Re: [seul-edu] E-mail pen pals

[Gary Dunn <knowtree@aloha.com>]

On Tue,  4 Feb 2003 07:40:23 -0500 (EST)
Y4 <Year4@hippings.lancsngfl.ac.uk> wrote:

> [I thought this might be of interest to some of the teachers on 
> this list--Doug]
> 
> Dear Sir,
> 
> This is two students from Hippings Methodist Primary school in 
> year 4 in England. We would like to be  pen pals with some of the 
> children at your school and tell you a bit about our school. We 
> learn English, Maths, History, P.E., R.E., Geography, Science, 
> art and D.T.. We are in a small town called Oswaldtwistle in the 
> county of Lancashire. We have a school trip every year, and have 
> an assembly every day either in the morning or afternoon. We 
> start school at 9:00 and finish school at 3:30. We have a junior 
> playground and an infant playground they are both very very 
> large. We have lots of good equipment in school
...

Curious how they spend so much time describing their environment, and
nothing about what they are learning. It reminds me of the way computers
are so often added to a school curriculum as a subject rather than a
method.

I realize that they are young children, and I encourage more of this sort
of thing, but there is so much more that is possible. For instance, I
would prefer:

Hello. We are a couple of students in the forth grade at Yahdah Yahdah
School in Ilbequirky. We are working on a report on pet nutrition. Dog
food, to be exact. We would like to be pen pals with other students who
have a pet dog, or help take care of their family dog. The report will be
posted on our school web site sometime in May. Look for it on Mr.
Martin's page, http://YahdahYahdah.Ilbequirky.k12.xx.zz/grade4/martin.

The computer and the 'net become the means, not the end. That's not to say
that product is more important than process ... process is vital, but here
the process is interpersonal communication. If you are reading this post
in seul-edu then chances are your relationship with IT has evolved to this
point, but from what I see, most teachers are not there yet. But we are
making progress. Many more use mail in conjunction with work than did
three years ago.

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