NSW_Scan2009

**from** Scan**NSW Department of Education and Training, reproduced with permission**

//This program demonstrates the success of targeting a specific group to engage them in reading, literary reflections and conversations with students from other countries. This is a great example of using ICTs to support reading and is relevant to connected learning and L4L//. Read the full article on the Scan website  In 2006 my school participated in a //Quality Teaching// action learning project. The project, titled //One size does not fit all!//, focused on gifted and talented education and the use of communication technology. My role was to work cooperatively with other teachers in developing units of work that would improve the learning outcomes of students identified by ELLA, SNAP and SMART data, as being in the upper bands. The e-mates (email pen-pals) program was one of these units of work and for me, as teacher librarian, the most rewarding. It gave me the opportunity to work closely with staff and students, and to promote reading for pleasure and generate a buzz about books and the library for learning and leisure.
 * SNEDDON, Linda, (2009) 'e-mates at Kempsey High School’ in //Scan //** **28(2) May, pp. 4–7.**
 * Introduction **

The program targeted Year 9 students nominated as gifted or talented by their English teachers. It was decided that they would come to the library for two periods a week during Extension English time with English teacher Sue Tassell. I organised a group of studentsfrom Birmingham to become their e-mates. The students chose the name, e-mates, based on the Aussie habit of calling a friend a mate and, because we would be communicating by email. Parents were sent an information letter and permission note to sign, and students made a commitment to read, respond and relate.  Our Year 9 e-mates program was so successful that the students agitated to be allowed to continue with it the following year, so we devised a Year 10 program with a new final group task. Working cooperatively with another English teacher, Jeannine Kennedy, we devised a Year 8 program called //Novelty //as a lead in to e-mates. The emates program now has a life of its own with students asking whether they can be part of it and joining our lunchtime book groups. The original program is also evolving. We are hoping to move towards blogging instead of email and to use the Connected Classroom’s video conferencing facilities in the future.
 * The program **
 * Program spin-offs **

When the original e-mates group was invited to participate in the program, they were very hesitant. Reading was seen as nerdy and only two of the nominated students admitted to reading fiction for pleasure. We hooked them with the idea of emailing students in other countries and learning to design web pages, but in the end it was the reading that really kept them involved and engaged. They still come to lunch time Book Group whenever their Year 12 commitments allow it. They became advocates for reading and borrowing, and still talk to students of all ages about good books to read.
 * Positive outcomes **

The program has run for three years now and we have seen a huge increase in library usage by students during lesson breaks, and also in our //OASIS Library// loan statistics. Parents and staff have also commented on what a catalyst the e-mates program was in engaging students and themselves in reading. One of the anecdotes to come out of the program was about the Mathematics teacher who took students beach walking for sport and became involved in their discussions about books as they walked. She rediscovered how much she enjoyed reading and looks forward to her weekly book chats at sport. The English teachers have also reported a noticeable difference in the quality of responses they are getting from those students who were part of the e-mates program, and that there is also a flow on effect to those not directly involved. After many years of implementing new technology into the library it has been very rewarding to return to promoting reading and being part of a buzz about books. It has been a reminder that a love of reading is at the core of lifelong learning and that technology can be an effective tool in achieving that goal.

//Ian, teacher librarian at Penrith Public School tracked twelve Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten) students, observing their emerging awareness of, and access to, the internet and Web 2.0 tools. An online wiki was used to create jointly constructed fables, and to share the final products (and the annotated learning journey) with the extended school community – and beyond.//
 * McLEAN, Ian, (2009) ‘Kindergarten weaves a wiki: the learners tell their stories’ in //Scan// 28(1) February, pp. 30–37. **

Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten) students which required joint constructions of fables to be created using butcher’s paper. Instead a set of wiki pages was established, for scribing all brainstorming, drafting, editing and publishing. At the same time, I had a unique opportunity to administer brief pre and post-test survey questions about students’ knowledge of the internet and Web 2.0, which would also capture the students’ personal reflections and emotional responses of their learning. I was inspired by the work of Lee Fitzgerald in the area of guided inquiry (Fitzgerald 2007) and various online book raps run by the NSW School Libraries and Information Literacy Unit.

Student’s responses highlighted many advantages of using a wiki, showed prosocial interactions such as acceptance and appreciation of peer ideas and demonstrated the raising of awareness of the internet. The project appears to support emerging research findings (//Information behaviour of the researcher of the future//, 2008, p.31-32) that information skills require ‘concerted action’ between libraries, schools and parents.