused when you directed your comment to Andrew, but just to let you know, I created a cultural interaction assignment and Andrew created a plant experiment. I am glad to hear that you were also able to create a similar project. I am very interested in seeing what you did. I’ll be sure to take a look at your blog. Thank you for your comments, and I agree that this assignment should definitely remain in the classroom. I wouldn’t trust middle school students to conduct this assignment at home.
You are right. As I read this section over, I realized that I was not very clear. I meant to say that students could use the Internet to research their country, prior to conducting the pen pal interaction. It ended up sounding like students would use the Internet at home. I changed this part under the Process/Instruction section so that students could use the library as well. Thank you for catching this.
Amanda:
Hmm… I was a bit confused when you directed your comment to Andrew, but just to let you know, I created a cultural interaction assignment and Andrew created a plant experiment. I am glad to hear that you were also able to create a similar project. I am very interested in seeing what you did. I’ll be sure to take a look at your blog. Thank you for your comments, and I agree that this assignment should definitely remain in the classroom. I wouldn’t trust middle school students to conduct this assignment at home.
Amy G.
I thank you for your encouragement. I know that this is something I would have really enjoyed if I had it in school. As a matter of fact, I have been having a lot of fun with this activity myself. I have managed to establish a friendship with a student in China, and so far we have been communicating every other day or so. I thought this would be a great activity for teachers who are interested in creating a pen pal activity for their students but do not know how to go about doing so.
I thank you for your encouragement. I know that this is something I would have really enjoyed if I had it in school. As a matter of fact, I have been having a lot of fun with this activity myself. I have managed to establish a friendship with a student in China, and so far we have been communicating every other day or so. I thought this would be a great activity for teachers who are interested in creating a pen pal activity for their students but do not know how to go about doing so.
Heather:
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment. Ever since I met my friend, Robert, on ePALS, I have found myself reading news articles on China and trying to learn more about this country. I would strongly recommend ePALS for anyone interested in learning about another country. There are so many teachers using their server, and it is really easy to communicate with people in different countries. Give it a try! I've had so much fun with it.
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment. Ever since I met my friend, Robert, on ePALS, I have found myself reading news articles on China and trying to learn more about this country. I would strongly recommend ePALS for anyone interested in learning about another country. There are so many teachers using their server, and it is really easy to communicate with people in different countries. Give it a try! I've had so much fun with it.
Daniela:
Thank you for going through my project again. I appreciated the way you arranged your comments by "Title," "Outcome," etc. It made it easier for me to see where I needed to make some changes. I especially liked your idea to conduct an in class discussion. I made it so that the students could discuss their pen pal experience before writing their reflections in order to get them thinking about what they want to say in their reflections. I also considered your suggestion to have a reflection as an alternative to a test or as a section of the test, but I thought that it might be easier to keep the test separate from the final reflection. If I were conducting this assignment, I would make the test very easy for my students and allow them to review in class because I don't want them to feel pressured or negative about this experience. Rather that traumatize them with a difficult test, I would like for my students to walk away from this experience wanting to continue their pursuit of knowledge in diverse cultures.
Post a Comment
Thank you for going through my project again. I appreciated the way you arranged your comments by "Title," "Outcome," etc. It made it easier for me to see where I needed to make some changes. I especially liked your idea to conduct an in class discussion. I made it so that the students could discuss their pen pal experience before writing their reflections in order to get them thinking about what they want to say in their reflections. I also considered your suggestion to have a reflection as an alternative to a test or as a section of the test, but I thought that it might be easier to keep the test separate from the final reflection. If I were conducting this assignment, I would make the test very easy for my students and allow them to review in class because I don't want them to feel pressured or negative about this experience. Rather that traumatize them with a difficult test, I would like for my students to walk away from this experience wanting to continue their pursuit of knowledge in diverse cultures.
<< Home
