Entry #7 - I Am Determined to Develop an Authentic Audience for My Students

For this week's open-entry, I have decided to write about my Genre Expert Topic, Letters. When engaging in this week's reading, I found myself getting pulled in by the power of letters. As Tompkins (2012) highlights, as a result of technology, it would "assume some of the roles of letters, but that children and adults continue to write letters for a variety of purposes (p. 115). Uh..yeah..over here! I never used to write letters since I had the power to communicate with those around me through technology. Well, that was until recently, when technology could not connect me with a friend and my only choice was to write a letter. One of my very best friends, Hailey (a pseudonym name for my friends privacy), joined the Army and in order to stay in communication with her, I realized that I must utilize the process of writing letters. When sending letters to my friend, I utilized Tompkins (2012) format of friendly letters as I would update her on what is happening in my life, while also checking in with her. When writing my letter to Hailey, I asked meaningful questions to encourage her to write back; plus, this allowed me to learn more about her experience. After sending the letter, I remember feeling eager to receive one in return - I think I checked the mailbox ten times a day. Once I received a letter in return, I was always eager to immediately write back. Through my own personal experience of writing letters, I am reminded of Tompkins' (2012) concept of the importance of an authentic audience. 

For my Genre Expert Presentation, I had the opportunity to read an article about how Pen Pals were used in the classroom to engage students in letter writing. In connection to Tompkins, authors Barksdale, Watson, and Park (2007) highlight the importance of an authentic audience, especially since it motivates students to want to write (Article linked here). For example, students from the United States were paired with a Pen Pal from Malawi. Similar to my situation with writing letters to Hailey, Barksdale et. al (2007) described the importance of writing letters to a pen pal, since digital communication was not possible. As students wrote to their pen pal, they focused their questions on getting to know the student and building a personal relationships. Through the process of writing to an authentic audience, students "...shared difficult real-life events with one another and were offered words of support in return" (p. 64). As students wrote letters to their pen pals, they were highly motivated as they patiently waited for a response - this reminded me of my eagerness to receive a letter in return from Hailey (but, I may have not been as patient).

Additionally, one bonus of writing letters to a pen pal is that students can begin to develop a cultural understanding. Barksdale et. al (2007) describes that the information students learned from their pen pal was further explored in other content areas. For example, students explored the geographic area of their pen pals country, the value of foreign coins, the different seasons, and animals. I mean, how neat is this! After reading this article, I remember feeling enthusiastic for the possibilities of creating meaningful opportunities for my future students to learn the letter genre. But, I can't help but wonder how to go about this process. Barksdale et. al (2007) emphasizes that there are some complexities to pen pal writing and in this article, this opportunity was "made possible by a USAID teacher education grant" (p. 66).

Now, I can't help but think, do pen pals have to be approved by the school board or principal? How else can students engage in pen pal writing? I wonder if there are different ways I can support students in writing to an authentic audience? Hmm..what if I could pair students with someone from a different class or an older student from middle or high school (maybe even a college student). Would older students be willing to write to young learners? Is this a good place to start? As I ponder my many questions, I believe that the first step I can take to receiving the answer is talking to my future administrator or doing more research on the topic. However, as I write this, I notice that I have many ideas running through my mind, but my main focus is finding a way to provide my students an authentic audience.

Resources from Barksdale et. al (2007) ↑

References

Barksdale, M.A., Watson, C., & Park, E. S. (2007). Pen pal letter exchanges: Taking first 

            steps toward developing cultural understandings. Reading Teacher, 61(1), 58-68.