Chatting it up Online

"Students talk to a favorite author" By Pamela Livingston 

This article was very refreshing as I learned a different technique in how to engage my students in their schoolwork with technology. Mrs. Livingston, a third grade teacher, put together a live chat for her class. They were reading a book series called "Magic Treehouse," written by Mary Pope Osbourne.  In her article Mrs. Livingston goes through all the steps of how to set up a chat room, and many if not all mishap you might endure through the process. I really was intrigued in how she managed to make her students reading more personal, by allowing them to ask question to the author who wrote the book they were so fascinated with.  Mrs. Livingston talked about how to go about finding the right chat, and the process of making sure you are properly registered for the live chat.  She also goes into detail about making sure that teachers be prepared for the chat by checking beforehand that everything is in its proper place. For example, the room she was going to use was to bright, so she made sure to have that fixed before the actual chat. She also made sure that internet connection was tested so there would be no problems later. I really appreciated how she not only gave us a new way to teach our students but also how to avoid any pitfalls along the way when dealing with live chats.

I feel that the ideas Mrs. Livingston presented are very usable to any teacher including myself. I see myself applying her advice in many different ways. The way she spoke about preparation made me realize that if you are not prepared for any situation, then you are setting yourself up for failure. I definitely want to be able to allow my students to feel that they are at arm lengths to what they are studying. A good example of that would be live chats with authors and people that you are learning about.

 

This article was from Learning and Leading with Technology (L &L) NETS 4