Mrs. Sanderson‘s class is taking full advantage of the digital age in which we now live. She has reached out and connected her students to a class in Northeastern School District. Mrs. Sanderson’s efforts have helped her students at Red Mill become digital pen pals with students in Mr. Rodgers‘ class at York Haven Elementary.
Mrs. Sanderson and Mr. Rodgers use wikispaces to pair each student up with a pen pal. Each pair has their own wiki page. Students began by answering questions about themselves in order to get to know one another. Once students learned about one another, the wiki took more of a curricular focus. For example, both classes read the same story in their reading books, and they responded to questions about the story. They also posted and discussed their favorite part of the story. The classes also created a survey which relates to the story, and the classes will then graph and compare their responses. The two classes finally participated in a Skype chat in order to meet their pen pals!
Technology has truly taken pen pals to a new level. While there is still something to be said for receiving snail mail, using a collaborative space like wikispaces allows instant responses and thus provides many more opportunities in a school year to communicate with one another. It also allows opportunities for one-on-one communication with a pen pal, but they can now easily participate in whole-class activities. Using digital pen pals also allowed them to Skype with one another and actually see their pen pal. Mrs. Sanderson and Mr. Rodgers provided an amazing opportunity for these two classes. What a great way to make a new friend and learn at the same time!
Feedback/Comments are always welcome!
