The Globally Connected Classroom: A Study of ePals in Written Language Development and Learning

1. The Globally Connected Classroom: A Study of ePals in Written Language Development and Learning Building Learning Communities July 19th , 2012 10:20 am – 11:25 am Berkeley, 2nd floor Nancy Monique Charron, EdD Southern New Hampshire University n.charron@snhu.edu

2. Who am I? • Teacher • Kindergarten through High School • General Education Teacher • Special Education Teacher • Reading Specialist • Principal Designee • Presently working as an Assistant Professor at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU)

3. Technology Usage • 14.2 million computers were available for classroom use in the nation's schools as of the 2005-2006 school year. That works out to one computer for every four students. • Source: Market Data Retrieval as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010, Table 259 <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>

4. Donald Leu and “New Literacies” • "To be newly literate means to take advantage of the information resources that are on the Internet, and that requires new reading and writing skills. These new literacies are central to our students' futures. Their futures are going to be defined by their ability to read, write, and communicate within networked information environments.“ • http://www.learner.org/workshops/teachreading35/session5/index.html • University of Connecticut - Engagement

5. Student Engagement

6. Student Engagement

7. ePals Website Program Procedure • Sign in to the ePals website to access their FREE services. • Thursday, July 19 5:30-6:30 pm • Lexington Room • Teacher posts a paragraph explaining program needs • Grade level • Class size • Geographical location • Teacher waits to hear from other classes interested in an Internet pen pal program • Teacher may also examine other postings and contact the teacher in that posting

8. Important Considerations When Setting Up a Pen Pal Program • Ensure class is committed to consistent correspondence • Ensure classroom teacher has both adequate computer access and computer knowledge • Specific writing times need to be agreed upon prior to program implementation

9. Questions to Consider • Should the correspondence be every week, every other week, or once a month? • When are school vacations scheduled? • What time of year would be best to communicate with students from this country? • Does my school district have confidentiality issues? Should students write using ONLY their first name or a pseudonym.

10. Different Options for Conducting the Program • Younger students ? Write a ‘whole class’ letter…….. • Have students hand write their letters first, edit them (teacher or peer edit), and then keyboard them on the computer • Write letters directly on the computer

11. Program Procedure • Teacher emails letters to teacher/classroom • Return emails are printed and given to students for their response • Teachers then email the responses to the participating teachers/students • Use secure email – ePals School Mail

12. How does an Internet Pen Pal Program Benefit Students’ Written Language Development?

13. Study Purpose • Four classroom teachers, five general education students from each classroom, nine second language learners, and fourteen special needs students were interviewed before, during, and after participating in an Internet pen pal program in order to determine their view of student written language development and students’ attitudes towards writing.

14. Study Length Four Months Long

15. Population • 13,000 students • 12 elementary schools • 3 middle schools • 2 high schools • 25% free or reduced lunch • 15% received Title One services • 4% Asian • 11% Hispanic • 3% Black • 82% White • 50% of teachers – Bachelors Degree • 50% of teachers – Masters Degree • Approximately 82 students participated in the study

16. Analysis Teacher and Student Interviews

17. Aspects Warranting Further Discussion • Communication • Cultural Learning • Authentic Audience • Problem Solving • Motivation/Engagement • Language Arts Curriculum

18. Australian Friends/Motivation - Engagement

19. Communication From Gage on March 16 Dear Greg, Hi it’s Gage writing again. How are you doing? I’m doing OK. Hey one kid in my class said that you have a track and a football field. What else do you have because we do not have any of that stuff at our school. Is your school big? Do you have a lot of homework? Over the weekend I’ve got stiches. It hurt really bad. Stiches is like getting your skin sewed together. To numb it they had to put a needle through my cut three times. I was at the hospital for about two hours. They had to x ray my elbow it hurts really bad. On Tuesday I had to go back to the hospital and I got x rays of my chest three times. I have to go. From you pen pal, Gage

20. Cultural Learnings

21. Cultural Learnings Hi Susan, My name is Susan too! I am 11 years old and in grade 6. I love Australia! There is no other place that I would rather live in (no offence). I am a girl. I wanted to write to you because you have the same name as me. We don’t say “good day mate”. We say G’day mate. I have 2 pets. Both of them are cats. Their names are Sammy and Shiraz. I love them to bits!! I like animals but I don’t love them to bits. So much that I would own 20 cats/dogs. In Australia we don’t call our candy “candy”. We call it lollies. I love lollies. Some of my favourite foods are chicken, Ice cream, chocolate, lollies, roast potato and plenty more. We are now in a drought. We have been in a drought for 9 years. We have to take shorter showers and some of our gardens are dying. I hope that you do consider traveling to Australia one day. We have some great landmarks. For example Ayres Rock, The Gold Coast, and plenty more. …… Your pen pal Susan

22. Cultural Learning • Teachers, special needs students, 2nd language learners, and general education students reported learning about the Australian culture, language, and animals. • Students learned about the differences in the seasons of the year as well as time zone differences. • Students learned about Australian students’ activities and traditions

23. “People may see the world differently, in part, because of their interactions within one cultural group rather than another” (Au, 2002, p.393).

