1. The teacher e-mails mailserv@wcu.edu to subscribe to WCU BOOKREAD Matchmaker List. WCU BOOKREAD is a network of students and teachers of literature, communicating by computer link-up with each other.
2. Through BOOKREAD Matchmaker, the teachers establish a partnership with another classroom and decide together what book(s) to read and discuss. Both teachers of the partner classes also exchange information regarding their schools, classes, locations, climate, and any information about each other that would interest the students of the partner class.
3. The teachers of both participating classrooms decide together the content of the correspondence, and agree on how it would be proceeded. The content of the correspondence is basically discussion of the book(s) assigned with guided topic(s); students are also encouraged to relate the content of the book(s) to their personal experience.
4. The teacher then assigns the class to read the book(s) and do a random paring with the other class.
5. After in-class discussion about the book(s) read, the teacher gives a brief information on the class's BOOKREAD partner class, and the class moves to the computer lab.
6. The teacher helps students open the site for writing e-mail, and instructs them to begin what they would like to share with their BOOKREAD partner about the book(s) they have read.
7. While the students are writing, the teacher walks around the lab to make sure everything goes smoothly. When the students finish composing the e-mail, the teacher proofread it and helps them to send it.
8. On a later date, the class goes to the computer lab to check incoming e-mail for the partner class's response. The class then share with each other what they read from the e-mail and, if appropriate, discuss what facts might have contributed to the different perspectives between two classes.
9. The exchange of e-mail between two classes on a particular book or books takes as long as necessary. When both teachers of the participating classes think that it is about time to proceed to another set of books, the teacher gets written permission from each parent to put their children's artifact on the World Wide Web.
10. If the students read book(s) that have something to do with nature, it would be nice and appropriate that the teacher introduces Haiku to the class (See Appendix A).
11. The students write haiku or other types of poetry reacting to the book(s) they have discussed in class and through e-mail. Students can also write stories, plays, and autobiographies. What activity they perform can rely upon what book they are reading. For example, if they are reading an autobiography, then they can write one of their own. If they are reading a book about a child who keeps a journal, they can keep a journal.
12. The class is divided groups of three. The students take five minutes to read each group member's poem (longer for other genres of artifact) and make written suggestions, and then pass it to the member sitting on their right. After five minutes oral discussion on their poems among group members, the students have five to ten minutes to make any necessary changes in their poems.
13. The class moves to the computer lab.
14. First, the students e-mail their artifact to their READBOOK partner. Then, if poetry is what the students write and if the webpage Positively Poetry accepts submission, the teacher instruct the students to open Positively Poetry at http://advicom.net/~e-media/kv/poetry1.html.
Positively Poetry is created by a 15 years old student and is made up of poems submitted by kids age 5 to 15 from around the globe. Because the webmaster has been flooded with poems in the past few months from children all over the world, she can not accept anymore submissions for the time being. Nevertheless, she plans to pick it up again in the summer.
15. If Positively Poetry accepts submission, after the students have opened the site, they need to scroll down the page until they see two teddy bears holding a heart. After they reach this destination, they need to click once on the hyperlink that says submission form.
16. The teacher should walk the children through the submission form on the overhead projector. Then the teacher should walk around the room and help the students with their form. The form asks for the child's name and E-mail address. The children should use their first names only, and opt to not have their E-mail address published. If the teacher wishes, the students could list the E-mail address for the school or the class for feedback. The form also asks for the child's age, grade, and city/state.
17. When each child is finished typing the form, he or she should raise their hand so the teacher can proofread his or her form, and the teacher helps the student submit it to the web page.
MORE IDEAS:
1. Genealogy: Having the students do their e-mail partner's family tree. This activity would be appropriate when the students are reading books about families of different types (single mom, single dad, whole family, gay parents, multicultural families, adoption, etc.)
2. Adding multi-culturalism to the project. For example, have the students read books from other countries and then do a culture list for that country which can be displayed in class and/or put on a web page.
3. Language banner: If one student has an e-mail partner who is from another culture, they can swap words--getting the other language's word for the English word. This can be represented on a language banner (and/or the webpage). Students can also make a list of other countries/cultures' holidays.
4. Fairy tales of different cultures: Students read fairy tales of different cultures. For example, there are different versions of Cinderella stories that are from different cultural standpoints. The students can then discuss the similarities, differences and unique additions to the story.