"An Educational Chat"

Chatting It Up Online: Students Talk to a Favorite Author by Pamela Livingston

After reading the article by Pamela Livingston, I realized that there is a whole new world for teachers to take advantage of and I now have a new understanding of how to successfully incorporate technology into the classroom. Previously, the concept of an online chat automatically reminded me of a social network for friends to stay connected or for people to meet each other. However, now I understand that an online chat is so much more because it can be used to connect students to the outside world and allow them to experience a new kind of learning that is exciting and fresh! One quote that I found very important and interesting from the article is the idea that "one of the many things computer technology can provide to schools is a way to reach beyond the four walls of the classroom and bring a unique learning experience to students. Author chats are one way this can happen." This statement is so powerful and I believe it illustrates the overall idea of this article. While the story of the 3rd class of boys from Chestnut Hill Academy chatting with their favorite author Mary Pope Osborne is entertaining and interesting, I believe that this article was primarily written to show educators and the public that there is a new way of teaching and learning. Technology is a powerful resource and tool, and now I look forward to integrating it into my future classroom and I am eager to use online author chats and other tools to educate and inspire children.


This article provides a great example of how to use technology as a part of the student’s learning process. I really like the idea of connecting with an author through an online chat and it seemed to be very successful in giving the students an idea of what it is like to be an author and what it takes to write a book. I think I could adapt this into my future classroom by finding a similar program to establish a connection with other authors and then I would allow my students to create questions to ask so that they could learn more about the author or subject that we are currently studying. Then after we had the online chat with the author, the students could begin their own book writing project by getting in groups and working as a team to create their own book. As the teacher, I could assign different jobs to each student-like the author, the illustrator, the manager, etc. and this could give the students a real life experience with creating a book and allow them to understand the process it takes to make the final product. After each team finished their book, I would have them learn how to scan the pages and import them onto the computer so that each group could show their book to all the students in the class on a big screen. Also, this would give the students more knowledge about computer technology and it would be a great way to present their books. This idea seems to work well with literature and reading and I also think it could be very successful with other subjects like history, science, math, art, and music. I believe a teacher can only go so far by standing up at the front of the classroom and lecturing to the students. Through the use of computer technology, students can "chat" with local artists and musicians, historians, scientists and mathematicians and ask them questions to find out more about a certain subject. With technology, there seems to be no limits and students can really “reach beyond the four walls of the classroom.”

The relevant ISTE NETS for Teachers and ISTE NETS for Students standard is NETS-4.