24. Cultural Learning • The Internet Pen Pal Program is a way to increase cultural understandings utilizing an authentic writing activity. • The Internet Pen Pal Program supplements social studies curriculums increasing cultural awareness while simultaneously promoting interdisciplinary instruction. • Reading, writing, and cultural learning occur simultaneously.

25. ‘Voice’ in Written Language

26. ‘Voice’ in Written Language

27. Problem Solving Problem solving is another important aspect of electronic communication.

28. Problem Solving From Tyler W. on May 8 Dear Jake, In your letter it says, “I am getting a new puppy called Morgan. We pick him up in two weeks and three days and he is a golden retriever.” Then at the end it says,”PS I got my puppy.” Did you get it early? Sincerely, Tyler W.

29. Problem Solving • Problem solving is another aspect necessary when composing text (Harp & Brewer, 2005). Students may need to choose a topic or decide specifically how to revise their text. • Students received feedback indicating comprehension or lack of comprehension of students’ written language. • Not being able to understand something in a pen pal letter prompted pen pals writing each other and asking what was meant from written correspondence.

30. Authentic Audience • Internet Pen Pal Program focuses on meaningful writing and provides another audience for student writing feedback. • The Internet Pen Pal Program prompted students to reread their writing and ensure a clear understanding of the writing reached their pen pal. • Feedback of unclear writing was noted by the students when their pen pal indicated lack of understanding in the responding letter. • This increased student attention to meaningful clear writing and audience awareness. • Reading and writing involve the construction of meaning. • These should be important aspects of district-wide and classroom written language curriculum and instructional practices.

31. Authentic Audience • Audience awareness was noted by students and teachers – politeness. • Audience Awareness is part of the writing process approach used by many school districts. • Students need writing feedback from a variety of audiences (Harp & Brewer, 2005).

32. Authentic Audience • All teachers reported students showed enthusiasm for the Internet Pen Pal Program and that this enthusiasm translated into written language production. • Students were motivated by communicating with a ‘real’ person. • Special needs students, 2nd language learners, and general education students reported they liked ‘meeting’ new people and ‘talking’ with them.

33. Language Arts Curriculum • Are we serving our students best by providing skill development in written language acquisition through writing prompts and other worksheet activities? • Does this impress upon students that writing is a meaningful necessary lifetime activity? • Do these practices promote the ownership of literacy? • Programs such as the Internet Pen Pal Program afford students the opportunity to acquire written language skills in an authentic manner and can be used successfully in conjunction with other district language arts programs.

34. Teachers may want to have students…… • write to their pen pals about typical everyday activities of their choice • write to their pen pals about a science experiment • write to their pen pals about a field trip • read the same book in both classes and have students exchange comments on the book • include language arts curriculum learnings in their letters: adjectives, adverbs, metaphors, similes, hyperboles etc. • persuasive writing – convince a pen pal to come to America • write to a foreign language pen pal in a language being learned

35. Qualitative Findings • Cultural learnings were a program strength. • Teachers and students reported that students found the program motivating due to its communicative function. • Vast majority of students and all teachers indicated they would want to participate in this program again. • Collaboration in learning occurred between pen pals. • Higher level thinking skills were promoted through problem solving language differences between the two countries as well as various computer functions. • Majority of students reported audience awareness while writing.

36. Qualitative Findings Continued • Teachers and students reported keyboarding skills improved • Teachers reported the program promoted writing practice and noted an ability to integrate this program with their anthology based district language arts program, as well as with other subject areas in their curriculum (science, foreign languages, social studies)

37. Please remember…….. • Take a copy of the article on the front table • Fill out an evaluation form

38. References Au, K.H. (2002). Multicultural factors and the effective instruction of students of diverse backgrounds. In A.E. Farstrup & S.J. Samuels (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (3rd ed., pp.392-413). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Charron, N. (2005). Talk at the terminal: The relationship between the use of an internet pen pal program and fourth graders’ written language development and attitudes towards writing. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts of Lowell. Charron, N. (2007). I learned that Victoria is a state and that he has six blue tongued lizards. The Reading Teacher, 60 (8), 726-769. Harp, B. & Brewer, J.A. (2005). The informed reading teacher: Research-based practice. Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010, Table 259 <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab

39. Learn more about • You are invited to learn more about Thursday, July 19th 5:30 – 6:30 Lexington Room • Tim DiScipio, co-founder • tim@epals.com • Dr. Rita Oates, VP, education markets • rhoates@epals.com