21st Century Pen Pals

A few weeks ago I came across a post on Skype in the Classroom from a class of 2nd graders in Delta, British Columbia looking to connect with a class. The teachers in this classroom were looking for a way to motivate their struggling, or resistant, writers. I thought this was an amazing idea and shared the idea with some colleagues. Fortunately a co-worker also thought this was a great idea and it would fit well with what was going on in her classroom. So our journey began.

The four of were able to collaborate via Google Hangouts and were able to iron out most of the details. We had decided each student would read a piece of writing to another student on the other end, really the entire class, and that student would then respond to the writing. Jann Kwasnicki  developed a Feedback Script for the students to use and allow them to take notes before they provided their feedback.

Christina and Erin, the two classroom teachers, were able to collaborate via a Google Doc. This also allowed for us to pass some notes back and forth about what was working well and not so well. As well as any upcoming changes that needed to be made.

Each student was so proud to share their writing. The feedback received was well thought out. In addition to  the writing project, the students definitely learned a bit about social skills as well. Overall I think it was an incredible experiences for our students....and the teachers as well. If you want to check out our work we created a hashtag to use throughout the experiences as well #BCtoCT.