Chatting It Up Online: Students Talk to a Favorite Author
By Pamela Livingston
In this article, Pamela Livingston, recounts her experience with bringing an “author chat” to her third grade classroom at Chestnut Hill Academy. An “author chat” basically gives students a chance to ask an author questions about his or her experience, motivation, and so on. Since the author chat is done online it is crucial for everything to be planned out so that things can run smoothly on the day of the chat. In Livingston’s case, she had the help of the school’s librarian to assist the third graders in creating questions that they wanted to ask the author. Once the questions were created it was up to the teachers to eliminate the questions that could be easily found elsewhere without the help of the author. The author chat in this example was limited to one hour so it was important to prepare the questions ahead of time. Livingston, along with her colleagues, did other things to prepare for the chat. The questions were emailed to the author before the actual chat. Livingston familiarized herself with the software so that she knew what to do during the live author chat. One thing that I would not have thought to do was to test the computer lab at the same time that the chat would be talking place. Livingston did just that and she found that there was a big glare on the monitor. The problem was easily fixed the maintenance man installed some blinds to reduce the glare. Everything went smoothly on the day of the chat. I liked the fact that the author, Osborne, typed the name of the student in her response to the question. I think that this made the author chat more intimate and it probably made the students feel special.
I could definitely see myself doing something like this in my future classroom. The author chat is a great opportunity for someone that is successful to inspire, motivate, and encourage younger students to dream big. Students will probably feel a connection to the author after the chat and want to go on and read more of the authors’ books.
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Even Recess Can't Beat Technology
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"Who Are Today's Learners?" is the question that Christine Greenhow asks in
her article regarding how students feel about technology use in the
classroom. ...
16 years ago
I agree that by using chat in the classroom, can inspire students and encourage them. Also, by using this technique students will learn other ways to chat and that not only are they able to chat with their class, but with others around the world.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to have had the opportunity to chat with a favorite author of mine. I could only imagine what it was like for the students to not only speak to their favorite author, but to also get a personalized response from her. I think Livingston did a great job carefully planning the event. What a waste of time it would have been if she tried to fix all the little glitches during the chat.
ReplyDeleteChatting should not be limited to a particular subject. For example, if I was teaching science or math and I am noticing that students are having a hard time grasping the concepts or finding the topic interesting, I would do my best to find an expert my class could video chat with to spark interest and increase understanding.
This article shows that learning and education can be fun if teachers think creatively and prepare accordingly.
I agree that preparation is a huge part of using technology effectively as Livingston points out. I honestly would never think to have a chat with an author, but it would be such a fun and exciting experience for students.
ReplyDelete