Donna Logan
Kathleen Carico
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guest (web)
The Web Pal Project began in 1997 as a project between Virginia Tech and Blacksburg Middle School (BMS), both located in Blacksburg, Virginia. At that time, we chose our theme, Looking Side by Side at American Culture through Literature, for several reasons: Our two schools are literally side by side--only a street separates the middle school from the University campus; the characters in the books we use are bi-cultural or live in close proximity to two cultures; and Ms. Logan and Dr. Carico are working side by side on this project in order to increase their own knowledge and understandings and enhance their teaching.
Each semester, the University students in Dr. Carico's class, EDCI 4424 Literature for the Adolescent, are matched in pairs with 8th grade students from BMS. Together, they read and discuss electronically young adult literature that focuses on the experiences of young adults who must move from one culture to another, much like many of the students who attend BMS.
In the spring of 2001, we introduced the project to new friends and colleagues at Farmwell Station Middle School (FSMS), located in Ashburn, Virginia. Web Pal Pairs became Web Pal Triads, as one eighth grader from BMS, one from FSMS, and a University student were matched up to be pals for a semester. In the spring, we chose two other genres--science fiction/fantasy and history--to help us reach our goals. Science fiction and fantasy novels feature settings, characters, and events that are usually quite foreign to our experiences. In reading these books, we have discovered many multicultural themes that provide rich discussion topics. In the historical literature category, we have chosen several books based on the Holocaust, to examine what can occur when individual human rights are violated and differences are not appreciated, understood, or even tolerated.
Even though our new partners in Loudoun County are over 250 miles away, we still believe the theme, Side by Side, applies! Our students and faculty are interacting side by side through electronic formats: e-mail, an electronic bulletin board (NetForum); and an environment known as a MOO, where small groups discuss the poetry and novels they are reading together.