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in2books and ePals (easy, global, safe, and fun)

July 6, 2008 I've got two sites you must explore now and integrate with your classroom teacher partners in September!

     

The best breakfast I've had in a long time was at NECC last week with Nina Zolt, the driving force behind two impressive 2.0 projects.

1. ePals may be the social networking answer for the many of us looking to globally connect our young learners in safe and meaningful ways.  The hard part has always been finding appropriate partners. This standards-based portal connects young writers with an authentic audience of peers well beyond their neighborhoods, while it fosters questioning, critical thinking, and new collaborations.

You may remember an earlier iteration of the electronic penpal connection service which began in 1996. This latest version is growing strong and could help to flatten the world for children. 

In partnership with National Geographic, the free K-12 program now connects classrooms in more than 200 countries in a multilingual environment.

It offers a variety of features essential for elementary curricular success:

• SchoolM@il, a safe and protected email system
• SchoolBlog, secure classroom blogging technology which includes
  • Searchable Archives
  • Personalized Domain
  • Allows Multi-Media Postings
  • Policy Managed
  • Calendar
  • Surveys
  • Design Templates
  • Classroom-only, Parents-Only and Public Access
  • Web Based Management and Storage
  • Rich Text Editor
  • Manuals & Tutorials

• Classroom Match facilitates finding and contacting partner classrooms around the world;  selecting ePals learning projects or customizing your own; exchanging email; and sharing ideas in blogs and forums.
• ePal Projects fosters classroom collaborations.  Built around standards-based topics, it encourages language practice, critical thinking, inquiry, and global awareness.  Among the current projects are units on global warming, water, and natural disasters
  

2.  in2books, created by Nina with the help of a team literacy experts, fosters reading, writing, and thinking skills across the curriculum.

Learners in grades three through five are paired with carefully screened eMentor/penpals with whom they exchange email. Though currently designed for intermediate students, Nina plans to extend the program through grade 12 and to add additional online book-related activities. 

In the classroom edition:

books are selected for each of the Program's five curriculum units -- each unit having a central theme and representing a different genre or topic. In2Books presents several books at different levels on the same topic so students can find a book that interests them and that they can read independently. Units build upon each other to foster self-identity, community, and a sense of the world. During each unit, the student, teacher, and the adult pen pal read the same selection, and then discuss the book orally and in writing online. Students and their adult pen pals are encouraged to ask and answer thought provoking questions. In2Books suggests read-alouds to supplement each core selection. In2Books also provides teachers with lists of additional books that will reinforce and complement the unit's objectives.

Very important note (and benefit):
The program provides free books for students and teachers in Title I classrooms, as well as teacher support in the form of email, webinars, a forum, and blogs.

A home edition allows students select from a wide variety of genres. Students and their ePals, who might be often grandparents, relatives, or family friends, read the same titles and correspond about students online.

Nina is eager to grow both in2books and ePals and welcomes teacher librarian feedback and advice! Let's help her.   This could be a portal for our own lessons and booktalks and trailers, as well as a place to publish student work and reflection about the books they love.

For more information:

• Getting Children into Books, Kappan, March 2007
• Raising urban students' literacy learning achievement by engaging in authentic, challenging work. Reading Teacher, May 2007

Sharing at the Edubloggers Cafe:

   

Posted by Joyce Valenza Ph.D on July 6, 2008 | Comments (1)